Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.

"When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was 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, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'

"Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.' Then they also will answer Him, 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?' Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

- Matthew 25:31-46

In the past several readings, Jesus has been teaching His disciples first about what is to come in Jerusalem (including the destruction of the temple), and also His Second Coming (beginning here). Mostly, He has been continually instructing them in matters of leadership/servanthood, His concept of what it is to be great in His Church, in the Kingdom, and therefore how they are to conduct themselves in His absence and in preparation as they await His return. That hour we do not know, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, and not Christ Himself, only the Father. So, His emphasis has been on preparedness, watchfulness, wakefulness, mindfulness of that day and His return. He has given us several parables in this context. In yesterday's reading, we read of the servants who were each given a sum of talents to care for while the master is gone. Two of them invest and trade and create produce and yield from what is given to them. The third fears his master, and calls him a hard man, who reaps where he doesn't sow. This servant in his fear hides his sum in the ground, taking it out when the master returns. While the master rewards the first two, the third he chastises. "'You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away." See And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey.

"When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left." Today, Jesus gives us not a parable, but a vision of the Judgment that will accompany His return. This return is not as He came, in humility as the man Jesus, but in "glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory." This is an unimaginable pageant, a mystery of awesome glory, in which "all the nations will be gathered before Him." It is also a picture of separation: as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. One will be on His right hand (the sheep, fit for consecration to God), and the other on the left. We are reminded of the parable of the wheat and the tares, given in Matthew chapter 13 (see the parable and Jesus' explanation). In that parable, both tares and wheat are allowed to grow together until the end of the age, lest the good wheat be uprooted with the tares. But here is Judgment, together with the angels, whom Jesus explained were the reapers in the parable of the wheat and the tares. So this harvest is a picture of separation, and it is a picture of separation which will not happen until such time of harvest or Judgment.

"Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' " We note that He speaks to the sheep. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and so the sheep in this fold are those who are His followers, the ones who follow His leadership. And what we must note about their conduct is its personal contact with others, the response to need. I see more in this than our conventional notions of charity, although of course charity as we think of it is a great element here. But charity involves more than donation; this passage speaks of kindness, and the kindness involved in a sort of personal relationship, even perhaps with a stranger. The element of the personal here is kindness and compassion. And it is a giving not only of resources but of time, all touch somehow upon the personal and even the intimate. So, I think it's more than a statement or list of good works, but even of virtues, of personal character.

"Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.' " Here, Jesus exemplifies His notion of servant-leadership, a concept He has worked so hard in so much of His teaching in Matthew's gospel to instill in His disciples. He has said repeatedly that he who would be greatest among them, must be servant of all. There is a peculiar question here about "my brethren" and what it means. I think we can liken it to the parable of the Good Samaritan, found in Luke's gospel, in which Jesus is asked, "Who is my neighbor?" The answer is that a neighbor is one who acts like a neighbor. To be one of His brethren then seems to follow this conditional response, and everyone is called to be one of these brethren. But that rests with the Judgment. My study bible says, "Jesus identifies Himself with the poor and the outcast and invites to brotherhood all who are kindled with love for others (1 John 4:20). These are crowned with grace." We also recall Jesus' words in the Beatitudes, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." Jesus' teachings are filled with conditional statements of reciprocity, that depend on our own initiative in relatedness to others. To my mind, they are all statements that emphasize the personal, the virtues of character, the heart.

"Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.' Then they also will answer Him, 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?' Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." Again, Jesus' emphasis is on "the least of these." And we really have to think about "the least of these" in our lives. I take this beyond a social call on a grand social scale, but deeply into the personal, because Jesus' emphasis in teaching the disciples about servanthood has also been on the personal, on "the least of these" in their midst. I don't think this is only about the type of anonymous charity we can think of today on a grand social scale (although of course, all charity is good). But I also think of it on the personal level, where "the least of these" may be the most powerless person in a group, the meekest in the church, the ones anywhere who may be overlooked and left out, those who are easily dismissed. Christ is the knower-of-hearts, and so much of the gospel is taken up with an understanding of the most intimate knowledge of who we are in our hearts, our very thoughts. Therefore, the cultivation of this kind of virtue calls us out of ourselves, and into a kind of way of being in the world, a way of thinking about those who cannot pay us back, give us favor, even make us appear virtuous -- but rather those who are truly "the least of these." So many of Jesus' teachings have emphasized what "the Father sees in secret," especially when it comes to doing for others. Let us remember that when we read this passage.

So let us think, then, of the cultivation of the qualities of kindness and compassion, a personal sense of what charity truly is. St. Paul speaks precisely on the subjects of today's reading when he says, in 1 Corinthians 13:12-13, "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." Of course, the word translated as charity in the King James Bible is agape in the Greek, which simply means love. And love is the word used in more modern translations. Jesus has taught that where our treasure is, there our heart will be also, and that is also a picture of agape, of love. What do we love? How do we love? What is in our hearts -- what do we most treasure? The virtues of charity exemplified and spelled out here by Jesus are the virtues of love: kindness, compassion, gentleness, charity, sympathy, wanting what is good for others. We can extend these qualities to include encouragement, giving hope, even letting others know simply that they are not alone, praying for one another. There are endless examples. But, for me, they all call upon the personal, and hence touch upon just exactly where our faith is. How are you called to this today? There are so many ways to express it, so many ways to give it, whether or not we have money or material resources. Do we have time? A kind word? A glance of compassion? A prayer? This charity that we are called to is something we all have the means to give! But it takes true mindfulness to do so. Sometimes, if we're really paying attention, Christ may be calling us to this mindfulness in any situation, just so that we may respond.