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How do you feel when you see someone in need? Does your heart immediately empathise and you look for ways to help, or are you perhaps a bit more guarded – like me – and don’t immediately spring into action?

Let’s take a look at what Jesus says about this in this week’s Abide from the passage in the Our Daily Bread devotional from Monday 8 July. The passage is Matthew 25:31-40. 

We have looked at this passage before – in our very first Abide episode. Then, we looked at an imaginative reading of the passage to help us reflect on the passage itself. Today, we’re looking at how we might apply it.

To start though, let’s read the passage.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 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 his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his 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, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

As Christians, it should be no surprise to us that caring for others is part of our faith. We see all through the Old and New Testaments stories of people providing for and caring for those less fortunate, those without the social support structures around them, or who have come from another land. And in this passage, we see just how biblical it is.

As much as this part of Matthew 25 follows two other parables, this passage isn’t actually a parable itself. In fact, Jesus is using a metaphor that His audience would be familiar with – separating out sheep and goats from a larger flock that may have been grazing together – to drive home the point that our reaction to Jesus’ invitation plays a deciding part in our faith.

In Jesus’ time, the types of sheep and goats that were kept as livestock in the region actually looked very similar. Both had long hair, and the males of both species had horns, so to an untrained eye, it could be easy to confuse them. But the reality is they are different species – and had to be separated because they had different needs, different habits, and required different care. The sheep and the goat can’t just always live together. At some point they need to be separated.

And that’s what Jesus is teaching us in this passage. There comes a time that everyone who has heard His message actually needs to be separated – and ultimately judged – on how they reacted or responded to it. The passage tells us that on the final day all nations will be gathered before God on His throne. This is where the sheep are separated from the goats. Who’s who, in this metaphor? The sheep are those who saw the needs of people around them, and acted to meet their needs. And to them, eternal life is granted, and a place in God’s eternal kingdom. But the goats are those who saw people in need, and didn’t do anything – and they end up being cast out.

Which brings us back to that first question: how do we react when we see someone in need?

It can be confronting to come across someone who is literally hungry, thirsty, or unclothed. We can sometimes shy away, thinking that it’s their own poor life choices that have led them to their situation. Or even if we are more naturally compassionate, it can be hard to know what to do – their needs seem so great, that there’s nothing much we can do at that moment.

Or even if they’re only figuratively hungry, thirsty, or in need of clothing. Maybe there’s someone we see everyday who looks like they have it all together, but may be struggling under the surface. They may be lonely, isolated, or even persecuted or unsafe. It’s harder then to see the need, but the reality is we’re still called to do what we can for them.

We don’t have to be Mother Theresa, or a philanthropic heavyweight. But we do need to see the needs around us, and then, to react in a way that shows we understood Jesus’ mission. Now we need to remember that this passage isn’t telling us that the only requirement for salvation is to serve those in need around us – for that we need to accept our sinful state, and Jesus’ sacrifice to atone for that. In fact, there’s a both/and truth in this passage that we’re both invited by God into His kingdom, and at the same time are invited to act accordingly. But as James tells us in his letter to the Jewish Christians in James 2:26, faith without deeds is dead.

So this week, why don’t you pray that God will open your eyes to see the hungry, thirsty, and naked around you? That He will show you people in your life that you can show a physical, literal love for, by looking out for simple needs. Because it’s through doing this, Jesus says, that we are ultimately serving our King of Heaven.