Leo Tolstoy wrote a beautiful story about a man named Papa Panov.
He was the village shoemaker. His family was grown, and his wife had died. Usually, he was a happy man, but this Christmas Eve, he was sad as he remembered the years when his family was young and together.
Papa opened his Bible and read the Christmas story where Joseph and Mary had to have Jesus in a cowshed. There was nowhere for them to go; all the inns were full. “Oh, dear, oh, dear!” he said. “If only they had come by here, I would have given my bed and covered Mary’s baby with my patchwork quilt to keep him warm.”
He read about the wise men that brought gifts to baby Jesus. Papa Panov was sad. He had nothing to give him.
Then he remembered a perfect tiny pair of leather shoes he had made and were in a box in the closet. “I should give him those.” He sat back down in his easy chair and closed his eyes and quickly had fallen asleep.
He had a dream that someone was in the room with him, “and he knew at once, as one in dreams do, who the person was. It was Jesus.”
As the story moves on, he tells Papa Panov to watch Christmas day as he visits him. “Watch carefully, for I shall not tell you who I am.”
Bells chiming awakened Papa Panov the next morning, for it was Christmas day.
Throughout the day, Papa Panov waits for Jesus, and as the day progresses, he sees the road- sweep and invites him in for hot coffee and get warmed.
Then later, while keeping his eyes open for Jesus, he spots a young mother carrying her baby in the cold. She is on her way to the next village for work as she has no husband to care for them. He invites them in, feeds them, and gives the baby shoes, for she is barefooted.
Later that night, there is still no sign of Jesus.
Villagers are back in their homes, and he sees only beggars in the streets. Papa Panov had made cabbage soup for his dinner, and he ends up sharing his dinner and bread with the beggars.
Long last, the day is over. He feels disappointed, “What if he had missed Him?”
Then he once again felt a presence in his room. He envisioned the road sweeper, the young mother and her baby, and the beggar he had fed that night. “Didn’t you see me, Papa Panov?”
“Who are you?” he called out, bewildered.
Another voice answered him. It was the voice from his dream – the voice of Jesus.
“I was hungry, and you fed me,” he said, “I was naked, and you clothed me. I was cold, and you warmed me. I came to you today in every one of those you helped and welcomed.”
Great peace and happiness seemed to fill the room. He wanted to burst out singing and to laugh and to dance with joy. “So He came after all.” was all he said.
We, too, look for Jesus. Could it be that He comes to us, like Papa Panov, by sending to us those who need Him most?
Watch carefully! Jesus may visit you today.
The takeaway: A simple act of kindness not only blesses those who received them but honors our Lord Jesus.
