To the extent that you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for Me, either

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

“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 And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; ³³ and He will put the sheep on His right, but 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 as a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? ³⁹ And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ ⁴⁰ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me.’

⁴¹ “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you accursed people, 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 as 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 for one of the least of these, you did not do it for Me, either.’ ⁴⁶ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

26 When Jesus had finished all these words, He said to His disciples, ² “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is to be handed over for crucifixion.”

³ At that time the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together in the courtyard of the high priest named Caiaphas; ⁴ and they plotted together to arrest Jesus covertly and kill Him. ⁵ But they were saying, “Not during the festival, otherwise a riot might occur among the people.”

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 expensive perfume, and she poured it on His head as He was reclining at the table. ⁸ But the disciples were indignant when they saw this, and said, “Why this waste? ⁹ For this perfume could have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.” ¹⁰ But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you bothering the woman? For she has done a good deed for 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 told in memory of her.”

Ephesians 2:8-10 says: By grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.  James 2:14-17 says: What use is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? In the same way, faith also, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.  Our salvation is not a result of our works, rather it should be that our works are a result of our salvation. 1 John 4:19 says: We love, because He first loved us.  In response to His saving love for us, we do the good works God prepares for us.

In today’s text Jesus says: “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left.”  It is important that we recognize that the nations that are gathered, separated and judged are not government, political or geographic entities. The word translated nation is the Greek word “ethnos.” It is individuals of every race, tribe and ethnicity that will be gathered before the glorious throne.  The separation is not according to their political or geographic identity. It is not according to their race or ethnicity. No one will be judged because of where they were born, by the color of their skin or by what government ruled over them. Jesus continues saying:  “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. 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; 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, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You as a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me.’ Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you accursed people, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 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.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or as a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for Me, either.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”  Each person will be judged by how they responded to the saving love of Jesus.

Romans 5:8 says: God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  In response to the cross, how will we treat others? It may be difficult, when we see sinners and outcasts, those who are in difficult and desperate situations, sometimes because of their own choices and actions, to see Jesus in them. We should though, at the very least, see Jesus on the cross for them, that while they were sinners, He died for them.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit, thank You that You first loved me. When I didn’t deserve it, You died on the cross so that I could live. May I live in You and for You. May I do the works that You have prepared for me. When I see others in their desperate situations and circumstances, may I see You on the cross, demonstrating Your love for them. Amen