6. Where Love Is, God Is

Once in a little town in Russia there was a lonely old cobbler who lived in a cellar. There was always plenty of work for him, for he was prompt and honest and industrious. But the cobbler was not happy, for it seemed to him God had been unkind to him in taking away his wife and children by death. But at last a good priest came and taught this unhappy cobbler to read the New Testament, and then he grew happy and contented, and changed in every way. One day as he was reading how the Lord was treated when he was on earth, he said to himself, “And suppose he came to me, would I treat him differently?” “Martin!”—and a Voice seemed close to his ear. “Who’s there?” the cobbler said; but no reply came. “Martin, Martin,” said the Voice again, “look to-morrow on the street; I am coming!” Next morning Martin waited and waited, but saw no stranger come near. An old soldier, whom he knew, came into his shop out of the snow, to whom the cobbler gave a cup of tea and whom he treated with kindness as he told him he was expecting his little Father, Christ. Later in the day a poor widow with a little child came into his shop out of the cold, to whom the cobbler gave warm food and a coat and some money, as he told her how he was expecting the Lord to come to him that day. In the late afternoon the cobbler saw from his cellar window a poor apple-woman fighting a boy who had stolen some of her apples. The cobbler rushed into the street and told the woman she ought to forgive the boy as the Lord forgave us. He purchased an apple which he gave to the boy, who, touched by the kindness, begged the apple-woman’s pardon and kindly helped her by carrying her heavy basket for her.

By the evening lamp-light the cobbler opened his New Testament and was disappointed because the Christ-guest had not come. Then a Voice whispered, “Martin! Dost thou not know me?” “Who art thou?” cried the cobbler. “’Tis I,” cried the Voice. “Lo, ’tis I!” And forth from the dark corner of the shop stepped the soldier, and then the widow with the little child, and then the old apple-woman and the lad with the apple. All smiled and vanished. But the heart of the cobbler was glad, and he saw at the top of the Gospel page these words: “I was an hungered and thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in.” And at the bottom of the page he read: “Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Then the cobbler saw that the Lord had really come to him and he had really received Him that day.—Adapted from Count Tolstoy.