Seth Udinski, FISM News
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Yesterday, Live Action News released a troubling report that revealed a 53-year-old employee of a North Carolina-based Wendy’s restaurant has been terminated from his job with no prior notice, after 20 years on the job. The man has Down syndrome, yet he was reportedly a faithful employee who was close to retirement before his supervisor unexpectedly fired him.
Dennis Peek had worked at the Wendy’s as a busboy for two decades. Last week, Peek had reportedly been summoned by his supervisor and was told he was being terminated with no specific reason given.
Peek’s older sister Cora, who has taken care of her brother as his legal guardian, was outraged. She told a local news outlet:
He is my baby brother. I got guardianship of him when my mom passed. He’s like my kid, he’s mine now. (Dennis’ manager) just terminated him, she said she had a job that needed to be done, and he wasn’t doing it […] I was very upset, I was very upset.
The story caught wind on social media, and many shared in Cora Peek’s anger at her brother’s termination. As a result, ownership executives of the restaurant reached out to Cora to apologize. They called the firing “an unfortunate mistake and lapse in protocol” and invited Dennis to return to his position immediately.
The executives did not go into details about the manager who had issued the firing. Instead, they said,
This was an unfortunate mistake that we’re working through with the team member, his job coach and family. We’re also using this as an opportunity to retrain all our teams on our protocols.
Dennis declined the offer to return to Wendy’s, choosing instead to retire.
Author’s Biblical Analysis:
Christians can learn several lessons from this report. Certainly, there is the lesson of forgiving those who hurt us, and it is good for us to pray for Dennis Peek and his family as he moves forward, that he would be able to forgive the manager at Wendy’s who unjustly fired him.
There is also a lesson here for those in positions of authority, to deal well with those under us, knowing we also serve a Master in heaven to whom we will someday give account.
But even more than those, there is a vital reminder for Christians — We must love and care for the “least of these” as our Lord has commanded us to do.
In no way do I want to try to trivialize or patronize those with Down syndrome, or any other disability. Rather, my point is for the believers reading this with no physical or mental impairments, who may come in contact with those who have special needs.
Therefore, you must love and care for those who, as our Lord said in Matthew 25:34-40, are the “least of these brothers of mine.”
Then the King will say to those on His right hand, “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.” Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, “Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?” And the King will answer and say to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.
Why are we to do this? Let me offer you two reasons. The first reason is simply that whatever we do for one of these, we do for the Lord. The point that Jesus is making here is not to promote works-based pietism. Nor is he foolishly claiming that He was somehow magically connected to each prisoner, sick patient, or homeless person. etc.
Rather, He is simply saying this — If you love My Father, you will love those whose needs are greatest and who may not be able to give you much or anything in return.
Our love for the needy is evidence of our love for the Father. If we love the Father, we will love the least of these, and the only way we can truly love the least of these is if that love overflows from a heart that loves God first.
The second reason brings us to our knees and to the cross — We must love the least of these because that is what our Lord has graciously done for us.
In the final analysis, all of us are spiritually categorized as “the least of these.” We are fatally disabled, sick with a cure from which we cannot heal on our own. In fact, we are spiritually dead without God.
What has He done for us? Instead of ignoring us and casting us out, spiritually dead as we are, the Father has welcomed us to His table and treated us as sons and daughters, for the sake of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
We must love the least of these because that is what our gracious God has done for us.
Believer, you will have countless opportunities to show the love of Christ to those who are needy. Do not miss it. Look for the needs you can meet, not to be a hero, but because of your eternal gratitude to God, who has met your greatest need of all — the need for a Savior.
Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. – James 1:27