Matt 25:31-46 

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels, then he will take his seat on his throne of glory. All the nations will be assembled before him and he will separate men from one another as the shepherd separates sheep from goats. He will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right hand, “Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me.” Then the virtuous will say to him in reply, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you; or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome; naked and clothed you; sick or in prison and go to see you?” and the King will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine you did it to me.” Next he will say to those on his left hand, “Go away from me, with your curse upon you, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you never gave me food; I was thirsty and you never gave me anything to drink; I was a stranger and you never made me welcome, naked and you never clothed me, sick and in prison and you never visited me.” Then it will be their turn to ask, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or naked, sick or in prison, and did not come to your help?” Then he will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these, you neglected to do it to me.” And they will go away to eternal punishment, and the virtuous to eternal life.’

Reflection

The recurring sentence in this parable is about people who are in prison, hungry, thirsty, strangers, in need of clothes. These sound like dramatic examples of people in need, and we may see them as not so relevant for us (except perhaps the sick).  But there are people in all these circumstances in New Zealand, who are not as visible as they were in the time of Jesus. It is often hard for people to make their needs known in a society which can be very critical of those who need help with the necessities of life. 

While the examples are dramatic, it is the first part of the sentence which can be the most useful to anyone wanting to follow Jesus more closely. “When did I see you...? Asking that question in a few quiet moments at the end of a day can give insights into the events of a day that we may see as ordinary and uneventful. “Lord, when did I see you today?” - asking the question and then gently and quietly recalling what happened in our day can reveal the presence of Jesus in ways we might never have expected.  

We might find that we didn’t see Jesus when we encountered someone who needed our time. Instead we saw the backlog of our work needing to be done. On a day when parenthood seemed particularly difficult we didn’t see Jesus in a child who needed an expression of our love.

But we might also find that that we didn’t see Jesus in the person who gave us wise advice; or the person who arrived just when we needed help, or the relative who took the children out and provided some much needed space; or the boss who told us to go home early because we had a cold.   

Jesus is present to us in the people who help us, accompany us and advise us. Asking the simple question often “Lord, when did I see you?” trains the eyes of our soul to recognize the presence of Jesus in our lives, in both those who need us and those who help us.  

When we have this awareness of his presence in the ordinary events of each day, prayer is part of our lives, indeed, our lives become prayer.