One day a young fugitive, trying to hide himself
from the enemy, entered a small village.
The people were kind to him and offered him
a place to stay.

But when the soldiers who sought the fugitive
asked where he was hiding,
everyone became very fearful.

The soldiers threatened to burn the village
and kill every person in it
unless the young man was handed over
to them before dawn.

The people went to the Rabbi and asked him
what to do.
Torn between handing over the boy
to the enemy and having his people killed,
the Rabbi withdrew to his room and
read his Bible, hoping to find an answer
before dawn.

In the early morning, his eyes fell on these
words, "It is better that one man dies than that
the whole people be lost."
Then the Rabbi closed the Bible, called the soldiers,
and told them where the boy was hidden.
And after the soldiers led the fugitive away
to be killed, there was a feast in the village
because the Rabbi had saved the lives of
the people.

But the Rabbi did not celebrate.
Overcome with deep sadness, he remained
in his room.
That night an angel came to him and asked,
"What have you done?"
He said, "I handed over the fugitive
to the enemy."

Then the angel said,
"But don't you know that you have handed over
the Messiah?"
"How could I know?" the Rabbi replied anxiously.
Then the angel said,
"If, instead of reading your Bible,
you had visited this young man just once and
looked into his eyes, you would have known."

---- An Old Talmudic Tale, from the book,
"Spiritual Direction" by Henri Nouwen

The question Henri Nouwen asks everyone of us
is this, "Are we not challenged in daily life to look
deeper into the eyes of the people we encounter
and to see in them the face of God?"