Matthew 25: 31-45 whatever you did to the least of
these, you did to me
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.’
Whatever you did to the least of these, you did to God! I often give a sermon to this passage that
asks us what we would do if we saw someone walking alongside the road. Would we pick them up? Or would we leave them? Would we offer them a
ride? Or would we give ourselves all the reasons why right now we can’t pick
them up. I reminded everyone that there
are reasons why someone walks along the edge of the road and their story of
getting there is probably wrought with twist and turns of judgement. Yet out of our hands we pass on by. So did all the on lookers during Jesus trail
and walk with the cross. We are reminded
that there were crowds of witness. Good
people doing nothing; good people following leaders they presumed to be
good. For the majority of our life,
living a “good” life actually means doing nothing. A good person still pass by people on the
side of the road for good reasons (time, safety, room in their car). But as Christians we are not called to be
good people, we are called to be followers.
We are called to do more and to be more.
We are called to be extra-ordinary!
What will you do this week to be more than just a good person?
