For Him

When were you naked and I clothed you?

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.' Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." - Matt. 25:31-46

People can influence each other's behavior.

We tend to think that no one notices when we do something nice for someone.  This is especially true if we don't tell anyone about it.

But people notice.

Even if no one saw what was done, word can spread, from the person helped to others who may turn around and do something similar for someone else.

Look at the stories of those Jesus healed.  Even though he told them to tell no one, word spread.

We know about these things because of that.

In today's reading, Jesus wants us to know that he sees what we do and he treats those things as if they were done to him, personally.

Now, the message here is targeted at our fears, and our ego.  Do we want to be one of the ones told we didn't do these things when the judgment comes?  Of course not.

We want to be chosen.

It is a selfish reason for wanting to do these things, which is not really what Jesus has in mind. 

He wants us to do these things out of love for one another.  Maybe, if we do them in secret, we are doing them with love as our motive.

In the end, there will be a rewward for such behavior, but only if it is real, from the heart.

That is why Jesus tells us if we brag about these things we do, we will have already received our reward.

So, I guess the message is do these things for the people in need, and not for us or for Jesus.  Jesus will see and know we did them, and he will feel the benefit as if it had been done for him.

That means we should be able to see Jesus in everyone we meet.

More to come...