#2 - The Least of These

​​​

Mat 25:32  "And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 

Mat 25:33  and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 

Mat 25:34  "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 

Mat 25:35  'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 

Mat 25:36  naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' 

Mat 25:37  "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? 

Mat 25:38  'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 

Mat 25:39  'And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 

Mat 25:40  "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' 

Mat 25:41  "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 

Mat 25:42  for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 

Mat 25:43  I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' 

Mat 25:44  "Then they themselves also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' 

Mat 25:45  "Then He will answer them, saying, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' 

Mat 25:46  "And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

 

What an indictment this is. There are many in this country who use a portion of this passage to justify their anti-abortion stance. For me, this passage puts that doctrine into proper perspective.

The religious right says that “the unborn” are “the least of these.” In this passage, our Lord gave us the definition of what constitutes “the least of these.”

 

According to this passage, the “least of these” are: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned (Ma 25:35,36)

 

There is another passage that I believe applies here, and that is this one:

 

Mat 23:23  "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. 

Mat 23:24  "You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! 

It appears to me that many on the religious right that have become so obsessed with anti-abortionism that they’ve become hardened against feeding the hungry, taking in the stranger, clothing the naked, and healing the sick.

 

The religious right in our governing bodies have consistently and continually voted against providing meals to children in school and have recently cut off SNAP benefits to the working poor and their children. They excuse their actions by saying “that’s socialism.”

 

The religious right has been vehemently opposed to taking in the strangers (immigrants and their children) who have come here trying to provide a better life for themselves and their families and are refusing to help them on the path to citizenship. They’ve even been kidnapping them at home, while shopping, going to school, attending church services, and while working at their jobs. They’re doing all this under the guise of arresting criminal gang members. Men, women, and children going about their lives are not criminal gang members.

​

The religious right have been vehemently opposed to providing healthcare to the poor and their children and have recently cut back Medicaid payments to the states by saying “that’s socialism.”

​

If the religious right claims to be “pro-life,” then I believe that they should be protecting the lives of these children, as well.

​​

It appears to me that these folks aren’t “pro-life,” they are pro-birth, but after that child is born, he is on his own because there isn’t going to be any help going forward from there.

​​

Here is the problem as I see it. These folks have taken up the anti-abortion banner as if it was the end all, and be all, of their religious profession.

​​

However, the apostle Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus (on the coast of modern-day Turkey):

​​

Eph 2:8  For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 

Eph 2:9  not as a result of works, that no one should boast. 

​

Notice that Paul did not say, “for by grace are you saved through anti-abortion efforts.”

​

In the words of a man of God whom I consider to be a spiritual father to me:

​

“We are saved by grace through faith in the completed work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary and an empty tomb, plus nothing.”

​

In this, the religious right is doing the same thing that Christ chided the religious leaders of his day for doing.

​​​

Mat 23:23…you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness.

Mat 23:24  "You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

​

I empathize with those who want to preserve life. The apostle Matthew wrote in his gospel:

​

Mat 19:13  Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. 
Mat 19:14  But Jesus said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven." 
Mat 19:15  And He laid His hands on them and departed from there. 

​

But I have a problem with those who go to great lengths in their anti-abortion rhetoric and actions. Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, multiple states have enacted near total bans on abortions, and some have enacted actual total bans. Now, women who desperately want children but have life-threatening problems with their pregnancies like ectopic pregnancies can't get the common procedure called a D&C because the so-called "exceptions" to their state's ban are so arcane that in many cases the doctors refuse to conduct any such procedure for fear that they will be arrested and charged with murder for performing the abortion that will save the woman's life unless they get an approval from a court or the legislature first.

​

Under this ridiculous "exception" the woman is just supposed to lie there and die until a court can be called in to make a determination as to whether or not this woman's medical situation is dire enough to approve an abortion. 

​

The end result is that women are dying needlessly who could have been saved with a simple procedure that literally tens of millions of women who have had problems with their pregnancies have had and have gone on to have other pregnancies, and children, and relatively normal families.

​​

Plus, it should be noted here that the Bible doesn’t mention anything about abortion.
However, our Lord was very specific about whom He considered to be the “least of these.”

​​

Mat 25:34  "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 

Mat 25:35  'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 

Mat 25:36  naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' 

Mat 25:37  "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? 

Mat 25:38  'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 

Mat 25:39  'And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 

Mat 25:40  "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' 

​​

The second part of that passage should be very sobering to all of us.

​​

Mat 25:41  "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 

Mat 25:42  for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 

Mat 25:43  I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' 

Mat 25:44  "Then they themselves also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' 

Mat 25:45  "Then He will answer them, saying, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' 

Mat 25:46  "And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

​​

He spoke similarly in another place. One of the religious leaders of His day said to Him:

​​

Mat 22:36  "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" 

Mat 22:37  And He said to him, "you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind."

Mat 22:38  "This is the great and foremost commandment. 

Mat 22:39  "The second is like it, "you shall love your neighbor as yourself." 

Mat 22:40  "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets." 

To love the Lord our God with all our heart, and soul, and mind; and to love our neighbor as ourselves requires that we also take care of the “least of these,” not because it’s required or because we feel an obligation but because of love, His love for us, and our love for others because of His love for them.

​

I know in the depth of my being that I don’t deserve and can never earn the mercy and the grace that the living God has bestowed on me through the sacrifice of His own dear Son, but I will be grateful throughout all eternity that He has completed the work of salvation for all who will accept it, even me.