Jesus In Other Clothes

Matthew 25:31-46

I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me! (Matthew 25:40)

THERE HAVE BEEN TIMES IN Christian history, particularly when people who claimed the name of Christ were in powerful or dominant positions, that Christian institutions have oppressed the marginalized and forgotten rather than met their needs. “Christian” governments have persecuted alleged heretics, unevangelized populations, and even innocent bystanders who were perceived as potential threats or aberrations. According to Jesus’ parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25, these instigators of such violence and injustice will meet him in the eternal realm and be stunned to find out that he was a victim of their persecutions. In any place and in any age, Jesus is somehow connected with “the least of these”—even if “the least of these” were deemed unworthy or unimportant by the church.

Jesus identifies with the hurting, the suffering, the oppressed, and the neglected even when those people are at fault for their own troubles. An observant eye will notice that he doesn’t say, “I was unjustly in prison,” only “I was in prison” (verse 36). People seeking to avoid the responsibility of caring will find all sorts of reasons not to identify Jesus with the down-and-out. They may come up with plenty of excuses not to get their hands dirty with people in crisis and pain, assuming that Jesus only identifies with the godly and pure-hearted, but his words give us no such wiggle room. He has entered into the pain of this world, looked at the people who are filled with his Spirit, and essentially said, “What are you going to do about it?”

That’s a good question to wrestle with frequently. What are you going to do about the people who are hurting? How are you going to help them? If you were convinced Jesus was behind their eyes, how would you respond? This is not just theology; Jesus is asking. Blessed are those who answer with compassion.

{Jesus, forgive me for neglecting the very people you have identified with. I don’t always know how to respond; their needs are bigger than my ability to supply and more complicated than a lack of funds. Fill me with your compassion and your resources—spiritual, emotional, financial, and more—to help. Amen.