When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on the right and the goats on his left.
Then the King will say to those on this right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For 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.’
Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
They also will answer, ‘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?’ He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.’ – Matthew 25:31-46
We live our lives like one wandering through a crowd not bothering to acknowledge a single person along the way, not recognising ourselves in the face of another. Everyone is looking for differences. Everyone wants to stand out from the crowd. We raise ourselves up above one another. Man versus woman, boy versus girl, race versus race, strength versus strength, intellect versus intellect, power versus power. We don’t sit back and look at the similarities. We never stand back and see our reflection in the face of another. In times of disaster when the scales are tipped against us then and only then do we look into each others eyes and see what we should see in the normal light of day – brother, sister, mother, father, all that we are. Only in time of disaster do we see a fellow human being and a kindred spirit. It is only then that we abandon the superficial and see the truth of our reality. Unfortunately its then and then only that we have true reverence for all that God has created.
Love one another deeply, as deeply as you have been loved
