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."
OBSERVATION
In this passage, Jesus makes a clear distinction between sheep and goats. The sheep are people who develop a compassionate and merciful heart towards those in need. They do not much, but the little they do makes a difference in the life of others. Their lifestyle may not look very spiritual and their labor may be unnoticed by others, but Jesus Himself takes notice of their compassion. On the other side of the spectrum, you have the goats. They are indifferent to the needs of others and deny mercy. Even though we are given access to God through faith and not our works of mercy, our faith becomes real as we are compassionate towards others. Jesus is clear about this.
APPLICATION
I'm convinced that we need to ask ourselves regularly where we stand, on the right side with the sheep, or on the left side with the goats. The tricky part is that we can easily deceive ourselves and think that we are sheep when in reality we are goats. Who am I feeding? Who am I caring for? Who am I providing roof for? These are tough questions. An the real answers determine where we stand. We cannot pretend to be sheep and stand with the goats. Jesus can see through all the stuff. He will separate who is who.
I need to stand on the side of the sheep. But most important of all, I need to do the things that sheep do. I cannot neglect my work of compassion, helping the needy to have a better life. As we celebrate today the holiday of thanksgiving, I cannot avoid thinking of those in need that by the grace of God we have been helping in the recent years. I think about the Compassion children we have been sponsoring in Colombia, Tanzania, and the Philippines. I'm also thinking about Ashish and the kids in India. We are so blessed to help them, but there is so much more to do.
PRAYER
Dear heavenly Father, today we are specially thankful for all the blessings you give us, specially for the grace to help others who are in need. Please help us to stand always at your right, among the sheep. Help us to find creative ways to take care for the needs of the poor. Give us a special anointing to become a "resource" church that helps the needy. Teach us how to increase our generosity and be more externally focused, especially with people that lack the most basic needs. We are thankful for all your blessings and we pray that we will continue sharing those blessings with others. Amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment