Jesus must have heard that communications trope about repeating something three or four times if you want it to sink in. Not only does he state and restate the positive part of the parable, he also tells it in negative, talking about the condemnation in store for those who did not see him hungry and feed him, naked and clothe him, and so on.
Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” He will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as 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.’
It’s not enough to see the needs around us; we have to act. And just as we can meet Jesus' standard by tending even one needy person, so it seems we can be doomed by the failure to tend even one of the “least of these.” Back on the hook. This is when I would say, as his disciples did on another occasion, “Lord, then who can be saved?”
We’ve reflected this week on how we are invited to engage with people at their time of need – seeing them as full persons, interacting personally and intimately. We can sum this up as looking, listening and loving. In short, we are to offer not just help, but our very selves, to be available to relationship. Relationship implies mutuality. Part of “helping” someone in need is being willing to let them help you too.
When people from my church began to reach out to a group that hung out on the streets near the Shelter, we started by bringing food, and then offered prayer. Every single person wanted to be prayed for. The second time we went, the woman leading this effort had a cold, so after she prayed for everyone, she asked for their prayers. She was immediately enfolded in the group and beautiful, fervent prayers were offered for her healing. It was the fastest I’d seen a disparate, somewhat suspicious group become a community.
We are called to be a just community, which requires mutuality. If we are generous with our bread but chary with our emotions, we’re not offering the fullness of who we are. And when we’re not fully ourselves, there is less room for the other person to be fully herself. It's also likely that if we were more conscious about mutuality in our giving, there might be fewer needy people around – as a wise man once said, where your heart is, there will your treasure be also.
I pray that we will be about God’s mission of wholeness for every person, making ourselves vulnerable as well as generous. That invites all of us to be clear about our needs as well as our gifts. In the Just Community Jesus came to proclaim, everyone seeks to ensure that each person has what they need. Everyone has a place at the table. Can you imagine a world like that?
Imagining it is part of praying it into being.
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