Lord, When Did We See You??!!

November 20, 2011


GOSPEL LESSON: Matthew 25:31–46 [Come, you who are blessed by My father.]
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who 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 drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, 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 no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, 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.”

Lord, when did we see you??!! Both the sheep and the goats, both the righteous and the wicked ask the same thing with astonishment. Lord, when did we see you?? Actually, to see the Lord, you do not have to look very hard. He is all around us. He is next to and with all those people whom he loves. They are the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and those in prison. Jesus called them the “least of these.” He also called them his brothers and sisters. It is easy to find them because they are more numerous by the day. Yet, they are not seen. One reason the number is increasing is because they are neglected. They are not seen by the government or by their neighbors. Often we too seem to miss seeing our brothers and sisters in need. Or if we see them, we may turn a blind eye because we do not want to help them, for various selfish reasons. But their cries are heard and their tears are felt by Christ the Judge.

Oh, we can make excuses. I don’t have time. I don’t have enough money to share. I do not know how to help you. But the worst excuse is “I did not see you.” I did not know you were in trouble. I didn’t know you were hungry or lonely, etc. Of course the main reason we do not see the needs of others is because we are only looking out for ourselves. Christ said that when we did or did not do something for one of these “least,” that we were doing or not doing it to him. "When did we see you? We did not see you in your white robes? We did not see you in our lonely next-door neighbor or in the picture of the starving children of Africa. If we had seen you, surely we would have helped you." Of course we would have helped Jesus. But we would have helped him because we want to be with the sheep on Judgment Day. This becomes selfish charity, really helping ourselves, thinking more about our own welfare than that of those we help. We want recognition or a tax break or salvation.

Jesus loves those people in need, and so he is beside them. He is with them in their suffering and hunger and shame. Jesus is with them, but we do not see Jesus. However, he holds us accountable. The King will come. And when he comes, it is too late to make excuses or give reasons for our blind-spots.

And so, we do not measure up as being worthy of salvation. We should be counted among the goats. But it is for that reason that the Judge comes for us. The first time Jesus came, he did not appear as Judge. He was born in a stable in Bethlehem. He came as one of those needy persons. He came as the friend and helper of the needy. He came to be with them. He came to be the same as they are. He also suffered. He died on the cross. There on the cross he became thirsty, hungry, naked, lonely, and died. He was in the prison of the grave. He came and became one of the needy, one of the least of his brothers and sisters.

He found us when we hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison. If not physically starving, then striving for something. Surely there are times when we are lonely. If not naked, we are feeling our shame. We need healing. We are in prisons of sin that we cannot escape. But Jesus came for us even while we were counted among the goats.

And so there is hope. There is hope in Jesus. Our greatest hope is that he will see us in our need. He knows our spiritual blindness. Jesus understands our weakness. He knows that we cannot see others in their need. Our hope is that we will receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives us faith. He opens our eyes, he opens our hearts. And then we will see Jesus. We see Jesus on the cross. He had all the thirst and hunger and loneliness and nakedness and shame on himself. He had hungered in the desert of temptation, thirsted on the cross, was stripped on the cross, was arrested, convicted and crucified. We did not help him in his greatest need, but he helped us. He took our sin upon himself and forgave us. Not only for us, but for all the people in the world who need salvation.

Because we see Jesus on the cross, now we can see Jesus in the lives of all the needy people in the world. The people on the left of Christ said that they did not see Jesus in the poor and hungry and needy. But now we can. When on the cross, Jesus had the sin of the world on himself. He had our sin of selfishness on himself. This is the forgiveness that opens our hearts to see, to feel, to love, and do those acts of kindness. Jesus calls them his brothers and sister. Now we too call them our brothers and sisters.

Of course, we know that we are not saved because of what we do. Our charity and love are never good enough. We are saved by the mercy and charity of Christ. And so we are free to feed and give drink and give clothing, etc., to those in need. We do not do it because we want to earn salvation. We do it because our brother or sister needs help. That is why the sheep are surprised to learn that they were giving a drink of water to Christ. They were no longer thinking about themselves. They were thinking of others. They will be thrilled to hear when the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

And so our faith and salvation is based on our faith in Jesus Christ. He is the One who saw our need and helped us. Then we too will be thrilled to hear Christ say to us, too, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church


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