Matt 25:31-46 for Sunday, March 2, 2008

Translation:
(31) And when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon the throne of his glory, (32)and all the peoples will gather before him and he will separate them from one another just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. (33)And he will put the sheep at his right and the goats at his left. (34)Then, the king will say to the ones at his right, "Come, those who are blessed by my father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. (35)For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, (36)naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you cared for 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 we nourished you or thirsty and we gave you drink? (38)And when did we see you, a stranger and welcomed you or naked and we clothed you? (39)And when did we see you sick or in prison and we came to you?" (40)And answering, the King will say to them, "Truly I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least of these my brothers, you did for me. (41)Then he will say to those on his left, "Depart from me. You have been cursed into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. (42)For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not care for me." (44)Then they will answer and say "Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and we did not serve you?" (45)Then he will answer them saying, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me." (46)And they will depart into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

I'll never forget the time I told this story to some kids at Trinity. The question I asked them was if Jesus isn't physically sitting with us, how can doing any of these things be like doing it for Jesus? One of the children responded and was almost annoyed that my question was too simple. He said "Well, since God made us there is a little piece of God inside all of us and if we help other people, you're kind of helping God too."

Our Sacred Space group watched a video that talked a little bit about this. God breathed the breath of life into each one of us. God was intimately involved in everyone's beginning. God knows each breath we take.

Its true that if we see other people as made in the image of God, it's harder to do anything to harm them. It's harder to hurt their feelings. It's harder to deny them basic rights and privileges. It's harder not to feed them and it's harder to ignore their cries. This was a very basic principle in the Nazi concentration camps such as Auschwitz. The Nazis denied inmates basic human needs such as proper nourishment, baths or even properly fitting clothes. The fact of the matter is that if someone looks less than human it is easier to treat them that way.

When we honor every life as one that was sacredly made, then we honor each person as if they were Jesus. I think Jesus was telling us to take care of each other, but I think Jesus was also telling us that ordinary people are no less worthy of our greatest care and attention than the Son of Man, the Messiah, is.