32 “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. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “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. 35 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, 36 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.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “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.’”
—The words of Jesus from Matthew 25:32-40
As the Scripture at the beginning of this blog post indicates, God longs to bring a ministry of healing to those in need wherever they may be within society. He wants to bring a healing of mind, heart, soul, and body. And, God wants to bring about that ministry of healing through His dearly loved children.
Often God uses His children to reach out to the most destitute and downtrodden—the most needy—of the world. So you see, the opportunity is still yours that was afforded those who served Christ when He was on His earth walk. Wouldn’t it be unfortunate if you or I missed out on this privilege because of ignorance?
If I may, I would like to illustrate such ignorance by sharing a very personal illustration. You’ve probably realized by now that many times when a writer shares from God’s Word, he or she speaks not only to the readers, but also to himself or herself. This blog post is certainly one of those cases. For I have struggled mightily with this very subject in my own walk with the Lord throughout my entire life.
When I was a teenager, every year our youth group traveled the twenty miles or so to the county seat of McKean County—a borough called Smethport. We went there to visit the McKean County Home, a place where the most indigent elderly people in the county spent their last days.
I need to insert a parenthesis here and explain that I’ve always been blessed, or cursed, with a hypersensitive sense of smell. To explain this gift or curse let me tell you that whenever my wife lights a candle in our home, she has learned that it’s best to tell me she’s doing so. Otherwise, within seconds of the candle flame igniting, I will be asking rather pointedly, “What’s burning?”
So, in our visits to the McKean County Home when I was a teenager, frankly, I was repelled by the way the residents smelled—in fact the whole place reeked of the odor of death and decay. I dreaded our trips to the McKean County Home. We would sing—that wasn’t so bad—but then we would each single one of those residents out and engage him or her in conversation. My extremely heightened sense of smell assailed me and made me want to vomit. One year, our youth director took me out into the hallway and clapped his hands hard in front of my face. “Snap out of it!” he said. Then he quoted the passage from today’s Gospel Reading. “When you talk to these poor people you’re ministering to Christ! Now get back in there and show these people some of God’s love.”
I did as I was commanded. It was one of the hardest things I ever did. I wish I could report to you that I achieved a great victory that day. Sadly, I didn’t. Years later in college we were required to participate in service projects each Sunday. And in my freshman year, as a ministerial student, I was signed up to visit a large state home for the mentally and physically handicapped adults and children on the former Shaker estate near Sonyea, New York. The smells were ten times worse than the McKean Country Home. Many of these unfortunate bedridden souls continually moaned, or drooled, or worse. After my first and only visit to the facility, I decided I simply didn’t have what it takes to be a minister after all. I changed my college major to Writing and Psychology and abandoned all efforts to become a pastor.
If you’re reading this blog post today about ministering to Jesus and you respond by saying, “No way! That’s not for me!” Believe me, I understand. I’ve been where you are. But do you know what, looking back I realize to my shame that I missed a great blessing by not making a second visit to Sonyea—and third, and a fourth, and a tenth. I missed the opportunity to minister to people in desperate need. I missed the opportunity to minister to Jesus.
Yes, you and I have an opportunity to minister to Jesus if we allow ourselves the privilege of reaching out to those in need. It may not seem easy to do so. The rewards of ministering to Christ simply cannot be measured. That’s because such ministry is worth everything.
Will you pray with me?
Thank You, God, for loving us. Thank You for sending Jesus to be our Savior. Thank You for sending us Your Holy Spirit to dwell within us.
We thank You for the privilege You give us this day to minister to Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, by ministering in His name to those most needy. Frankly, we’re more than a little frightened of what You might require of us. But we also know that whatever ministry to which You may direct us, we will reap a great blessing from obediently saying “yes” to You.
Please help us overcome any natural reluctance we may have that will keep us from reaching out to the most needy people in our world. Give us courage and strength to obediently follow Your will for our lives.
Thank you for the Holy Spirit who gives us the ability to move forward on the pathway that You have laid out for our lives. And, thank You for hearing our prayer in and through the precious Name of Your Son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
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Author’s Note: I am indebted to my spiritual mentor, Rev. Dr. David R. Mains, who many years ago preached a message on his radio broadcast, The Chapel of the Air, entitled “Christ in Disguise.” That message encouraged me to reflect on events in my own life that formed the basic foundation for this blog post.
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