Jeff Lucas wasn’t expecting an angelic encounter — especially not one involving blue gloves, a beer belly and a man who definitely looked more like a Ron than a Gabriel.
Today was a tad unusual, because I bumped into an angel.
For me at least, this is not an everyday experience. Over the years I’ve heard many reports of angelic encounters. Often, they involved winged warriors helpfully appearing to Christians whose cars had broken down, causing me to wonder if messengers of God have an uncanny affection for the M1.
I don’t know the name of the angel that I saw, because there was no personal introduction, but I doubt his name was Gabriel. He didn’t look like a Gabriel – more like a Fred, a Dave, or maybe a Ron.
I know. ‘The angel Ron’ doesn’t have quite the same ring about it, and his appearance was a surprise, too. No wings were in sight. His hands were a vivid, fluorescent blue. It was his beer-belly that caught my attention.
When angels meet human beings, it’s usually rather predictable. The messenger of the Lord appears – usually suddenly – which prompts the hapless human to scream in terror, and fall prostrate on the ground anticipating death. The angel calms them down, offers some words of greeting and then delivers some good news.
My angelic encounter took place in a busy hospital ward. The intensive care unit, filled with beeping monitors and hurried staff, was rather short on peace. Then, after sitting at a bedside for seven hours, a cherub arrived.
His hands were blue because of the rubber gloves he wore. His job was rather ordinary. There are no Nativity announcements or choir appearances to bleary-eyed shepherds on his CV. Every day, he tours the 700-bed hospital and empties rubbish bins.
But although that’s what he gets paid for, he has broadened his job description. “Knock knock,” he smiled as he entered our bay. Then he launched into a few minutes of warm, caring chatter. I asked him if he enjoyed his work, and he smiled again. “If all I did was collect rubbish, I wouldn’t have lasted long,” he said. “But the gloves and the bins are just tools. My real work is bringing a smile, sharing a joke, hopefully lightening people’s loads. If I go home at the end of the day and I’ve made a difference in someone’s life, then I’ve fulfilled my purpose.”
He went to explain that one patient said how much she looked forward to his daily drop-ins. Suffering from a terminal condition, she told him that her family would come by to visit, but would mostly just sit silently, unable to think of the right thing to say. “You always make me smile,” she added.
Angels are usually associated with the epic – and sometimes we humans wrongly think that serving God is largely about big projects, nation-shaping initiatives, macro stuff. But Jesus makes it clear that small acts of kindness not only change the world, but grab his attention.
Teaching about the coming day when hospitals will no longer be needed, Jesus said: “‘I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was homeless and you gave me a room, I was shivering and you gave me clothes, I was sick and you stopped to visit, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me – you did it to me’” (Matthew 25:35-40 MSG).
It doesn’t take much to make someone’s day, or, in this advent season, to make someone’s Christmas – especially if they’re currently facing an uncertain future.
So go on. You can do it. Be an angel.
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