Matthew 25:31-46
The Sheep and the Goats
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 kingdom prepared 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.”
Matthew 28:16-20
The Great Commission
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
The gospel is for everyone and not just for a few people...In Jesus' Great Commission, we see that it is for every man and woman of every nation...How can His message continue to get out and into the hands and minds of all people everywhere?...For all to hear and realize Jesus' gospel, we all need to be His disciples...If we are to make disciples of all nations of the world, all followers need to take heed in His Great Commission...In fact, I have heard some say that it might be our purpose or one of the purposes we are here on earth is to get Jesus' word out to others...His word can be spread in a variety of ways...One is by just how followers and believers live their daily lives...For me it is an uncomfortable feeling talking to people about Jesus outside the people I know...And even some I know, we do not talk about the good news of Jesus, His coming to earth, and His teachings...Just to talk about Jesus for the sake of talking about Him can be a task for me...Yet, we do read we are to make disciples of all nations...
And it gets harder from even there...We are to welcome and help strangers...And I personally, am often suspect of people I do not know...In Jesus' teachings of the Sheep and the goats, we see that we are to help all people and that includes strangers and prisoners...That too, makes me uncomfortable talking to both prisoners and strangers...When Jesus says, "For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 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", we can see we are to go beyond our comfort zone and the people we know...We are to go much, much further beyond family and friends to spread the gospel and good news...The Great Commission of Jesus goes far beyond the circle of people we know, it goes to the end of the earth...