The Least Of these

“But when  the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.  “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation 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; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited
Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give you something to drink? And when did we see you a stranger, and invite you in, or naked, and clothe you? When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?

The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ 

care for the poor has been the continual witness of the people of
God. The empire we live in will rise and fall by the way the poor are
treated. The biblical narrative is written from the bottom up, it is
a story of the poor, the captives. He hears the cry of the poor, He
has caused the poor to be rich in faith. The poor we will always have
with us, to care for, and love unconditionally. But we will also see
Jesus, don’t you think there is some kind of tie, in the faces of
the least, the, poor, the ones we don’t want around, we see Jesus.
If we would like to do things to Jesus, for Jesus, with Jesus, this
is done with or to the poor.

Contrary to what American dogma dictates for Christian’s, the witness of the
Spirit and the word, are that; ministry is among the poor, the
bruised reeds, and the smoldering wicks, although there are bruised
ones everywhere most are poor. The scripture may not be speaking of
the side effects of having more than you need. The guilt (conviction)
that is easily justified in this country, but when left in the
tension of living can tear a person up, some of this may be the
inevitable consequence of “too much”. Tony Campolo has said;
following Jesus is done as we take care of the least.

Saving people from hell and going to heaven, or the restoration of all things? The
lion and the lamb, no more war, violence, or death, the full beauty
of the Lord Jesus, His body complete, this is eternal life. Jesus
said if we follow Him that is what we have. Sell everything you own,
he told a greedy man, give it to the poor, follow me and have life. Furthermore
the people of God must be busy about restoration, reconciliation,
storming the gates of hell, shining the light in darkness.

There is nothing complicated about this, it is the simplicity we find in
Christ, We die to our life, dreams, ambitions, world view and
whatever else stops us from putting on Christ, and raise to walk in
newness of life. One final thing we all must live in the tension of
either getting out on a limb and cutting it off (faith extreme) and
considering the results if we have been presumptuous, they could be
like killing innocent Iraqis. Unnecessary collateral damage. Always in love
Your friend
bill