“Unto the Least of These” – president’s blog 1/19/10

“Unto the Least of These”

by Evan Drake

Back in 1995, I went on the first of three mission trips into Bulgaria, one of the poorest countries in Eastern Europe.  We supported a missionary there and I went to encourage him and give whatever counsel I could as they were beginning a church plant in Northwest Bulgaria.  On Sunday evening, we held a service in the Gypsy community on the outskirts of Berkowitza.  The Gypsies are a rejected and outcast people in Eastern Europe with very few rights.  That service was one of the most memorable I have ever been in with about 250 people crammed into a school classroom for a three hour service.  A youth meeting was planned for the following afternoon.  We met on a hillside outside of the village on that cool, damp March afternoon.  I was asked to give my testimony and challenge the young people.  I really struggled with what I could say.  There was an 80% unemployment rate among the gypsy people.  50% of teenage girls would be pregnant at 15 years of age.  I kept trying to come up with a message that said, “Come to Jesus, and He will change your life into something better; He will get rid of your problems; He will give you what you need.”  I had to rethink the gospel that afternoon.  The gospel doesn’t promise jobs to the unemployed, health to the broken down, comfort to the homeless or money to the poor.  My very simple message that day was, “Come to Jesus because He is all you need.”

           Ten years later, I was asked to do a two week National Leaders Conference in Chad, W. Africa, the poorest country in the world.  After I agreed to do it, they gave me my topic – “the Gospel as it Relates to Poverty.”  I remember thinking, “What does a white western man who has never lacked for anything in his life know about poverty?”  I told them that our gospel did not guarantee to change the economic situation of the believer but that Jesus promised to bring joy and contentment to all who come to Him.  I remember sharing with those wonderful dedicated believers that God would not hold them accountable for what they had done with what they didn’t have, but only with what they did with what they had.  I told them that my world of European and American Christianity would answer to God for the way we possessed so much and did so little with what we had.  I had always been led to believe that American Christianity was way ahead of the rest of the world in fulfilling its mission in the world.  In studying for this conference, I became aware that America ranks 28^th among the industrialized nations in the fight against poverty.  I learned that Evangelical Christians profess to tithe but that only 6.3% of them actually tithe of their income.  I learned that, although American household income had more than tripled since 1968, giving to missions had not increased during the same time period.

       I began making trips into Haiti in 2003.  Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and 4^th poorest country in the world.  50% of the population lives on $1.00 or less per day.  80% of the people are below the poverty level.  53% of the population is illiterate.  50% of the population is under the age of 18.  Of all the impressions that you get when you visit Haiti, the strongest impression comes from the children and youth.  They are everywhere, playing, running, getting into trouble just like any normal child.  I don’t think I have ever walked by a Haitian child that didn’t say these words, “Hey, you, one dollar, please.” Or, “Hey blanc (white man), gimme dollar.”  It must be the first sentence learned in English 101 for all Haitian children.  Last year, I gave one little girl a piece of gum when she asked me for a dollar.  This year, as I was walking down the path to the meeting, the same little girl walked up to me and said, “Hey blanc, gimme gum.”  I had to rummage through my backpack and find some gum to give to the four year old girl and her little brother.

 For the last week, I keep seeing the faces of those precious Haitian children saying to me, “Hey blanc, gimme dollar.”  As I thought about it, a passage from the gospels kept coming to mind.  I really didn’t want to wrestle with the passage but I had to sit down this afternoon and dig into Matthew to “get it off my mind.”

 Matthew 25:31-46   ³¹ ” When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.  ³² “All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.  ³³ “And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.  ³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:  ³⁵ ‘for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;  ³⁶ ‘I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’  ³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?  ³⁸ ‘When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?  ³⁹ ‘Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’  ⁴⁰ “And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’  ⁴¹ “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:  ⁴² ‘for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink;  ⁴³ ‘I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’  ⁴⁴ “Then they also will answer Him, 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?’  ⁴⁵ “Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’  ⁴⁶ “And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

 Jesus draws upon a passage from the book of Isaiah, chapter 58, to remind His hearers that how they live in relation to the downtrodden and poor of this world will reflect on how God will see them when it comes time to reward the righteous and cast off the wicked.  We can be sure from many other passages that neither Jesus nor Isaiah are teaching a salvation by works.  But, faith is not seen in the words we say.  It will always have a demonstration in the reality of life.  In Matthew, this reality is seen among the “least of these,” the ones that everyone else passes by, ignores, or even willfully gives up on.

 William Hendrickson comments on the evidence of our faith as seen in this passage,

 “In your daily life and conduct, in what are often called the ‘little things of life,’ you have furnished proof that you are my true disciples.  Therefore I call you blessed.”[1]

 John MacArthur writes,

 “Doubtlessly anticipating the salvation-by-works interpretations that would be made of verses 35-45, the Lord made clear that believers will not inherit the kingdom based on good deeds they will have or will not have performed on earth. . . Those who enter the kingdom will not do so on the basis of the service they have performed for Christ but on the basis of their being blessed by the Father because of their trust in His Son.  They will in no way earn a place in the kingdom.”[2]  

 MacArthur goes on to say, “It is significant that the marks of lostness Jesus mentions here are not gross sins committed but rather simple acts of kindness not committed.”[3]

 The people in Jesus’ story said, “When did we see you naked, sick or hungry, etc.?  We didn’t even know it was you.”

 Jesus replied, “In that you did it to one of my brothers, even the least of these, you did it to me.” (v. 40)

 Although many adulterers and thieves and liars and other terrible sinners will go to hell, Jesus describes in v. 41-46 a group that will go to hell because they did not show compassion on the hurting, the helpless and the hopeless.

 Centuries ago, Chrysostom spoke of the cold-heartedness of the lost in his commentary, “Are not these sufferings sufficient to overcome even your alienation?  But you did not do these things for a friend, much less a foe.  You could have at once befriended and done good.  Even when you see a dog hungry you feel sympathy.  But when you see the Lord hungry, you ignore it.  You are left without excuse.”[4]

 In the case of both groups, surprise is the attitude that each demonstrates.  The compassionate are just as surprised to know that they did it to Christ.  Their motive wasn’t to attract the attention of the King but to meet the need of the “least of these.”  The “accursed” of v. 42 would probably say, “If we had known it was you, we would have done something.”  Jesus zeroes in on the motives and the heart attitude of the people even more than he does on the acts that they accomplish.  The “blessed” group acts out of humility and compassion, saying, “How could we not reach out to someone less fortunate than us?”  The “accursed” group acts out of selfish interest, saying, “Why would we do anything unless we knew we were going to gain from it?”  This becomes the determining factor in distinguishing the change that the King has brought about in the lives of His followers.

 These same people, who failed to lift a finger in a simple fashion to feed the poor, hungry child, put forward their great and spectacular feats in the name of the Lord in Matthew 7 by pointing to their miracles, casting out demons and other signs of spiritual power and significance.  In either case, Jesus rejects them because they didn’t do what they should and did what they didn’t need to.  They have it all wrong on every level.  If they had truly known the King, they would have known what pleases Him.

 So, what does it mean to care for the littlest of my brothers?

 Jesus talks about “these little ones” as His disciples in Matthew 10:42,

 Matthew 10:42   ⁴² “And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.”

 Jesus talks about the children as “these little ones” in Matthew 18:4-6,

 “Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  ⁵ “Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.  ⁶ ” But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” 

 Matthew 25 may refer specifically to the caring for destitute followers of Christ during the end times of the Tribulation period when some will refuse to associate with the poor and persecuted followers of Christ for fear of retribution.  It seems dangerous to limit compassion to a specific time in the future and absolve ourselves of the need of compassion today even if that may be the primary intention of the passage in Matthew’s gospel.

 There are other passages in the New Testament that aren’t so ambiguous:

 James 2:15-17   ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?  ¹⁷ Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

 1 John 3:17-18 ¹⁷ But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?  ¹⁸ My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.  

 No one can see the images of Haiti and hear the cries for help from the children whose already fragile lives have been totally torn apart by the earthquake and turn a deaf ear.  Even if no child ever said to you, “Hey blanc, gimme dollar,” it is wrong to hold back when we have the means to do something to answer their cry for help.  Even if it is just a cup of water, the simplest of all responses to a person’s need, Jesus calls upon us, the “haves,” to give it to the “have nots,” the ones who have no means to get it for themselves.  We can decide later how the Haitians got themselves into this mess.  We must respond now from a heart of compassion or risk the anger of the King.

 William Barclay describes the caring and compassionate giving of the one who is called blessed by Jesus:[5]

 1)       It must be help in simple things, . . . things that anyone can do.

2)      It must be help which is uncalculating.  Those who helped did not think they were helping Christ and therefore piling up eternal merit; they helped because they could not stop themselves.  The attitude of those who failed was, “If we had known it was you we would gladly have helped; but we thought it was only some common man who was not worth helping.”  Such help is not generosity; it is pandering to self-esteem; it is disguised selfishness.  The help which wins the approval of God is that which is given for nothing but the sake of helping.

3)      All such is help is given to Jesus, and all such help withheld is withheld from Him.

 It is time for Christians to give what they can to help those who have lost everything.  Give simply.  Give the things that anyone can do.  You probably can’t give a whole building but everyone can give enough to satisfy the thirst of a Haitian family.  Give without calculating.  Don’t ask if the people really deserve it or if they will squander it like other times before.  Give it to Jesus and let Him work out the details.

       The story is told of Martin of Tours.  He was a Roman soldier and a Christian.  One cold winter day, as he was entering a city, a beggar stopped him and asked him for alms.  Martin had no money; but the beggar was blue and shivering from the cold, and Martin gave what he had.  He took off his soldier’s coat, worn and frayed as it was; he cut it in two and gave half of it to the beggar man.  That night he had a dream.  In it he saw the heavenly places and all the angels and Jesus in the midst of them; and Jesus was wearing half of a Roman soldier’s cloak.  One of the angels’ said to him, “Master, why are you wearing that battered old cloak?  Who gave it to you?”  And Jesus answered softly, “My servant Martin gave it to me.”

             There are a lot of worthy causes.  There are many reasons to give.  We can’t take away from our other commitments to give to Haiti.  But, we can’t turn away from the “least of these” who are desperate for someone to hear their cry.  One day, we will see Jesus wearing our coat or carrying our water bottle and we will say, “Jesus, when did I see you hungry, naked and thirsty?”  And He will say, “I was covered in black Haitian skin and sleeping under a tarp on a hard, dark, Haitian street” or “I was the poorly clothed and hungry child saying,”Hey blanc, gimme dollar,”  and you gave to the least of these and you did it unto Me.”

 

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[1]  William Hendrickson, The Gospel of Matthew, p. 888.

[2] John MacArthur, The MacArthur Commentary: Matthew 24-28, p. 122.

[3] John MacArthur, The MacArthur Commentary: Matthew 24-28, p. 126.

[4] John Chrysostom, The Gospel of Matthew, Homily 9:2.

[5] William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew: Volume 2, p. 325-326.

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