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“For I was a 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.’ Matthew 25: 42-45
Truly one of the most powerful verses of the bible, Jesus, the son of God , at the last supper announces that he identifies himself with the least and the lost of this world. Jesus, second person of the true God, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Bright and Morning Star, the Lilly of the Valley, our Redeemer, our Savior, and our Lord says to the world that not ministering to the needs of the least people of the world is exactly the same as not ministering to him.
In this celebrity crazied society which worships the rich and famous, people are constantly try to identify themselves with the rich and power. We do this by following their lives through magazines, television, and the internet. We purchase clothes with their pictures or their names on it. We buy their colognes or perfumes to be like them. We buy cars, boats, watches or other items they endorse to be close to them. Some even change their facial appearance to look like their favorite celebrity.
In stark contrast, Jesus does not indentify himself with the rich, the power, and the celebrities of the world. He identifies himself with the poor, the powerless, the inconsequential or as he says it, ”the least of these’. He says to the world if least are not fed then he is not fed, if the least are sick then he is sick, if the least are thirsty then he is thirsty, and if the least are lonely in prison then he is lonely in prison.
Through this parable Jesus is saying a Christian must identify himself not with the rich and famous, but with those in need. Their needs become our needs. Their thirst becomes our thirst. Their hunger becomes our hunger. Their sickness becomes our sickness. Their pain becomes our pain. Only through this shared suffering can we all have hope. A hope that does not die, that does not fail, and that does not disappoint. A hope that is in Jesus.
Who do you Identify With?