9:56 p.m. - Thursday, Feb. 16, 2006
Finding the Least of These
Finding the least of these...
A passage we�re all familiar with:
"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 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.'
"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?'
"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.'
I was recently looking at this passage when something struck me that I had never noticed before. When he sends the goats into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, he tells them, �I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat.�
The goats respond, �When did we ever see you hungry?�
Jesus doesn�t answer them! He never denies that they didn�t see him hungry. He simply says that he was hungry and they didn�t feed him. He doesn�t say, �You saw me hungry and you gave me nothing to eat.�
This is very important, because unfortunately for these goats, they didn�t just find him hungry and not feed him, they never even tried to find him in the first place!
This means that ignorance is not an excuse.
It may also mean that there is a subtle command hidden in this story. We are not just told to feed the hungry and clothe the naked when we see them. We may actually be required to seek them out. After all, you don�t just stumble across someone who is in prison. You have to go find him.
So don�t wait for the least of these to come to you! Go find the hungry and thirsty and give him food and water. Search for the stranger and welcome him in. Seek out the woman shivering in the cold and give her clothing. Go to the sick and the outcast. Find him. Look after him. Love him.
For when you go looking for the least of these, you go looking for Christ.
