“‘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, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’"
(Matthew 25:44-45)
Matthew positions the teaching of our text today shortly before Jesus is arrested and crucified. In the days leading up to his arrest, Jesus taught in the temple, confronting the religious elite and all who would listen, with the news that relationship with the living God was less about keeping the rules and more about how one lives in the world.
Today's text confronts hunger, loneliness, poverty, illness, and the outcast. To acknowledge these needs as a part of their culture would not have surprised anyone who heard Jesus. However, his closing sentence must have grabbed their attention, just as it still grabs ours today...whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. Jesus powerfully calls any who will listen to recognize that relationship with God empowers action in the everyday situations of life. To ignore need is to ignore Christ.
My conclusion for this devotional thought is our prayer today, written by Sharlande Sledge. The prayer is entitled, Selfishness.
God, forgive us for being asleep when you need us. You agonize over the world's hungry while we worry whom to invite to dinner. God, forgive us for neglecting your children and not risking our own security for their needs. We know Christ's teachings. We know the needs of the world. We know ourselves. God, forgive us for not transforming what we have been taught into what we do. Amen.
Jim Abernathy
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