Mission Devotional Day 18
When was it that we saw you?
Mission Devotional Day 18
READ: Matthew 25:31-46
There are several things that I find remarkable about this story Jesus tells. In the first place, there is the way that Jesus identifies with the last, the least, and the lost. In the second place, I find it significant that everyone is surprised. Those who didn’t reach out to the poor or are surprised, and those who did reach out are also surprised. Since everyone is surprised, I suppose that were we to place ourselves in the story, we’d likely be surprised, too.
If we make this story into a description of how people are saved, we end up with an explanation that is inconsistent with the balance of Scripture’s teaching. Jesus is not trying to teach a new form of works righteousness. He understands the sin and frailty of every human being.
Yet he does seem to be suggesting that there is a kind of a line that runs through the human family. On the one side are those who have spent their lives for the sake of others, and in so doing have unwittingly served the Lord. There are others who have spent their lives on themselves without realizing that they were ignoring the very needs of Jesus himself.
This Christ-centered nexus is at the point where faith and works intersect. It is what the Apostle Paul has in mind in Romans 12 where he states, “Therefore!” When our lives truly belong to the Lord, we will live differently. We are not called to self-righteousness but to putting on the righteousness of Christ. And this new life is not about an escape from this world but an entering into the concrete brokenness of others with whom Jesus identifies.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
Who are “the least of these my brothers and sisters” whom Jesus may be calling you to serve?” Is Jesus’ identification with the poor compelling or convicting for you?
PRAYER
Dear Lord, as I reflect about my own role in your mission, help me to see what it means that you identify with the poor and the lost. Show me how I can serve you by serving them. Amen.