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Writer's picturemusingsofasheep
7 min read

God's Work on a Brooklyn Subway

Just when I thought nothing could ever surprise me in New York, here's a story of a man who found his wife, who went missing during the Nazi Terror. He found her through a subway encounter on the Brooklyn Subway. The moral of the story? Coincidence is not what we think it is and God is at work even when you and I don't know.


New York is one of the states that I will always love despite its imperfections. It was the first place I have visited ever in the United States. And I have grown a lot there as a person and college student. I also had a lot of fun there meeting wonderful people, appreciating beautiful nature parks, watching Broadway performances, falling in love, and, to some extent, just being in the city itself. That said, NYC is very crowded and busy as well. And, if you go home late enough, you'll see that a train station can also look like a murder scene way before a crime.


It goes without saying that it's pretty tough how people who have business with each other cross paths in a fast-paced city like New York if not through work and social events that have been scheduled ahead of time.




I always thought of people in the city to be very intentional as they walk and jump from one line to another living their busy lives. Another thing that went unnoticed in all the times I have been there are the strong walls (or force field, if you will) that each person carries with them that just screams "mind your own business," which is why this story that came out in the 1940s about a miracle that happened on a Brooklyn subway made a strong impression on me.


God's Work on a Brooklyn Subway



One day, a man named Marcel Sternberger went to visit a sick friend living in New York borough. Sternberger lived in the state for a long time but had never been to the borough where his friend was. After visiting his friend, he jumped on the subway mid-afternoon and the subway was, of course, packed. He had neither taken this train before nor rode the subway during rush hour. He waited patiently to find an empty seat, which he found rather easily as more people jumped out of their seats to go out of the train.


Sternberger said,

I’ve been living in New York long enough not to start conversations with strangers. But being a photographer, I have the peculiar habit of analyzing people’s faces, and I was struck by the features of the passenger on my left. He was probably in his late 30s, and when he glanced up, his eyes seemed to have a hurt expression in them. He was reading a Hungarian-language newspaper, and something prompted me to say in Hungarian, “I hope you don’t mind if I glance at your paper.”

Sternberger asked the man whose name turned out to be Paskin if it is okay to read the newspaper he was holding. Paskin said it's okay since he has more time to read it later.

During the half-hour ride to town, we had quite a conversation. He said his name was Bela Paskin. A law student when World War II started, he had been put into a German labor battalion and sent to the Ukraine. Later he was captured by the Russians and put to work burying the German dead. After the war, he covered hundreds of miles on foot until he reached his home in Debrecen, a large city in eastern Hungary.

Unfortunately, when he went home his apartment had no trace of his wife - only strangers. There were people he did not know who were living in their two-storey apartment that was previously occupied by his father, mother, wife, and siblings.


A neighbor's son saw him as he left the house heartbroken and ran after him shouting "Paksin bacsi!" (Uncle Paskin). Paksin went to the boy's home and his neighbors informed him that his entire family is dead and that his wife was brought to Auschwitz, which he knew to be one of "the" worst Nazi concentration camps, where absolutely no one is expected to survive.


Too hurt to remain in Hungary because of his family's death, Paksin crossed border after border until he managed to immigrate in the States just three months before he met Sternberger.


Sternberger then asked where Paskin thought his wife was and the anxious Paskin replied,

I have no idea where she is. I am hoping beyond hope that she was still alive when the Allies came and that they brought her to America.

After hearing this, Sternberger remembered meeting a woman at a gathering weeks ago who said that her husband had been taken by the Russian Army. She was sent to Auschwitz but later rescued by Allies and was taken to the United States. Sternberger wondered if this was the same woman. Good thing he had taken her telephone number and name, "Marya Paskin." So Sternberger turned to the man and asked him, "What was your wife's name?"


He said, "Marya Paskin."


Sternberger told him that they should get off the train at the next station, where Sternberger found a phone booth and asked Paskin to wait a minute. Sternberger dialed the number he got from Marya. After several rings, Marya picked up the phone.


Sternberger asked, "Marya? This is Marcel Sternberger. Do you remember me?"


"Yes," she said.


Then he asked her where she lived in Debrecen. She shared the address and confirmed with Paskin that it was indeed the address. Sternberger told Paskin, who at the time became extremely pale,

"Try to be calm. Something miraculous is about to happen to you. Here, take this telephone and talk to your wife!"

He waved to Paskin and hands the man the phone. Paskin began to talk and when he realized who it was the sobs were so uncontrollable that he could only keep saying, "Marya! Marya! I go to my wife!"


It was a tearful reunion and Sternberger too has wept out of joy.


The article ends with these words,


"Skeptical persons will no doubt attribute the events of that memorable afternoon to mere chance. Was it CHANCE that made Sternberger suddenly decide to visit his sick friend and hence take a subway line he had never been on before? Was it CHANCE that caused the man sitting by the door of the car to rush out just as Sternberger came in? Was it CHANCE that caused Bela Paskin to be sitting next to Sternberger reading a Hungarian newspaper? Was it chance or did GOD ride the Brooklyn Subway that day?

No such thing as random coincidences


Oxford languages define coincidence as a "concurrence of events without apparent causal connection." As someone in Christ, I have long dismissed this definition of coincidences just as how I do not support the claim of those who say there is no God yet put forward the idea that there is a higher being or force out there that is in charge of everything.


But the universe, our very images, the personality of animals and people - they all point to a great designer.


One of the interesting things I have learned from a pastor, Ravi Zacharias, who recently passed away is that people sometimes attribute everything that is happening to a force or a higher being that isn't God simply because they do not know who God is.


Other times people simply would like to deny His existence. Then, there are those who just do not care because they have gotten too used to the things in life that keep them busy that temporarily drowns out the emptiness in our hearts meant to be filled by God. This is why there are those who always run after the next good thing only to feel empty.


For some of us, it may feel easier to say "May the Force Be With You!" instead of saying "Lord Jesus, what is it you want me to do?" But out of the two trains of thought here, one clearly stands out as the right choice as it puts God at at the center of our lives and gives us a sense of direction that is designed to help us life life to its full.


John 10:10 ESV says, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."


God is in Control

Did you know that God is a loving Father who is always at work? All the time... even when we don't know. If we translate the word coincidence in Greek, we'd get synkyrian. This combines two words: sun (together with) and kurios (supreme authority). This basically tells us that there exists a biblical definition of coincidence which takes into account the presence of a supreme authority. Here's what this source tells us:

coincidence is "what occurs together by God’s providential arrangement of circumstances.”

Question: does God care that much about us to know all the circumstances we will experience? One of the verses that paints a picture of just how much God cares is Matthew 10:29 (NIV) which says,

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.

This verse tells us that nothing is too small for God's attention. Some might be surprised to know this and it's likely because our idea of who God is isn't clear so take the time to know Him. Here's a man who was influenced to commit suicide but has found hope and refocused.



Ravi Zacharias once said “I think the reason we sometimes have the false sense that God is so far away is because that is where we have put him. We have kept him at a distance, and then when we are in need and call on him in prayer, we wonder where he is. He is exactly where we left him.”


Here's a short prayer guide if your heart is open to it:"Lord, I have come to pray. Reveal to me who you are. I want to encounter Jesus. I pray for wisdom and understanding that I may know You, know to which I have been called, and be enlightened with your Word. Please give me a deeper understanding of what it actually meant for you to die on the cross and give me deeper reverence for Who You truly are. In Jesus' Name I pray, Amen."


Cheers and more soon,

Grace :)

 

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