The Lord Jesus, giving the last parable before the dominos that led to His cricifixion began to fall, described a scene where He would be arriving in great glory accompanied by holy angels and He will occupiy a great throne of glory.
All the nations of the earth will be gathered before Him and as a judge, He will separate these nations into two categories: The sheep and the goats. The sheep will be placed on His right side and He will bless them and welcome them into the kingdom they have inherited. The Lord gives the reason for their inclusion in this first group is that they;
- When Jesus was hungry, they gave Him food
- When Jesus was thirsty, they have Him drink
- When Jesus was unknown, they welcomed and included Him
- When Jesus was naked, they gave him clothes
- When Jesus was sick, they visited Him
- When Jesus was imprisoned, they came to see Him
Those who were blessed were confounded because they had no recollection of doing these things for Jesus but He informed them that everytime they helped the people in the margins with no status, no voice and no strength, they were directly helping Him.
31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you 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 food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was 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, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
In contrast, those who were placed on the left side of the throne, classified as goats, were those who did not undertake to minister to those on the lowest rungs of society and by failing to do so, let Jesus languish in their midst and were now to face eternal judgement.
41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’
44 “Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ 45 Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
This sobering event reminds us that a primary preoccupation of the Lord is the care of the weak and lowly for He very strongly identifies with them and He has given all people an unlimited credit card such that anything given to the poor and any expense undertaken on their behalf is charged to Him and he will repay it.
As Proverbs chapter 19 verse 17 says;
He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, And He will pay back what he has given.
This unconditional contract removes any excuse that we may have from helping the poor.
Have mercy on us O God.
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