The Least of us

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.32All 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. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

 34"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. 35For 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, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

 37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

 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.'

 41"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. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I 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.'

 44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

 45"He 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.'

 46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

Matthew 25:31-46

This sucks.

I mean, it's great for the hungry, naked and imprisoned guy.

but not for me. 

this means that I am supposed to meet his or her need. hmmm... now that we're talking about ME meeting the need, maybe it's not so great for that person.

so if he/she's hungry, i'll cook maggi mee for him/her(anything else will give him a stomachache, if he's lucky)

if he's naked, i'll lend him my clothes. however, because of my size, or rather the lack of it, it may inadvertently end up making him look sexually confused. an alternative lifestyle, as they like to say. but the rest of us call it GAY.

if he's in prison, i'll visit him. and tell him lame jokes and funny stories. I mean, he's a CAPTIVE audience.

but if he's a jerk, if he treats me and everyone less than what we deserve, if the sight of him makes my stomach churn, if he's balding prematurely, how do I respond? even a bottle of Yun Nam hair cream has to be tactfully given in love, lest he misunderstand my genuine concern as mockery.

there is a need in all of us. and for some of us, Jesus wants to use us to meet that need in others. sounds glamorous. but that's all the glamour we could ever get. 

Lord knows I don't want to do it. I feel like Ananias going to Saul's house to heal his eyes. Or more accurately, like me wearing a giant chicken wing suit and dancing in front of a ravenous crocodile.

but i think there's more to it than meeting a need. I think this is another one of His ways of changing us. of making us pick up our cross (now it feels like a crucification!), of denying ourselves and following Him. 

This is one of those things where i do it because i know i have to. if i could, i'd do it willingly and cheerfully, with a big smile on my face. but if i can't do it willingly, i'd rather do it unwillingly than not do it at all.