Subway Prophet

It’s a rainy Friday morning here in New York and I am bone tired. I really didn’t feel like coming in to work as there’s a lot to do, but none of it is very interesting. Nevertheless I dragged my self out of bed (after a few extra hits on the snooze alarm). And went and stood in the rain waiting for the bus. If it wasn’t for a meeting today I would have toyed with the idea of calling in sick.

The subway seemed to move as slowly as I did this morning. It lurched and halted along. At some point I decided to just close my eyes and try to sleep just a little bit longer as the train ambled uptown. Somewhere between West 4th and 59th street what I call a “subway prophet” entered my car. Subway prophets are those who have a John the Baptist complex and feel the need to call all people in the transit system to repent. To be honest, I have no problems with evangelism in general. I do have problems when it is combative and theologically incorrect. So many times I have heard terrible things said in the name of Christ while riding public transportation. As a Christian, I am embarrassed and often angered because it is experiences like this that turns so many people off to even hearing who Jesus is. They think they know, but really they’ve been fed half-truths.

Well, back to today’s subway prophet . . . At first he is selling newspapers. I close my eyes and feign sleep because I know he will eventually come by me and ask me for money and that always makes me uncomfortable. So, to escape the discomfort I try to go somewhere else in my mind. But then he stops hocking newspapers and starts saying “Jesus is coming! Jesus is coming back!” I really close my eyes tight, then. Somewhere in my mind is this fear that in a fit of uncontrolled rage I will stand up and rebuke him for heresy. So I shut my eyes and hoped he would just go away and not say anything too terrible.

This man stands in front of a White passenger in a business suit (I know because I peeked) and says, “Jesus is coming! Jesus is coming back! And he’s gonna come back as a White man.” He laughs to himself and then almost mockingly says, “He’s coming back as a White man with blonde hair and blue eyes. That’s right, Jesus will come back as an executive in a suit—because no one would know him if he came back as a Black man. If he came back looking the way he really did with dark skin and wearing ragged clothes.”

Then the subway prophet went back to selling newspapers as if nothing had been said. I kept my eyes closed, willing my mind to sleep the rest of the way in to work. A minute later, he stopped near me and said, “You’d better wake up because Jesus is coming back. Open your eyes because he is coming.” My physical eyes did not open, but the ones in my heart did.

I got to thinking: How often do I shut my eyes to Jesus hoping he’ll come knocking at a more convenient time with easier things for me to do?

© Michelle Scott 2006