OK, OK, Mom, I Get It

Have you ever talked to one of your kids and you feel like you've said something similar before and they were clueless so you start to explain and then they stop you and say, "OK, OK, Mom I get it!" as though they've heard it a bunch of times.

That happened to me last night.  My son, Jimmy, who some people know as Ben, is a really terrific young man.   He has some learning disabilities, he will tell you, and a borderline IQ which he doesn't want to tell you, but he is the greatest kid.  He really loves to be helpful and he likes to please people.  He is definitely an extrovert and loves to connect with whoever he can.

For the past few weeks Jimmy has been going with me on little adventures -- typically to meet CarePortal requests and drop off stuff that my church has donated with me.  Last night he went with me to pick up a prescription for a sister on my Open Table.   On the way home I asked him if he had ever heard about the sheep and the goats.  He looked at me blankly.  I paraphrased these verses from Matthew 25:

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 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, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,   I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’  “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

He looked at me blankly again.  I said, "So Jimmy -- do you remember a few weeks ago when we dropped off clothes for that 9 month old baby who was with a Safe Family?  He nodded.  I said "that was like giving clothes to Jesus."

I said, "You know how we give the girl a ride home every week?"  He nodded.  I said, "that is like giving Jesus a ride."

"You know how we went to Walmart Sunday and bought clothes and diapers and formula for for the preemie baby?" He nodded again.  I said, "that's like giving that stuff to Jesus."

I said, "You know just now when we got the prescription for ...."

He interrupted me and said, "Ok, OK, Mom, I get it" with an exasperated tone. 

Jimmy gets it.  Do you get it?