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 the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by 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 something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal 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 nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 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?’ 45 Then 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.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

  I would like to share a personal story in my life.  It is a story that taught me a lesson.  It was taught to me by my dad. My brother and sisters and I were blessed growing up to have loving, caring, and supportive parents.  My dad was a strong quiet man with a true heart for caring for his family.  He worked way too hard in life so that he could provide for his family.  Dad’s teaching came by examples; sometimes by words but mostly by his actions and the way he lived his life.      

  My story occurred when I was playing football for Bridgeport Junior High School.  Football practice started August 1 each year.  The school supplied the equipment and the uniform for each player.  We players had to supply our own football cleats. It was an exciting time when we received our uniforms.  We all felt like we were playing for the National Football League.  We all felt like we were someone special. And we were.  We were representing the entire school.

     And then the day came for our team pictures.  Pictures would be taken of the entire team and also individual pictures were taken.  There we all gathered and admired ourselves and each other.  We looked like a football team.  Everyone had spotless uniforms with our helmets glistening in the sunlight along with our polished new football cleats. We were a sight to behold.  We knew by looking at ourselves that we would never lose a game!  Everything was in place for a perfect season.  So, we thought.

     And then someone, I don’t know who, noticed one of the players was wearing a pair of old beat-up tennis shoes with holes everywhere.  You could see the dirty white socks protruding through the holes.  The laces in the shoes were too short to reach all the eyelets.  And the laces were a different dirty color. Our pride in our team and our assurance of a perfect season fell by the wayside.  We were doomed!  All because this one player didn’t look like the rest of us. And to make matters worse, we were about to have our picture taken.  Someone said, “make sure to put him in the back where no one can see him”. The boy with the nasty shoes and socks dropped his head and began to walk away.  He was ashamed and embarrassed.  It was nothing he did himself; he wore the best he had. The coach spoke to him and with no avail, this boy that was as proud of his uniform as we were of ours, decided not to be in the picture and he also chose to quit the team.  I and many others, felt sorry for this kid. None of us on the team said anything to him.  We let him walk away, alone.  The pictures were taken with everyone with their clean uniforms and their shined cleats.

     Walking home with a couple friends after practice that day, we talked about this kid and we all felt sorry for him but there was nothing we could do.  He was our friend, but what could we do?  If we put our money together to help him, it wouldn’t added up to more than fifty cents, maybe.  When I arrived home for supper, I was kind of down in the dumps.  Sitting at the dinner table, my mom asked me what was wrong.  I answered with the usual answer, “nothing”.  However, my dad would come to us kids sometime a little later to ask the same question that mom asked.  With dad, he had a gentle way of finding out what was going on.  I told my dad what was going on, and just talking with dad always seem to help.  I still felt sorry for the kid but what could I do?

     The good news in this story is a couple days later, the boy showed up for practice in brand new shiny football cleats with the brightest white socks I’ve ever seen.  I have never seen anyone so proud of anything before.  He was proud because he did not stand out in the crowd.  He felt he was no different than anyone else.  Also on that day, the photographer came again for the team picture and yes, this boy is in the picture.   

         “‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ (VS 40)

   I share this scripture and story with you as a reminder for all of us, me included.  A reminder that God has created all of us in His image. We may be different in our appearance, in our language, in our upbringing, in every part of our lives, but we all are God’s children. Our prayers are for the found and unfound, our prayers are for lost and forgotten as well as our family and friends.  Every person in this world is created to love and be loved; to forgive and care for.