The least of these My brethren

"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 as 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

Over the past several readings, Jesus has been speaking about the end of the age, and of His Second Coming. We've been given several parables by Jesus that illustrate what He's talking about, how we should be preparing for His eventual return, and that it will happen at a time we do not expect. First He spoke about the faithful steward who does not become abusive to the fellow servants, but instead faithfully carries out His master's wishes, caring for the others. Then we were given the parable of the wise and foolish virgins who were awaiting the bridegroom. In yesterday's reading, Jesus illustrated the time in which we await His return with a parable about a man who traveled to a far country. While he was away, he gave his goods to several servants, to care for. To one he gave five talents, to another two, and another one -- each in accordance with their ability. The first two doubled the talents by trading with them. The third was afraid of the master, and hid his talent in the ground. After a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. So he who had received five talents, said, "Look, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them." His lord said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord." To the second who doubled his two talents, the master said the same thing. Then he who had received the one talent came and said, "Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours." But his lord answered and said to him, "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."

"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." Here is the illustration of the end of the age, and of His return, a vivid picture and no longer a parable. We are told in the most dynamic terms of His all-powerful presence at that time, and the Judgment of all the nations. We have to understand that it is immediately before His Passion and the Cross that this discourse takes place. My study bible says, "For if the first coming of the Son of Man was in humility, to serve and to die, the Second Coming will be in glory, as a King to judge all the nations." Sheep and goats, to my mind, denote those who follow His commandments from those who unrepentantly follow their own way, without reconsideration. His Way will be illustrated in the following verses.

"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 as 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.'" Here is Jesus' great teaching on mercy and on the practice of mercy. Repeatedly He has taught throughout the Gospels that it is the practice of mercy that opens up mercy to us. In the Beatitudes, He taught, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." Of course, a great question opened up for us here may be to ask who are "these My brethren." We could make the case, in fact, that He's speaking of His followers -- He's certainly speaking to them in this discourse, and repeatedly His parables have illustrated the importance of the care of the little ones, their fellow servants, while He is away. His concern is for "the least." Certainly those who would truly be His servants throughout the centuries would indeed suffer all of these things He has listed. But we can also turn toward the parable of the Good Samaritan, found in Luke's Gospel, in which the question is asked, "Who is my neighbor?" Again, we find there a kind of elective qualifier for "brethren" in that it was the one who behaved as a neighbor who was truly a neighbor. So, it is our own elective behavior -- as in the practice of mercy here described and illustrated by the Good Samaritan -- by which we are His brethren. In this case, those who elect to participate in His practice of mercy are the sheep who will sit on His right hand. My study bible says, "The least of these may refer primarily to Christian missionaries or to needy Christians and, by extension, all who suffer. 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."

"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." The rest of this discourse truly speaks for itself. But I think again that we must take note that He's speaking to believers, as the Gospels were written as testimony, witness for those who are nominally of the faith. In that light, this stark and harsh warning takes on a specific character that is in keeping with Jesus' repeated condemnation of religious hypocrisy. Although we are all called upon to practice mercy, especially in an elective brotherhood, it functions as a strong warning especially to those who would be His followers. My study bible has an important note here: "The standard of judgment is uncalculated mercy toward the needy. The works produced by faith are emphasized, for a saving faith produces righteous works. It is possible to fool ourselves about whether we truly believe, but what we do so reflects our true inner state that we will need no other evidence before God's court."

I keep musing on the words from my study bible: "What we do so reflects our true inner state that we will need no other evidence before God's court." We note, first, that this is simply a statement about God's court, not the appearances we make in a human perspective, in front of others to be seen. Indeed, we know that Jesus has used His most harsh criticism against those whose religious practice is strictly for this purpose. On the other hand, acts of mercy toward those who cannot repay us, especially those done in secret, are highly prized by Christ, as He has said so in Matthew's Gospel. I go back to Christ's words in chapter 6, that Our Father who sees in secret will reward us openly, and I think of the evidence before the One who sees in secret, and whose Judgment is truly the one that we need to keep in mind. A friend of mine recently posed a question about equal rights within a society, and it brought to mind the statement Jesus made that "the poor you shall always have with you" -- found in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and John, perhaps with reference to a statement in the Law found in Deuteronomy. Today's reading brings us back to the question of the poor, and the least among us, and we have to ask ourselves not only who our brethren are, but truly, who are the poor? I feel that as long as there is rank of any kind, a hierarchy of power and authority, the poor are synonymous not only with those who have very little, but with those who are truly "the least of these," the little ones -- those who are humble, defenseless, powerless, whoever is least in any hierarchy of rank or group. There are all kinds of people who are susceptible to abuse, or marginalized, or who may lack or be deprived of something which makes for a blessed life, whether or not they have material wealth. In today's world of popular culture, bullying clearly comes to mind as one example of how we are not to behave. Certainly, Jesus condemns any abuse or lack of proper care of one's fellow servant underlings in His parables in recent days. As 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." In this light we can also read Jesus' statement that "the poor we will always have with us." Should we dream one day that we might possibly live in a society where poverty is scarce or even abolished, we still must consider who and what it is to be poor in the language of the Gospels. In my opinion, this will never leave us until that Day of which He speaks today, and it is self-evidently clear in that respect that "the poor we shall always have with us." Let us take mercy, and practice mercy, and remember His words, and take them to heart! As deeply as we can, we must remember the poor, in all ways there may be poor in the world. Let us not be fooled by appearances alone, nor seek to live only by them. Let us live so that Our Father who sees in secret may know us and what is truly in our hearts.