"You Did It For Me"

Do you sometimes think of questions you'd ask Jesus if He were physically here?  You probably have a lot of questions you'd be asking Him at the moment. It is amazing to me how far reaching and comprehensive Jesus' answers to human questions are. In fact, the Bible is God's comprehensive answer to human questions including the big questions. Questions about our origin, about life and death, questions about how we ended up on earth and whether there is life after death. All these questions are answered in God's comprehensive manual for all humanity - The Holy Bible!

In Jesus' life time, He did not simply respond to the questions He was asked, He often answered the questions people did not ask. His answers extended to the motives behind people's questions, for example in Matthew 12:25 when the Pharisees accused Him of driving out demons with demons. He saw their hearts and responded to expose their thoughts. He said "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?" He did this to expose the folly of their thoughts. He then went on to show them that He has power to deliver people from demonic possession and warned them about God's impending judgment.

Towards the end of Jesus' physical ministry on earth, his disciples asked him this question "...what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" Jesus went on to give a comprehensive answer that you find in Matthew 24 and 25. Keeping their question in mind, I will focus on one aspect of Jesus' answer to His disciples. He told them that when He returns He will "sit on his glorious throne" in judgement, and "all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another", some to enter the kingdom of God and the others will be banished from His presence, His verdict will be "depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels". (Matthew 25:31-46). There is a lot to learn from that verdict, but how did He arrive at the verdict? Let's look more closely.

To the people separated to His right, who will go into His kingdom He will say this: "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, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me." (Matthew 25:35-36, NIV). He called these people "the righteous". It is interesting that they, "the righteous" were surprised at what He claimed they did. They queried Him "when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?" Here is how Jesus said He would respond. "The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me'. 

Wow! Jesus is making a strong link again here to what He called the first and the greatest command to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" and the second greatest command "love your neighbour as yourself". Please notice the word "whatever". This means nothing we do to each other, good or bad, goes unnoticed. Jesus is saying our actions towards one another matter, and will be subjected to His scrutiny on the day of judgment. Love is not just words, its an action word and needs to be lived out. Furthermore, He also equates what we do to others as what we've done to Him. In the words of John The Apostle "If anyone says, "I love God", yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother". Another way to think about it is this - It is your love for your brother that truly shows whether you love God or not. God will not accept anyone who claims to love Him but hates his brother or sister.   

In this time of austerity and hardship, what are we going to do with each other? Are we going to neglect each other or will we care for one another? Are we going to feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, welcome the strangers - not just Ukrainians and people from Hong Kong - but refugees too. Are we going to visit the sick and those in prison? "Whatever" we do will not go unnoticed by the Lord. Jesus' answer in Matthew 25 to the eschatological question of the disciples shows us that what we do to one another before He returns will be subject to His judgment.

Before people conclude that Matthew 25 teaches how to be saved, and that all it takes is good works, let me be clear that that's not what Jesus is teaching here. All through the scriptures, we see and know that our good works are like "filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6). And as Paul puts it in Romans 9:16: "It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God's mercy". Our good works is not what saves us, but it is an indication, a product of our salvation. We are saved by Faith in Jesus, and our good works flows from that. 

James helps us to see the relationship between faith and good works. "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone  claims to have faith but has no deeds? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and well fed", but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead... so faith without deeds is dead" (James 2:14-17; 26, NIV). So good work in itself does not save us, but our faith propels us to do good works, which helps others in their time of need. 

Now, back to Matthew 25. We don't want to be those separated to the left of the King, who did not feed, clothe, visit, or help their neighbours. Their damnation is just. It's not the day of judgment yet, and we don't know when that day is. The general encouragement in the Bible is to treat everyday as if it would be the last, and honour God in all we do. Let's heed the warning from Jesus. Let's take His command to love our neighbours seriously, and remember whatever we do for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of His, you do for Him. We can't afford to be self centered at this moment in history. We can't wait for needs to be expressed. We need to actively look out and be ready to discover, assess and meet needs. We have to have a disposition that includes considering others even when our own resources are scarce. Jesus is waiting for us to lend a helping hand to the weak, vulnerable and voiceless. Let's do all we can, so that Jesus will say to us in the end..."you did it for me".