“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 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. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
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. 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, 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.’
Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
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. 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 invited me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
They will also 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?’
He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
Then they will go away to the eternal punishment, but the righteous to the eternal life.�
Matthew 25:31-46 (The Sheep and the Goats)
Philip Yancey writes, “If we cannot detect God’s presence in the world, it may be that we have been looking in the wrong places.� Why don’t we take this scripture more literally than we do? After all, “you is where the church lives.� Maybe its time me, you, we, us, get out and find Jesus in disguise today. The question of where is God when it hurts is best answered by another question, “where is the church when it hurts?� I guess my challenge is to take this scripture as literal as it is.
‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
