Often as I am at work in my Hong Kong home
I hear peddlers’ cries
Coming over the stone walls
And through the open windows.
They call loudly
So everyone can hear
What product or service
They have to sell.
Sometimes when I hear one
And then another,
I wonder to myself…
If Jesus were a peddler in Hong Kong today
Which one would He be?
Would He be the one who comes
At the beginning of every day
With huge baskets
To take the garbage away
From our doors?
(For He said He came
To make us whiter than snow
And to bury our uncleanness
In the deepest sea
And remember it no more.)
Or would He be the seller of flowers
Bearing brightness from door to door
Offering to those who want
The beauty that He brings?
(For He said He came
that we might have life
and have it more abundantly.)
Would He be the one
Who walks the alleys
And calls for us
To bring to Him
Our scissors and knives
The tools of our lives,
To be sharpened?
(For He said He would make us able
To do all things
Through the strength
He would provide.)
Would His call be of baak choy
Carrots and fruit,
Green and gold goodness
For our tables?
(For He fed the multitudes
And He said,
“I am the bread of life.”)
And yet there is another who comes
With a loud and strident cry
Which can be heard
Through all the rooms
Of my house,
And each time I think…
He is the one
Jesus would be,
With his call of comfort
Of promise
Of hope…
“I buy broken things.”
©2005 Thrive
View the original print magazine where this article was 1st published.
