April 6, 2016
JESUS CARES SO, SO DEEPLY.
Matthew 25:31–46
Sue Bohlin
Central Truth
King Jesus takes treatment of "the least of these" very, very personally.
Key Verse | Matthew 25:40
"And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'" (Matthew 25:40)
Matthew 25:31–46
The Final Judgment
31 When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you 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 food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited 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 feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, 1 25:40 Or brothers and sisters you did it to me.’
41 Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 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 visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Dive Deeper | Matthew 25:31–46
In this passage, King Jesus is judging the nations for their treatment of His “brothers.” These could be Jews or Christians, the downtrodden and weak, or even other categories we don’t know about. What we do know is that when people are hungry, thirsty, unknown, naked, sick, or imprisoned, Jesus intensely cares about how their needs are met or not met. He takes it quite personally.
This is not the only place where we see the Lord identify closely with His people, especially "the least of these." In Zechariah 2:8, God reassures His beloved Israel through His prophet that "he who touches you touches the apple of [my] eye." I suppose only those who have had eye surgery (especially while awake! Yowza!!) can truly appreciate how tender and sensitive the pupil—in Hebrew, the "gate"—of the eye is. What an incredible statement of our value to God that He would say, "Touch My people, you touch Me in a most sensitive place." We see it again in Acts 9:4b when Jesus blinds Saul of Tarsus, who is literally hell-bent on his agenda of persecuting and killing followers of The Way, and challenges him with, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
In today’s passage, we read, "And the King will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'" God takes it VERY personally when anyone mistreats, much less abuses, one of His own.
Those of us who have experienced pain or trauma often ask, "Where was God when _____ happened?" And like the terrified disciples in the boat during a horrible storm while Jesus slept, we can wonder, "Lord, don’t you care?"
Oh, He cares. He cares more deeply than we can imagine. He identifies so closely with us that He experiences our pain and trauma from within us. And if people show us kindness in our time of need, He will reward them. Conversely, if someone ignores the needs of "the least of these," He will say, "Away from Me."
Oh, He cares.
Discussion Questions
1. Have you ever wondered if God was paying attention to your hurt, or maybe He was busy off maintaining the stars and galaxies? What difference does today’s reading make to you?
2. Who are "the least of these" in your world? Are you courageous enough to ask the Lord what HE thinks about who that would be? And what does He want us to do about it?
3. If you’re alive when King Jesus judges the sheep and the goats, will He send you to His right or His left? Do you need to change that today? Can we help? Leave a comment, and we’ll talk to you!