The Beauty of Kindness'. 3
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This representation of the way the account for judgment day is made up, shows us how full all life is of Christ. Even our smallest acts have reference to him. The kindnesses we do—are done to him. When we neglect any one—it is Christ we neglect. We cannot get away from his presence, go where we may. Everywhere there is somebody who needs love, hospitality, a visit in a sick room, a cup of the cold water of kindness, or a word of encouragement. And it is Christ! He is always coming to us needing something.
Twice Jesus asked for water—once at the well, when he said to the woman who was about to draw water, "Give me drink," and again on his cross, when he said, "I thirst." But now every day he comes to us with like longings. Physical thirsts are not the only thirsts. Not all people about us are poor, hungry, or homeless—but there are few we meet any day, who do not need something—cheer, hope, a brother's hand, companionship, friendship, joy. In everyone of these the King comes to us, saying, "Inasmuch as you show kindness to the least of these—you show it unto me!" Let us never fail him, so that he shall say, "I turned to you in my need—and you did nothing for me!"
This parable of the judgment shows us how full of splendor is the simplest, plainest life of the quietest, commonest days. The righteous thought that there must have been some mistake—they could not remember having done such deeds of kindness to the King. But they had done these things to his friends—and he counted them as done to himself. We must not miss the significance of this—some of us think our lives dreary and commonplace—but here we see what splendor is veiled in the simplest kindnesses. In the light of the judgment day, we shall see the tasks we fret over today, the serving of others, which sometimes grows irksome, blossoming into divine beauty and radiancy!
"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. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 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 took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you took care of Me; I was in prison and you visited Me.’ "Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or without clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and visit You?’ "And the King will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’ Then He will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels! 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 didn’t take Me in; I was naked and you didn’t clothe Me, sick and in prison and you didn’t take care of Me.’ "Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or without clothes, or sick, or in prison, and not help You?’ "Then He will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me either.’ "And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." Matthew 25:31-46.
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