Every One Counts

Matthew 25:31-46

³¹“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.

³²Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

³³And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.

³⁴Then 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.

³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,

³⁶I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’

³⁷Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?

³⁸And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?

³⁹And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

⁴⁰And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

⁴¹“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

⁴²For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,

⁴³I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’

⁴⁴Then they 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 minister to you?’

⁴⁵Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’

⁴⁶And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Jesus has come to the end of His teaching ministry with the Disciples. These last instructions point to a glorious ending when He comes again to take us into eternity. He has given the Disciples everything they will need to spread the Word to the world. We are living testament to their success. Two thousand years later, here we are awaiting the final triumph. Good will be separated from evil forever and we will no longer struggle with the pain that goes along with sharing our world with those who do not love God. His final instructions do not ask us to do anything we are not equipped to handle. Take care of one another, including and especially those who are weak, sick, in trouble, imprisoned and orphaned. And the things we can do are simple; food, water, shelter, clothing, companionship.

I admit I am easily overwhelmed by the needs of the sick and starving. When I see those children who have nothing my heart breaks but in that same moment I am often immobilized by the size of the problems. God is infinite – I am not. There is a modern parable by Loren Eiseley which is familiar but pertinent.

The Starfish Story

A young man is walking along the ocean and sees a beach on which thousands and thousands of starfish have washed ashore. Further along he sees an old man, walking slowly and stooping often, picking up one starfish after another and tossing each one gently into the ocean.

“Why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?” he asks.

“Because the sun is up and the tide is going out and if I don’t throw them further in they will die.”

“But, old man, don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it! You can’t possibly save them all, you can’t even save one-tenth of them. In fact, even if you work all day, your efforts won’t make any difference at all.”

The old man listened calmly and then bent down to pick up another starfish and threw it into the sea. “It made a difference to that one.”

It makes a difference if we help just one person at a time, to them and to God.