After Pentecost Devotional - Day 46

“The king will answer, “Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.” Matthew 25:40

Whether referring to good or bad, we have difficulty understanding the scope and application of these words of Jesus. In fact, Jesus uses these same words in opposite scenarios in the passage. The king utters them in reference to ministering to someone deemed insignificant and failing to do the same. He treats both as ministering to or refusing to minister to Jesus.

The issue here is integral to the pattern of the incarnation. God came to earth precisely to identify with humanity, beginning with the least considered of all. As we already noted, Jesus birth is described in Matthew as part of a lineage of foreigners within Israel. He was born to an unwed mother, hailed by idolatrous star worshippers from a land far away, and forced to flee as a refugee into exile to Egypt. He spoke with foreigners, healed lepers, and lived the life of the common man, not the life experience of the higher echelons of society.

He ministered to crowds of common people on the basis of their needs, not due to any social consideration of their being worthy of his time, energy, or attention. He dealt with people in grace and mercy after the fashion of Yahweh's care for all people. He focused most especially on those marginalized by their societies. In so doing, Jesus established a pattern for those of us who would follow in discipleship.

While we deal in categories that place people in various castes of importance, Jesus' words here turn those categories on their heads. He places a king in the story at hand of judgment. This king, however, is concerned with the poor, disenfranchised, blind, lame, hungry, thirsty, sick, and indebted. The king is focused on making sure that those who live at the mercy of the higher echelons of society are cared for in a manner of service that would normally be offered freely to the king.

Then Jesus goes beyond that definition. He goes further to tell us that the king considers the treatment of the neglected as the way society is treating the king personally. The judgment presented here relates directly and completely to how we treat one another, specifically those we would naturally write off as worthless and unworthy of our attentions. As the king personalizes that treatment, the judgment we face lies in direct relation to the manner in which we regard and respond to one another's needs.

Jesus speaks of the hungry, thirsty, naked, and languishing in debtor's prison. He addresses very real, material needs. He addresses our lack of compassion. He addresses our lack of recognizing him in our fellow human being. He addresses how even those who do indeed minister indiscriminately to people in needs often fail to recognize the true character of their service as directed toward God. He is also very direct in pointing out that by failing one another we ultimately fail ourselves by rejecting God's values and priorities. While we may fail to recognize the spirituality of a social ministry, we see it tightly bound to Jesus' ministry, the very mystery of God's incarnation on our behalf.

Determine to see the people around you as prized by God, the new incarnation of God's presence and the opportunity to minister to the One we call Lord.


"Lord, make me more aware that you might become incarnate in my life."

—©Copyright 2016, Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/ 
My latest books can be found here on amazon

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