“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by 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 welcomed me, 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? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?” And the King will answer them, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” “Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” Then they also will answer, saying, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?” Then he will answer them, saying, “Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:31-46 ESV)
“Sometimes I think we forget about others needs, to busy trying to reap life’s crops to be sowing seeds, our own selfishness blinds our eyes until we can’t help others see, how can I lea a blind man to the Lord if my eyes are stuck on me?” so begins one of my favorite songs by Todd Zielinski, The Least of These. What we do for the least of our brothers and sisters we do to the Lord.
You see in Jesus’ day those outcast by society had no support mechanism. If you were in prison, then you had nothing, and needed someone to provide for you. The prison did not provide clothing, bedding, food. We think of prison as a life where things are provided for you, but that was not the case and most of the time, the family of the prisoner shunned them, so they had nothing. Even today this is the case south of the border in the USA. Prisons in Mexico provide little if anything for inmates and they must rely on the family or the stranger to provide for them.
You see we have been tricked into believing that this verse is about getting into heaven. Because Jesus is separating the sheep from the goats, and sending one to the kingdom prepared for them, and the others to the fires prepared for them. We get hung up on wanting to do the right thing for us, we forget about the other. We lose sight of what Jesus is really telling us here, that we need to treat everyone with respect and not be so concerned with ourselves that we miss the world around us. We need to go and be the hands and feet of Jesus, not worrying about our own needs, but the needs of those around us, and if we all do this, then someone is worried about your needs, so you can take care of the last, lost, least or little…
So do to the least of these, as you would have done unto you and know that Christ is watching over you.
aSacredRebel 