FOR ONE OF THE LEAST OF THESE

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”

After telling the disciples his Second Coming, Jesus warned them to watch out and be ready for his coming. Then Jesus told them the last 3 parables before his trial and crucifixion. All these three parables are related to believers’ preparation and readiness of Jesus’ second coming. The first one among the three is the parable of the ten virgins. The five were waiting for the bridegroom’s coming with oil and the other five without oil. Only the virgins with oil entered the heavenly banquet. The oil in this parable represents personal relationship with Jesus and gospel faith. The second parable is the parable of the talents. In this parable, we learned that the time of settling accounts surely comes, and we should use our talents for the glory of God. The last one is the parable of the sheep and the goats. This parable tells us, at the final judgment day, the Judge will separate one by one to the right or to the left. May God help us to listen to Jesus.

Look at verse 31. “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.” The Son of Man comes in his glory. Jesus said this to the disciples repeatedly (16:27; 24:30; 25:31). His first coming was humble and quiet, and only few people noticed his coming. His Second coming will be different; he comes in his glory and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.

What will he do when he comes? Look at verse 32. “All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” The day of his coming is the day of Judgment. All the nations will be gathered before him. How can this happen? It is not easy to visualize in our human minds. We need consider the grandeur and magnificence of the Creator of the university. Isaiah 66:1 says, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?’” Before the Judge on this day, there is no difference among human beings. On this day, Prime Minister Stephan Harper and a pan handler from Yonge Street in Toronto may stand side by side before the Judge. He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left (33). The sheep on his right refer to the righteous, and the goats on his left the cursed. The Judge knows exactly who goes to his right, and who goes to his left. The Judge makes no mistake in separating one by one.

It’s not easy for us to make a right judgment. One of my tasks in my office is to approve or decline customers’ requests. Each day customers place orders online such as buying shares of stocks, exchanging money from one currency to another, and transferring fund from one account to another. At a glance, there is no way to determine which one should be approved or declined. When we examine their accounts and financial activities carefully, then we can decide whether we can approve or disapprove. But there are human errors; we make mistakes. As a result, the company sometimes has to compensate any loss due to human errors. In our justice system, the burden of proof is always burden to legal professionals. These days DNA test increased the accuracy significantly. We remember in the book of Genesis that Joseph’s brothers hated Joseph and sold him to Egypt. Then they tore his clothes, dipped it in animal’s blood, and brought it to their father Jacob. No doubt, Jacob assumed that his son Joseph had died. If this happened today, DNA test would have revealed that it was not Joseph’s blood.

The Judge on the final Judgment day makes no mistake in separating each person to the right or to the left. The Judge has the factual evidences. We use telephones in our daily life. Technology allows us to replay any phone calls if necessary. Not only that, satellite technology allows us to view every corner of the world. Using Google map, we can zoom in until we can see our houses. Yesterday, in Google map I saw our house and even our car parked in front of our house. There is an ongoing dispute as to this type of technology interrupts human privacy. Even we human beings know how to do these things, how much more the Creator God will do? God keeps all the records not only what we do, but also what we think. Verses 34-36 says, “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’”

Since the righteous did all these with pure motive, they do not keep track of what they did, they do not have self-righteousness. Their expression of God’s love for the needy is just part of their life and life style. They will ask the Judge, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you? When did we do all these?” But the Judge, the King, knows all. Look at verse 40. “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”

How did the Judge deal with the ones on the left side? Look at verses 41-43. “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.’” The cursed are also not aware of what they did not do. They will ask the King, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty…” (44) The King 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.” The cursed will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

In this parable, two interesting topics touched me.

First, the contrast between the blessed and the cursed. The response of the righteous was, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you? When did we do all these?” The response of the cursed was, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty…” In our common sense, the righteous and the cursed were supposed to know what they did and what they did not do. But both sides were not aware of this. In fact, this is very true. It is a matter of opening spiritual eyes. Selfishness makes us spiritually blind. Our hearts are prone to remain in selfishness, in our selfishness we are prone to miss the needs of others. Then selfish lifestyle is established and selfish life style look normal to us. For example, think about washing dishes at home. Washing dish is a great opportunity to learn serving and humility. In our selfishness and laziness, we may ignore dishes in the sink expecting someone else to do. As this habit continues, selfish lifestyle may be established. Then we become blind to dishes in the sink. No matter how many dishes are compiled in the sink, we are blind to it. If someone points out our problem, our response will be, “When did we have dishes in the sink? When did I not wash them?” We need to open our eyes to dishes in the sink. When our eyes are open, we can see dishes that needed to be washed. When we do so, we learn service and humility. The same is true with serving others. We need to open our eyes in serving others. Serving others starts with serving one person. Mother Teresa said, “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” As we serve others, God will open our eyes to see the needs of others more and more. When we see the needs of others unserved, we feel that we did not do enough. In the movie Schindler’s List, Schindler, after saving 1,200 lives during the holocaust, felt that he still did not do enough. He was looking at a ring at his finger, which has an inscription, “Whoever saves one life, saves the world.” he cried out with tears, “I could’ve got more... if I’d just... I don't know, if I'd just... I could’ve got more...s”.

Second, for one of the least of these. The King made clear point in his judgment. In rewarding the righteous, he said, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” And in punishing the cured, he said, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” The key is “whatever you did or did not for one of the least of these brothers of mine” because the King took it personally. Who is “one of the least of these”? In this passage, Jesus seems to talk about mostly physical need: Hungry, thirsty, stranger, needing clothes, sick, in prison. But the meaning goes much deeper than just physical needs. I would like to make one more quote from Mother Teresa, “Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat. Even the rich are hungry for love, for being cared for, for being wanted, for having someone to call their own.”

Back to the question: Who is “one of the least of these”? We would like to see this from the ministry of Jesus. One of the least of these is the one who need the grace of God and the love of God. When Jesus healed the blind man, the blind man was the one of the least of these. When Jesus drove out demon from a demon-possessed man, the man was the one. When Jesus feed the 5,000 people, the crowd was the ones. When Jesus talked to the Samaritan woman, the Samaritan woman was spiritually thirsty, and she was the one of the least of these. Nicodemus had wealth, social status, and title. He seemed to have everything. But he needed to be born again. He was one of the least of these. Jesus had 1:1 Bible study with him at night. The author of this gospel Matthew had been a tax collector. He had enough money. But he was lonely and had no life direction. He was one of the least of these. Jesus called him to be his disciple. How about us? Without God’s saving grace, what kind of life we might live today and tomorrow, what kind of eternity we may face? Each of us was one of the least of these.

Since God uses this ministry for world campus evangelism, young people in our generation are the ones who need God’s grace and love. Seemingly they may look just fine. Inwardly they may cry out for God’s grace and love.

I had a dream last night. In the dream, I was given a task of fixing a title. In the title, some numbers were missing. I was supposed to find the missing one and fix it. But I could not find the missing numbers and wasted time. When I came back to the room, I found that the title was already fixed and they were having banquet. This is God’s message for me as to how I should live for God’s glory and serve the needy. May God bless us to serve one of the least of these in the name of Jesus.

Charles Kim

Ryerson UBF, Toronto; May 11, 2008