WATCHWORD:
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, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew 25:34-40
Meditation:
The Least of These…
Saturday, I received a flag in the mail, just a little 3×5 piece of cloth, blue and yellow, the flag of Ukraine. A ‘thank you’ gift for a small gesture. I didn’t need a thank you gift, but there it is, now in my window. Perhaps it was a little reminder of something important? Yes! A nudge from the Lord, saying ‘Keep remembering My lessons’. (Which one, Lord? “All of them!”)
You do something for someone, maybe out of the urging of the Holy Spirit within, or out of your kindness or generosity, whatever you want to call it, and you hear: “You didn’t need to do that.” Need? No, not at all. Caring, love, compassion, friendship, etc., choose one.
I love random, anonymous acts of kindness, and I have seen it work on the face of an ‘out of luck and out of resources’, elderly veteran in the parking lot at the VA Hospital, and in the life of a single-mom struggling to get by as a janitor, just to name two. You do an act of kindness out of love, not to receive gratitude. and so, the anonymous aspect is important. You want credit? A pay off? A plaque? That doesn’t sound like an act of kindness.
Tony Campolo, Baptist minister, sociologist and spiritual advisor to Presidents, tells the World War II true story of a Jewish boy who, with his family, was forced by the Nazi SS to join his neighbors in digging a shallow ditch for their graves, then faced the firing squad. Sprayed with machine-gun fire, bodies fell into the ditch and the Nazis covered the crumpled bodies with dirt. But none of the bullets hit the boy. When his parents fell into the ditch, he pretended to be dead and fell on top of them.
Several hours later, when darkness fell, he clawed his way out of the ditch. With blood and dirt caked to his little body, he made his way to the nearest house and begged for help. Recognizing him as one of the Jewish boys, he was turned away at every house. The locals were crippled by fear of the SS troops.
Then something inside this Jewish boy guided him to say very strange words. Knocking at the next door in the still of the night, he cried to the woman who answered: “Don’t you recognize me? I am the Jesus you say you love.” After a pause, the woman swept him into her arms and kissed him. From that day on, the members of that family loved and cared for the boy.
Jesus says, Don’t you recognize me on the face of the victim of the floods, the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, innocent victims of war’s atrocities, not just in Ukrainian but in other parts of the world? When you love the least of these my brothers and sisters you love me. Do you love Me?
What we can do, may seem like such a pittance against the magnitude of the crisis, but we need to look inside that massive blackness, down to a personal level. That family is yours, that child is yours, the bombed village is yours. What if…?
The man was walking the shore, picking up one starfish after another and throwing them into the ocean. A bystander said to him, there’re so many starfish here, what you are doing doesn’t accomplish anything, it doesn’t matter. The man said, as he threw still another starfish into the ocean, it matters to that one.
Is our generosity governed more by our comfort than our compassion? Are we more likely to be tight with our wealth, rather than to tithe with our wealth? The least of these? Don’t you recognize them? Each one is Jesus, you know, the one you say you love.
What would Jesus have us do? Ah, I think we already know, don’t we? So be it.
Your Pittance? Apply It Here:
Good charity organizations, with low or no administrative overhead, helping victims of disasters. These websites have forms for making donations. The need is great!
- Direct Relief — donate.directrelief.com/give
- Lutheran World Relief — donate.lwr.org
- Doctors Without Borders — donate.doctorswithoutborders.org
- Team Rubicon — donate.teamrubiconusa.org
- Shelter Box — shelterboxusa.org/ukraine-crisis-appeal
- Samaritan’s Purse — samaritanspurse.org/our-ministry/
- Salvation Army — give.salvationarmyusa.org/give
Lent Trivia:
It is estimated that Jesus walked 3,125 miles (direct lines, point to point) during the course of His ministry, something less than 20 miles per day. Over his lifetime, a conservative estimate of the number of miles he actually walked was more likely around 21,525 miles! That would certainly wear out sandals.
A Prayer for Generosity:
Lord Jesus, teach us to be generous. Teach us to serve as you deserve, To give and not to count the cost, To fight and not to heed the wounds, To labor and not to seek to rest, To give of ourselves and not ask for a reward, Except the reward of knowing that we are doing your will. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
