Make me like Joe! Make me like Joe!

Joe was a drunk who was miraculously converted at The Bowery Mission. A word about the Bowery and the Mission: Once a place of residences for the rich and famous of lower Manhattan, in the late 19th century the Bowery slid to become New York’s notorious area of prostitution, saloons, brothels, cheap merchandise, poverty and the flop houses that came with it.

The Bowery Mission was founded in 1880 by Reverend Albert Ruliffson as a religious and social welfare institution to assist people in crisis. You may picture in your minds those parishes and halls where men could receive a free, hot meal— after they had impatiently listened to a salvation sermon. The Bowery Mission continues its ministry to this day, its motto being, “Rebuilding Lives Since 1879.” Last year alone they provided 258.000 meals, 56,000 nights of shelter and 21,000 articles of clothing.

A second note by way of theological preface: you recall Jesus’ judgment of the nations in the twenty- fifth chapter of Matthew, “As you did to the least of these—fed, gave drink, clothed, welcomed, took care of—you did it unto me.” I really believe Jesus could have said as well, “As you did it to the least of these, you did it as me.”

Back to our story. Prior to his conversion, Joe had gained the reputation of being a dirty wino for whom there was no hope, destined only for a miserable existence in the ghetto-like setting of lower Manhattan. But following his conversion to a new life with God, everything changed.

Joe became the most caring, sacrificial person that anyone associated with the mission had ever known. Joe spent his days and nights helping out at the Bowery Mission, doing whatever needed to be done to make life better for others. There was never anything that he was asked to do that he considered beneath him. Such as cleaning up the vomit left by some violently sick alcoholic or scrubbing toilets after careless men left the room filthy, taking the garbage out to the alley or washing the pots and pans in the kitchen.

Joe did what was asked with a smile on his face and a seeming gratitude for the chance to help the mission and help others. He could always be counted on to feed feeble men who wandered off the street and into the mission, and to undress and tuck into bed men who were too inebriated or drugged to take care of themselves.

One evening, when the director of the mission was delivering his evangelistic message to the usual crowd of still and sullen men with drooped heads, there was one man who looked up, came down the aisle to the altar, and knelt to pray, crying out for God to help him change.

The repentant drunk kept shouting, “Oh God! Make me like Joe! Make me like Joe! Make me like Joe! Make me like Joe!”

The director of the mission leaned over and said to the man, “Son, I think it would be better if you prayed, ‘Make me like Jesus.’” The man looked up at the director with a quizzical expression on his face and asked, “Is he like Joe?”