PART 2
Here’s the scripture passage again if you need a refresher.
Matthew 25:31-46
The Sheep and the Goats
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Part 2
Another interesting thought that I had in this scripture is how the righteous are the ones who are confused. They never knew when they were helping the poor. They ask Jesus “When did we see you hungry?” Almost as to innocently ask because they have treated everyone the same.
They did not know the difference between helping the least of these and helping Jesus.
This to me shows the kind of witness that Christians must have. We should have the kind of vision and love that is not affected negatively by the hierarchies that the world bestows upon us.
We have a group of neighbors across the street who my “cool” neighbors constantly treat differently. It’s because they are a little different. They are introverted, struggle with mental health and not the prototype neighbors. But you know what? They are my friends. And it’s everyone else’s loss to miss out on what my neighbors have to offer. They gave Cruz a cupcake yesterday for their sons birthday and the dad is an engineer for the Navy. Super smart and very kind people. We made him a card. Check out the artistry.
They are big Minecraft fans so I drew a picture of Cruz and Xander as Minecraft characters.
Cruz drew his own picture inside.
I pray that we can be the kind of Christians who don’t treat people as though they are on the bottom of the totem pole. Let’s treat people like “little Christ’s.” That’s what Mother Teresa use to say about the people she interacted with on a daily basis. She would say that she would treat everyone she saw like they were a “little Christ.” And that’s what the scripture teaches today.
Whatever you do for the least of these you do for Christ.