Whatever you do to the least of these. Blog Through the Bible Project | Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires

Matthew 25 31-46

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.’

Those blessed by the Father of Jesus are blessed because of their kindness and generosity to the least of these.

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.”

This is a scary parable. Everything will be exquisitely simple at the end. According to this parable, people will be judged–or condemned–based on their kindness and generosity.

Those who saw the “least of these” hungry, thirsty, a stranger, sick and unjustly imprisoned and did nothing will be condemned by Christ. Those who showed some kindness and generosity will be rewarded.

Christ identifies with the least of these. What we do to them, we do for him.

What is dazzling about this parable is that people are not judged on whether they have heard or believed any particular theology. They are judged on whether they were kind to the hungry, sick, imprisoned, desperately poor and the aliens in the land.

To whom does Jesus refer as “ whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine?” I take the majority view–that he “refers to all who are hungry, sick, imprisoned, and persecuted aliens.” No one can meet the needs of all the poor in the world, not even those who are blessed by the Father of Jesus. I guess Christ judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart, when he looks at the times people have been generous, and the times they have failed to be generous and kind as he decides who shall receive the blessed inheritance of a happy eternity with him.

Preaching of the Gospel should never be divorced from care for the poor–whether through financial generosity or actual service.

In the eyes of Christ is financial generosity to the poor acceptable service to the poor–if for instance, one’s calling is to something different than feeding, clothing, visiting….?

Yes, I believe so. Though we must make sure that we are actually being financially generous!! (And, having said that, I realize it’s time for me to update my giving!!)