A Simple Kindness

And it came to pass that one day, as Jesus walked along the road, he happened upon a small child, traveling in the other direction. As she neared, he could see that her tiny body was covered, from head to foot, with open, weeping sores. Her once angelic little face was a rictus of pain and grief, the tracks of long-dried tears, as well as those of more recent vintage, cut lines through the dust that caked her pallid, sunken cheeks.
Despite her wasted condition and forlorn countenance, when her eyes happened upon Jesus, they were filled with a light of great joy and hope.
"Lord! Oh, my Lord!" she cried, stumbling toward him and falling to her knees to clutch desperately at the hem of his garments. "Please, Lord," she beseeched him, openly weeping at his feet. "Please, that you might help a chld who suffers so."
Taking her by her tiny hands and helping her to her feet, he asked, "Child, what has become of you that you should be found along this road in such a state of want and despair?"
"My mother was a harlot, Lord, and she did leave our house one night to ply her tawdry wares and did never return to us. My father has since given himself over to wine, spending his nights in drunken stupor, only to sleep at noonday. No longer does he rise to labor for our daily bread. I am hungry, Lord, and more, I have been stricken with a great pestilence of unknown cause, which brings me great pain both night and day. I heard in our village tales of a baker in another town who, for a pittance, shall give me bread for my aching belly. I am told that, in this same town, there waits an apothecary who, for great price, would provide to me a cure for the pestilence that has overcome me and brings with it such pain. It is to this town that I do so struggle to make my way, though I fear it is too great a distance and I may yet weaken and die here, among the weeds at the side of this lonely road."
"What is it you require of me, O child of my Father?" Jesus inquired, stroking her matted hair.
"O Lord," she pleaded with what seemed the last of her strength. "But that you could spare a few coins from your purse for this child, that, upon my arrival in the town, I might purchase a crust of bread for my aching belly and give unto the apothecary his due that he might cure me of this dread disease, or I may surely lose all hope."
Jesus looked into the eyes of this helpless child for a long time. His heart was heavy with the knowledge of her merciless pain.
"It is true," he said to her. "The sins of your father and mother have been visited upon you and your suffering continues to be great. You are very wise to know that you may well die here, among the weeds along this road, with the goal yet in sight."
Her eyes fell upon the the eyes of her Lord with a hope beyond compare. She sensed her salvation to be at hand at last.
"You know well, my child, that my purse is indeed filled with many coins. But I will have no coins for you this day, nor any other day," Jesus said, turnig his back to walk away.
"For I am not a Socialist."