But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? 'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 'And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' Then they themselves also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' Then He will answer them, saying, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. (Matthew 25:31-46)
This scripture teaches, in dramatic fashion, how we treat others is precisely how we treat our Lord. In the parable, both the sheep and the goats have the same reaction, neither is aware that their deeds are done, with Jesus as the actual recipient. Whether they did good deeds or they did nothing at all, neither was aware God was standing there. If they would have, the outcome would have been much different.
Just imagine if Jesus ran into you in traffic? And I mean Jesus "ran into you".. What if He rear-ended you at an intersection? I know, I know- you're thinking Jesus would never do that! Well, simply for the sake of argument, what if He did? Would you get angry at Him? Would He hear you say a few choice words for destroying your brand new car? Okay, I know that's a weird example, but it’s simply to make a point. How we treat others IS how we treat the Lord. The truth of this parable is well-founded in God's Word..
In Proverbs 19:17, it says "One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, and He will repay him for his good deed". And in Proverbs 12:14, it says "A man will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his words, and the deeds of a man's hands will return to him". In Colossians, Paul said this "Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father".
To do something "in the name of" means to do the deed as if you were doing it for someone else. For example, you tell your friend Joe about a good mechanic you know. The next day Joe takes his car into the guy’s shop, and mentions he knows you. The mechanic tells Joe anyone who's a friend of yours is a friend of his. He then does a great job fixing Joe’s car and even gives him a huge discount on the work. In other words, he treats Joe like he would have treated you. That’s doing something “in the name of”..
In Matthew 10:42, Jesus said "Whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward". And in Mark 9:41, He said "For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward". And in Luke 6:38, Jesus gave another example "Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure--pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return".
I want to take these words to heart, to live these words in real-time, to let all my deeds be done for Him. Not so I can gain some reward, but so I can bring God pleasure. To do that is the greatest reward of all.
This poem has always been one of my favorites. I’ve updated a few minor words into modern English for clarity. It’s an excellent poetic story, illustrating the truth what we do for others, we’re doing unto Him.
How the Great Guest Came - by Edwin Markham
It happened one day at the year's white end --
Two neighbors called in on their old-time friend;
And they found the shop, so meager and mean,
Made bright with a hundred boughs of green.
Conrad was stitching with face ashine,
But suddenly stopped as he twitched a twine:
"Old friends, good news! At dawn today,
As the cocks were scaring the night away,
The Lord appeared in a dream to me,
And said, `I am coming your Guest to be!'
So I've been busy with feet astir,
Strewing the floor with branches of fir.
The wall is washed and the shelf is shined,
And over the rafter the holly twined.
He comes today, and the table is spread
With milk and honey and wheaten bread."
His friends went home; and his face grew still
As he watched for the shadow across the sill.
He lived all the moments o'er and o'er,
When the Lord should enter the lowly door --
The knock, the call, the latch pulled up,
The lighted face, the offered cup.
He would wash the feet where the spikes had been,
He would kiss the hands where the nails went in,
And then at the last would sit with Him
And break the bread as the day grew dim.
While the cobbler mused there passed his pane
A beggar drenched by the driving rain.
He called him in from the stony street
And gave him shoes for his bruised feet.
The beggar went and there came a crone,
Her face with wrinkles of sorrow sown.
A bundle of firewood bowed her back,
And she was spent with the wrench and rack.
He gave her his loaf and steadied her load
As she took her way on the weary road.
Then to his door came a little child,
Lost and afraid in the world so wild,
In the big, dark world. Catching it up,
He gave it the milk in the waiting cup,
And led it home to its mother's arms,
Out of the reach of the world's alarms.
The day went down in the crimson west
And with it the hope of the blessed Guest,
And Conrad sighed as the world turned gray:
"Why is it, Lord, that your feet delay?
Did you forget that this was the day?"
Then soft in the silence a Voice he heard:
"Lift up your heart, for I have kept my word.
Three times I came to your friendly door;
Three times my shadow was on your floor.
I was the beggar with the bruised feet;
I was the woman you gave to eat;
I was the child on the homeless street!"
