“Lord When Did We See You?”
Matthew 25:31-46
Martin of Tours was a Roman soldier and a Christian.
One cold winter day, as he was entering a city, a beggar stopped him and asked him for help.
Martin had no money; but the beggar was blue, shivering with cold, and Martin gave him what he had.
He took off his soldier’s coat, worn and frayed as it was; he cut it in two and gave half of it to the man.
Then, that night, he had a dream.
In the dream he saw the heavenly places and all the angels and Jesus among them; and Jesus was wearing half of a Roman soldier’s coat.
One of the angels said to him: “Master, why are you wearing that battered old coat?
Who gave it to you?”
And Jesus answered softly: “My servant Martin gave it to me.”
We see Jesus every day, you and I.
We see Him in the face of the homeless person, the sick, the deranged, the hungry, the stranger, the elderly, the child.
And because of this, we can never look at another person the same way again.
When we see a down and out person sleeping on the street we are looking at Jesus.
When someone is being ugly to us because we cut them off in traffic we are looking into the eyes of Jesus.
When we see the picture of a person on the cover of one of those “locked up” or “right to know” newspapers in a convenience store we are looking at Jesus.
And so, when we see Him, do we look down on Him with an air of “I’m better or more moral or whatever” than Him or do we look at Jesus with empathy, mercy and love?
That is what this parable comes down to.
But you know what?
There are a number of scholars who do not consider this a parable at all.
They don’t consider it to be a metaphor for something else—like the Parable of the Talents or the Parable of the Sower.
The other parables Jesus tells start this way: “The Kingdom of Heaven will be like…”
This passage about the sheep and the goats begins with “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him…”
This is Jesus’ last lecture, His final teaching in the Book of Matthew.
Surely, He saved the most important for last.
If we were to look through the entire New Testament, this passage we are looking at this morning is the only description of the last judgement.
And there is only one criteria here, and that is whether or not we saw Jesus Christ in the face of the needy and whether or not we gave ourselves away in love in His name.
Makes sense.
What did Jesus say the greatest commandment is: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind…and love your neighbor as yourself.”
Then He added, “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
In other words: “Everything in the Bible hang on these two commandments.”
I think Jesus is saying in this passage what He has been saying all along through His teaching and actions and what He will soon say through His very body on the Cross: that God loves us and all the world so much that God has decided identify with us fully and completely.
And so, we are to recognize God most easily in the face of our neighbor.
When we are loving our neighbor—we are loving God.
When we are not loving our neighbor—we are not loving God.
If we are engaged in abusive behavior toward another, bullying or treating an employee like a slave—that is how we are treating Christ.
If we are holding hatred in our hearts toward another—well, you get the picture.
It’s all about love, is it not?
How cool is that?
And so, for the Christ-follower there is no room for discrimination, no room for hatred, no room for holding grudges, no room for judgements…
…it all fits with everything Jesus has taught us.
The only thing there is room for is love.
That’s why Jesus tells us to pray for our enemies.
And give food and drink to those who persecute us.
In doing so, we are serving Christ.
People aren’t devils.
There is only one devil.
People are fallen and lost creatures created in God’s image to be loved and redeemed.
We are told in 1 John Chapter 4: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his or her brother or sister he is a liar.”
That is some heavy stuff.
Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these…you did for me.”
A story is told of a little boy who wanted to meet God.
He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his backpack with cupcakes, several cans of root beer and started on his journey to meet God.
When he had gone about three blocks, he saw an elderly woman sitting on a park bench watching the pigeons.
The boy sat down next to her and opened his backpack.
He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the lady looked hungry.
So, he offered her a cupcake.
She gratefully accepted it and smiled at him.
Her smile was so wonderful that he wanted to see it again.
So, he offered her a root beer as well.
Once again, she smiled at him.
The boy was delighted.
They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling without saying a word.
As it started to get dark, the boy realized how tired her was and wanted to go home.
He got up to leave but before he had gone no more than a few steps, he turned around and ran back to the old woman, giving her a hug.
She gave him her biggest smile ever.
When the boy got home his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face.
She asked: “What has made you so happy today?”
He replied, “I had lunch with God.”
Before his mother could respond he added, “You know what? She’s got the most beautiful smile in the whole world.”
Meanwhile, the elderly woman, also radiant with joy, returned to her home.
Her son was stunned by the look of peace on her face.
He asked, “Mother, what has made you so happy today?”
She replied, “I ate a cupcake in the park with God.”
Have you seen Jesus lately?
Have I?
If only we could see Jesus in everyone we meet.
How would that change us?
How would that change the world?
Is that a goal that you and I can seek to reach?
Is that something worth asking God for every morning?
“Lord, enable me to see You in everyone I meet.”
Last month in The Upper Room Daily Devotional a man named Bill Roy wrote: “One day while watching news on TV, I saw a pitiful scene of a woman clutching an infant who was starving to death.
I lamented, ‘God if you are a loving, compassionate being, how can you allow this?’”
Bill continues, “Suddenly a mental image of a tearful God cradling the mother and child looked at me and said, ‘If you are my disciple, how can you allow this?’”
Bill says that since that day, he has started to pray in a new way.
Instead of complaining to God, he now seeks God’s will for him as it relates to helping those who are suffering.
And this, has literally, changed his life.
When you and I look into a human face and see there the face of Christ, we are transformed.
Life becomes new.
Enemies become those whom we love and pray for.
Selfishness turns into selflessness.
And helping others becomes second nature.
For when we are helping one another, when we are loving one another we are, in all reality, loving and helping Christ.
And Christ comes to know us and we come to know Him through this loving and helping.
Remember in Matthew Chapter 7 when Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven.”?
Well, we find the will of the Father here in Matthew Chapter 25.
We are to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, make friends with the stranger, clothe the naked, look after the sick and visit those who are in prison.
In doing this, we will look straight into the eyes of Christ.
And when we think about it, is not every human being hungry, thirsty, lonely, naked and imprisoned--whether it be literally or figuratively--whether it be spiritual hunger, spiritual thirst, naked and imprisoned by sin, death and hell—or without real and tangible food, drink, clothing and so forth?
And in knowing this, can we ever look at another human being the same way again?
Many of us picture the Last Judgement as a review of our personal sins, but in Matthew Chapter 25 Jesus tells us that it’s about what we have done or not done for others along the way.
It’s amazing how we can easily reduce it to a list of do’s and don’ts that we use to judge one another and ostracize one another.
But that’s not love.
There once was a man who had been born wealthy and high-spirited, but he wasn’t happy.
He felt a void in his life—like he was incomplete.
Then one day he met a leper.
The man found the leper’s disease disgusting and repulsive, but something moved him to get off his horse and fling his arms around this suffering person; and in his arms the face of the leper changed into the face of Christ.
That is how a rich but empty man named Francis came to be known as Saint Francis.
No person, no matter how dirty, smelly, diseased or whatever is beyond the reach of those who seek to see Christ in the face of others.
Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”
Have you seen Jesus lately, have I?
This world is filled with the hungry, the thirsty, the imprisoned, the lonely, those who feel unloved.
And it is God’s call on our lives to love others as God has loved us.
And how does God love us?
God has given His life for us.
Will we do the same for God and for one another?
Let us pray:
Lord, transform us.
Every time we see someone we might otherwise think of as ugly, may we see You.
Every time we want to turn away from those in need may we hear Your voice calling for help.
We want to be sheep; not goats.
We want to love you with all our hearts, minds souls and strength and love our neighbors…and thus YOU as ourselves.
In Jesus’ name and for His sake we pray.
Amen.
