Spot Jesus!


 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the 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 people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by 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 something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal 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 nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just 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 eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

We all know Mother Teresa and her great compassion for the poor. People would often ask her how she was able to love the poor so much, and in response she would grasp the questioner’s hand, and slowly wiggle a finger at a time and say: You. Did. It. To. Me.  She was, of course, quoting Jesus in this Parable of the Sheep and the Goats that he told. For Mother Teresa it was the perfect expression of her faith. It should be for us too, because although we are saved by grace, and not by works, it is our works that reflect our new life in Christ.

 

Paul wrote: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). This is the gospel truth. It is often quoted, and rightly so. However, we rarely find the next verse quoted. He writes, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”. So, you see how the two are related? One leads to the other. James put it wonderfully when he said: “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds — or works? Can such faith save them?”

 

Then, he continues by means of an example: “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” (James 2:14-17). He is not saying that the deeds are going to save us — I am never going to be able to feed every hungry man, give water to every thirsty woman, or clothe every naked child, no matter how much I might want to! Besides, God is never going to allow us to take credit for our salvation. So, what is James saying then?

 

He is saying that the deeds are a sign of authentic faith. When we see a person who is hungry, or thirsty, or naked, we will see Jesus in them. This is because God has put a new spirit within us, replacing our hearts of stone with hearts of flesh (see Ezekiel 11:19, 36:26). Consequently we will be “automatically” moved to help them. Otherwise the faith we profess is bogus and cannot save us. You see? Let me end with another quote from Mother Teresa. She said, “I see Jesus in every human being. I say to myself, this is hungry Jesus, I must feed him. This is sick Jesus. This one has leprosy or gangrene; I must wash him and tend to him. I serve because I love Jesus.”

 

It really is this simple.

 

Watch a reflection of this video by Aneel Aranha here: https://youtu.be/3Z9jx33nLqU

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