The Least of These

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put 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; take your inheritance, the kingdomprepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Matt 25:31-46

I finished an amazing book this morning.  It was Another Seat at the Table by Kathy Harrison.  In it, she describes a period of time in her life as a foster mom.  There is nothing glamorous or flashy about her story. It is simply raw, painful truth, but even as I was sobbing for the tenth time while reading it, I was so grateful for her honesty, and for who she is. 

As I read the book, the scripture from Matthew kept coming to me..."whatever you do for the least of these..".  There was no way to avoid the connection between what this mom does and the statement Jesus made. Never once in the book did she mention God or religion, but what she did was give an example of a home that was willing to wash the dirty, feed the hungry, love the unlovable, and offer safety for the most forsaken.  By the time the book was published, she had opened her home and her heart to over one hundred children, and, very often, she had three or four at a time in addition to her own 5 (two of which were adopted from foster care).  

This story of willingness and of heartache was one that made me think of all of the children that are in such need of a smile, a hug, a pair of loving arms...

I think that so often we think of the homeless, the poor in other countries, the elderly, etc., but we often forget the children. There is a world outside of our bubble, and the harsh reality is that, in the state of Georgia alone, there are around 22, 000 children in need of foster care in a typical year. Those are children of abuse, neglect, and abandonment who just want more than anything to know they are safe and loved.  We may not all be able to offer a home, but we can certainly offer a prayer.