We met them on a bench by the bus stop in front of the mall.
That morning we had received a message. A challenge was posed to us: How can we be Jesus walking the streets of Matamoros today? The word that came to my mind was “communion”. But how? How can we have communion with strangers who most likely don’t even speak our native tongue? What does communion even mean? Is it a cup of juice and a loaf of bread?
So we felt led to commune with someone, to not just buy them lunch but to eat with them. To share a meal. And so we started to to invite anyone and everyone who we thought might need a meal.
We asked 4 or 5 people before we noticed Tito and Alejandro sitting on that bench. For one reason or another, those 4 or 5 people all turned us down. But as we approached the 2 men on the bench their smiles caught us off guard.
We asked them if we could eat lunch with them. I think Tito thought I was asking him where a good place to eat lunch was, so he started describing all the eating establishments in the area. I clarified my question: Do you want to eat with us? Tito looked at Alejandro, and Alejandro looked back at Tito. They both smiled. So we started walking to the HEB, the local grocery store, to eat in the cafe inside.
It was a feast of a lunch. We were all giddily excited. We had chicken and salad and chiles rellenos and bread and tortillas and tea and juice.
But communion isn’t about food. It was so much more than that. We shard conversation about their families. Tito’s family lives in Charlotte, NC, and he hasn’t seen them in almost a year. He’s working on getting a job in Matamoros so he can get his papers to join his family in America. Alejandro is Tito’s cousin; he gave Tito a place to stay when he came back to Mexico earlier this year.
They’re both out of work. They said it’s common in this part of Mexico. They’re mechanics. They’re not tied to this border town; it’s a stepping stone to permanency.
Walking back the bus stop after a 2 hour lunch filled with laughter, stories of families and prayer, Tito told us of how the day before they had been sitting on those exact same benches by the bus stop, broke and hungry during lunch time, and someone had “randomly” come up to them and gave them some food. And then that day we had invited them “randomly” to lunch. When I asked if he thought these occurrences were part of God’s way of taking care of him, he grinned. Maybe, he replied, looking up at me. Then he winked and laughed.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” – Matthew 6:25-27
