The Littlest Kindness
While Jesus’ stories often employ a wonderful economy of words, sometimes, they are longer than we can consider here. Today’s declaration of truth is one of these. In a 15 verse passage, Jesus teaches one truth, two times - once positively and once negatively. I’ll give you a precis of positive one and take a lesson from that.
Jesus describes a time when He will return in glory. He will gather the nations before Him and separate people into two groups. Then, He will welcome the first group into the kingdom of God with this commendation, “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.”
It’s interesting that these fine folk respond with a question about when all this happened. They weren’t intentionally trying to impress Him, they were just going about their daily lives. They were genuinely surprised at the commendation. Then Jesus gives the answer in these words: “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ Three things grab my attention in this interchange.
Firstly, these people were chosen by God.
Secondly, the good things they did were common, garden variety, everyday good things. They weren’t commended for great personal sacrifices, amazing spiritual exploits, or “doing great things for God.” The commendation came because they gave food and water to the hungry and thirsty. They cared for strangers. They provided clothing for those who were destitute. They cared for the sick. They visited people in prison.
Thirdly, and this is most surprising to me, they were unaware that they had done anything unusual at all. It seems they were almost embarrassed to be rewarded so grandly for actions they considered so ordinary.
What made the difference for these people was the way they looked at those around them. Instead of seeing others as part of a social class to be emulated or despised, they looked at them and saw Jesus. They were so saturated by His Spirit that they saw through the superficial things that would have separated these people from them and embraced the opportunity to do little things - a meal, a drink, companionship, clothing, care, a visit.
In this declaration of truth, Jesus reminds His followers that what matters is not the magnitude of their service, but the spirit in which it is performed as they bring Jesus into every situation and see Him in every person.
