Show and Tell

Matthew 28:18-20

I was flying back from Washington, D.C., through Dallas, Texas. It was a flight that was oversold, and I made my way to the third or fourth row from the back. I initially had been assigned a middle seat; but as I checked in, I had changed it to an aisle seat. As I sat down, I saw this big, muscular guy in a T-shirt by the window with tattoos all over his arms. I looked at him, and he looked at me; and I know we both were hoping and praying that that middle seat would remain empty, even though we knew it was an unlikely possibility. He had his little stack of materials on one side of the seat, and I had mine on the other side of the seat; and it looked like it was going to end up that way. Here we were, crammed in, our knees practically touching our chins.

Then I saw a most amazing sight. There was a chap up at the front of the airplane on the first row of coach trying to cram a suitcase into the overhead rack. He couldn't get it in. There it was, with much hanging over the edge. Then he came back down the aisle, and I realized he was going to fill the middle seat.

He was an ebullient chap. His opening words, as he slid over me, were, "See that suitcase up there?"

I said, "Yeah, I've been watching."

"That's my suitcase," he said.

I replied, "I know."

He said, "It's going to be interesting to see what they're going to do with that."

I said, "It will be."

He sat down and began to talk nonstop. I thought, Oh no, one of these! Fortunately, I had my Bose headset ready to go onto my ears at the appropriate time; but, being a pastor, I felt I had to be a little bit discreet as to how I made that particular move. He began to open up about his life—told about the fact that he'd been an alcoholic and for two years now had been in a 12-step program. We engaged in very interesting conversation, and I really got into it.

But in the meantime, they came on the loudspeaker; and the stewardess said, "Will anyone own up to having this suitcase up here that's hanging over the edge?" He was very happy to do so. He took off down the aisle and had to check it in before we could leave. He came back to his seat and talked and so forth.

Then, somehow, it leaked that I was a pastor, at which point, the chap against the window said, "You are? A brother in Christ!" And he shook my hand, and this guy in the middle was stuck. Then he said, "See these tattoos on my arms?"

I said, "Yes, I'd noticed them."

He said, "They're the thorns of Christ."

I said, "They are?"

He said, "Yes!" and then he pulled up his T-shirt, turned his back to me, and there on his back was the most beautifully tattooed image of Christ on the cross from the torso up with the crown of thorns, the passion of Christ and the thorns then going on down the arms. I mean the full back. I didn't think to take out my cell phone and take a picture of it. In fact, I don't know how to do that. I regret that I don't know how to do that.