Lord, when did we see You...?

Matthew 25:31-26:13 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

³¹ “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; ³³ and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.

³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation 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 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to 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 And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? ³⁹ When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ ⁴⁰ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

⁴¹ “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been 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; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ ⁴⁴ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ ⁴⁵ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ ⁴⁶ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”…

⁶ Now when Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper, ⁷ a woman came to Him with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at the table. ⁸ But the disciples were indignant when they saw this, and said, “Why this waste? ⁹ For this perfume might have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.” ¹⁰ But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you bother the woman? For she has done a good deed to Me. ¹¹ For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me. ¹² For when she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial. ¹³ Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.”

“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another…”

There are some Biblical scholars who say that in this passage Jesus is referring to a time in the future, after the rapture of the church, when Jesus will judge the kingdoms of the world not individuals. They say this judgment will include how these countries have treated the nation of Israel. As I often acknowledge, I am not a Biblical scholar and so I don’t want to delve deeply into the underlying meaning of this or any scripture, particularly when there is an apparent application for all of us. I personally try not to focus too much on the end times and negative that is coming with that time. Rather I trust God’s word that He will never leave or forsake us. Jesus says:    “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. ³⁴ “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”      The end times and Jesus return will come, Jesus says:   "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”

So rather than looking at this text through a lens that sees it as applying only to others and not ourselves, let’s look to see what the application is for us as we seek the kingdom now.  Jesus says: “All nations will be gathered before Him”    When Jesus spoke of the signs of the end times He said:  "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom” (Matthew 24:7) The word used in today’s text for nations is the same word, ethnos which He used for nations in that verse. Jesus then is referring to people being gathered before Him, people of every race, tribe and tongue, not governments, not political entities. It says also that He will separate them from one another. This separation of these people of every race, tribe and tongue is not a separation based on that ethnic identity and how they collectively treated the nation of Israel, rather it is a separation of individuals based on their response to Jesus Himself.

“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation 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 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.” …⁴¹ “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been 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; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.”      It is interesting and vital to our understanding and application of this passage to our own lives that we recognize that neither one of these groups of people, the righteous nor the unrighteous knew that they had responded to, had  treated Jesus Himself in these ways. Both groups initial response is the same:      ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? ³⁸ And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? ³⁹ When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’   Jesus answer to both groups of people is also the same:   To the righteous He says:     ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’   And to the unrighteous: ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’     

Today’s text ends with this account:    Now when Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper, ⁷ a woman came to Him with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at the table. ⁸ But the disciples were indignant when they saw this, and said, “Why this waste? ⁹ For this perfume might have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.” ¹⁰ But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you bother the woman? For she has done a good deed to Me. ¹¹ For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me. ¹² For when she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial. ¹³ Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.”      This woman, recognized who Jesus was and made a beautiful sacrifice of worship to Him, for which she was commended and promised eternal recognition in the gospel. We today do still recognize her sacrifice of worship. The writer of Hebrews encourages us also to offer up sacrificial praise and worship. Hebrews 13:15 says:    Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. It is important that we worship and praise God the Father and Jesus Christ His Son, that we recognize that they are worthy of worship and praise. We are privileged, that through the cross of Christ, we can come into their presence at any and all times and worship and praise God the Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

I pray that today, in your time of devotion and prayer that you will see and recognize Jesus. I pray also and even more, that as you leave your place and time of devotion, worship and prayer;  you will continue to see Jesus, that you will recognize Him in the needy people you encounter today and every day. It is important that we worship our Lord, but it is equally important that we see Him and serve Him as we meet Him in His people every day.

I’ve included a link to a powerful song called “Come Find Me” please take a moment to listen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G_-N-s__8s

Amen.