A Place for Jesus

Shanghai has plenty of restaurants, ranging from high end steak houses to little noodle stands. The high end restaurants are quite high, due to imported ingredients as well as an economy flush with cash. The noodle stands are everywhere, on every corner and in every other storefront. Often they have no menu, but if they do its written on a board in Chinese. We have not built up the courage to eat at them - they tend to be very busy and we speak very poor Chinese.

Given the plethora of restaurants, for American food the choices are slim. One restaurant stands out, but possibly more for the owner's gift of self-promotion than for the quality of food. Blue Frog serves the best burger in town - in this family of burger connoisseurs we find it acceptable, but nothing compared to some of the best burgers in the Midwest. But they do serve buy one get one free burgers on Monday evenings, so we often find ourselves at one of their tables at the beginning of the week.

This week the weather has begun to warm, and temperatures often sit in the 60s well into the evening. On this day, we decided to eat outside but most people in Shanghai opted for the indoor tables. We sat alone on the patio. We adjusted our table to fit two highchairs, but ended up leaving one empty chair at our round table. L-- asked who we had left the chair for, and refering to the old Christian story of being open to Christ's appearance, we jokingly told her we had left the place for Jesus. She looked at us rather quizzically, and then ran off to play in the fountain.

Our food came, and we dug in. We had been in Shanghai for long enough for their burgers to taste great, and the girls enjoyed their chicken fingers and steamed veggies as well. But soon on the empty patio, we had a visitor. An old Chinese man layered in old clothes with a large, old wrap over the entire package sidled up to our table and held out a cup for change. Following the decision made in America not to give money to beggars, we first asked him to leave and then studiously ignored him. In America, the majority of people reduced to begging are desparate to feed an addiction of some kind. In China, this is probably not true. He may well have been just an old man without enough money to feed himself.

Whatever his situation, he stood quietly by and waited for our money. He stood right next to L--, our timid 2 year old. Quite close to her, in fact, silently waiting for one of us to put some change in his cup. She quietly and consistently asked us to make him leave. After a few minutes, we found the situation unacceptable and called out the staff to send him away. Quite helpful, they immediately ushered him on and L-- broke down in frightened tears. The man had looked quite scary, and we both understood why she cried.

A few moments into our now peaceful dinner, Dave looked at the empty chair and said

I think we just sent away Jesus.

This man probably had no desire to sit with us, eat burgers and discuss the differences in our lives. But the fact remains - we left a seat for Jesus and then we sent him away.

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, - Matthew 25:35