Loving the Least
“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ ” Matthew 25:40
The words above come from Jesus. This isn’t some Bible scholar suggesting a new cool way to get God’s attention. This is a directive from Jesus. The words that precede that statement tell us how God expects us to treat each other. We are told that we are to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give comfort to the afflicted and visit those in prison. When we do these things, even for people who by the world’s standards aren’t terribly important, we have done them for our Father in heaven.
Reading on we find the opposite is true as well. Verse 45 says that when we did not do these things for the least brother we ignored our God as well.
These verses, or at least the concept of them, are familiar even to people who aren’t in a relationship with Jesus. Those people may not know where the idea comes from but they know it exists. This isn’t some hidden treasure that if we’d only known we’d have behaved differently. Or maybe it is.
The hidden treasure part comes in the fact that Jesus sees how we love him and his Father in how we treat the people around us. When we see someone we deem as unimportant or unlikeable we may well treat them with a lack of respect or worse, with contempt. That then is how we have treated Jesus. We don’t see it that way because we don’t see Jesus in them. That may be because he isn’t there but it also may be because we weren’t looking.
Each created person was created by God and each one belongs to him whether they choose to accept that love or ignore it. It isn’t our responsibility to measure a person’s love or lack thereof, for our Father and then decide how to respond to his need. It is our responsibility to look to our Father and ask what He would have us do.
In John 13:34-35, Jesus makes it very clear what he expects from us. We are told to love one another as he has loved us. He doesn’t tell us to love the nice people because someone I see as nice you may see as hateful. He tells us to love one another.
When we treat people with respect and kindness we honor God but when we are cruel we dishonor Him. Certainly harsh words will be needed at times. Jesus definitely used them. I personally have never called anyone a viper but Jesus did. He did what we are told to do. He spoke the truth in love. He treated people with love. He looked at them through eyes of love.
To wear the label Christian should mean to behave as closely as possible to the way Christ behaved. It is an incredibly tall order but it is absolutely what we are called to do, if we are to be called by Jesus name.
The words above come from Jesus. This isn’t some Bible scholar suggesting a new cool way to get God’s attention. This is a directive from Jesus. The words that precede that statement tell us how God expects us to treat each other. We are told that we are to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, give comfort to the afflicted and visit those in prison. When we do these things, even for people who by the world’s standards aren’t terribly important, we have done them for our Father in heaven.
Reading on we find the opposite is true as well. Verse 45 says that when we did not do these things for the least brother we ignored our God as well.
These verses, or at least the concept of them, are familiar even to people who aren’t in a relationship with Jesus. Those people may not know where the idea comes from but they know it exists. This isn’t some hidden treasure that if we’d only known we’d have behaved differently. Or maybe it is.
The hidden treasure part comes in the fact that Jesus sees how we love him and his Father in how we treat the people around us. When we see someone we deem as unimportant or unlikeable we may well treat them with a lack of respect or worse, with contempt. That then is how we have treated Jesus. We don’t see it that way because we don’t see Jesus in them. That may be because he isn’t there but it also may be because we weren’t looking.
Each created person was created by God and each one belongs to him whether they choose to accept that love or ignore it. It isn’t our responsibility to measure a person’s love or lack thereof, for our Father and then decide how to respond to his need. It is our responsibility to look to our Father and ask what He would have us do.
In John 13:34-35, Jesus makes it very clear what he expects from us. We are told to love one another as he has loved us. He doesn’t tell us to love the nice people because someone I see as nice you may see as hateful. He tells us to love one another.
When we treat people with respect and kindness we honor God but when we are cruel we dishonor Him. Certainly harsh words will be needed at times. Jesus definitely used them. I personally have never called anyone a viper but Jesus did. He did what we are told to do. He spoke the truth in love. He treated people with love. He looked at them through eyes of love.
To wear the label Christian should mean to behave as closely as possible to the way Christ behaved. It is an incredibly tall order but it is absolutely what we are called to do, if we are to be called by Jesus name.
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