Read: Matthew 25:31-45
Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you? It’s such a haunting question. In this parable, people are divided into two groups – those who did help the least of these, and those who did not. And the thing is – neither group even took much notice of who the “least of these” were.
And it certainly didn’t occur to them that when they saw the least of these, they were also looking at Jesus. It seems that they didn’t spend their lives going on mission trips. It appears that whatever they did or didn’t do for the least of these, they did it in the course of their daily lives.
And if we’re really honest, most of what we do “for the least of these” we do in the exact same way. At least, hopefully we do. There’s comes a point during every mission trip that you have to start thinking about what happens when you go back home. It’s easy to identify the people Jesus was talking about when you’re at camp. It’s easier to miss them when you go back home.
In order to see those same people at home, we have to go with eyes open to see them. It’s easy to look for the negative – the needs – in a community where we tend to serve. But can we go first into any community and look for the great things they can do and the children of God that they are? Can we go into their world planning to love them? Planning to see Christ in them?
Reflection
Who are the “least of these” that you encounter? How can you serve them without making them feel like “the least?” What do they have to offer you?
Prayer
God of the least of these, help me to attune my mind and heart to yours, so that when I go home, I have eyes that can see you in others. And help others to see you through me as well.
