Matthew 25:31-46 (today's gospel)
31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne,
32 and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
33 He will place 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. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me,
36 naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.'
37 Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?
38 When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?
39 When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?'
40 And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.'
41 Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
43 a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.'
44 Then they will answer and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?'
45 He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.'
46 And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
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These are very familiar words, with a very strong message. When I read this I think of how many times I haven't helped somebody who's clearly needed it. Per this passage, in denying that help, I've denied Christ. The implications of that are pretty clear -- I'm behaving like a goat, when I should be behaving like a sheep. That's humbling.
The good news though is that Christ is asking us to do something that is "do-able." He's not asking us to end poverty, or to feed the whole world. He's asking us to help the needy that we encounter within our own daily lives. It's so easy to get caught up in our own busy schedules to not see the needy around us. We need to have our eyes open to those who need help.
One other thought. There are all types of needs and hunger. In many cases emotional and spiritual needs are as bad or worse than physical needs. I happen to know several people who right now are going through terrible trials in their personal lives. The difficulty is that such needs aren't apparent at first glance. You have to spend time with a person for them to become comfortable enough to tell you about the suffering in their lives.
That kind of need -- personal, emotional, spiritual -- is around us every day, all the time. I personally believe Christ is calling us to meet those needs as well.
