The Least of These

What answer do we make to all this, dearest brothers? What argument can we use to defend the minds of rich men, buried under a godless barrenness and a kind of dark night? What excuse can clear them, when we turn out to be less than the devil’s own servants — unable to pay Christ back even moderately for the price of his suffering and his blood? He has given us his commands. He has taught us what his servants ought to do, promising a reward to those who give and threatening punishment to those who bear no fruit. He has stated his verdict. He has announced ahead of time what he will judge by. What excuse is left for the man who drags his feet? What defense for the man who bears no fruit? When a servant does not do what he was told, the Lord will do what he threatened. This is what he says: “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; and all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates his sheep from the goats. And he will set the sheep on his right hand and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right hand, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, receive the kingdom that has been 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 took me in; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you? Thirsty, and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in? Naked, and clothe you? Or when did we see you sick and in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth: in so far as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Then he will say also to those on his left hand, ‘Go away from me, you who are cursed, into the everlasting fire that my Father has prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food; I was thirsty and you gave me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take me in; naked, and you did not clothe me; sick and in prison, and you did not visit me.’ Then they too will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not serve you?’ And he will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth: in so far as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into everlasting burning, but the righteous into eternal life.” [a]

What more could Christ have told us? How could he have stirred up our works of righteousness and mercy more forcefully than by saying that whatever is given to the needy and the poor is given to him — and that he himself is the one wronged when the needy and the poor go unsupplied? So the man who is not moved in church by regard for his brother may still be moved by the sight of Christ; and the man who gives no thought to his fellow servant in suffering and poverty may still give thought to his Lord, who is living in the very person he looks down on.

And so, dearest brothers — you whose fear leans toward God, you who have already despised the world and trampled it underfoot and lifted your minds to what is heavenly and divine — let us give our obedience with full faith, with a devoted mind, with unbroken labor, and so earn the Lord’s approval. Let us give Christ the clothes of earth, so that we may receive the clothing of heaven. Let us give the food and drink of this world, so that we may come with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob to the banquet of heaven. So that we may not reap a little, let us sow generously. While there is still time, let us see to our own safety and our eternal salvation, taking the warning of the apostle Paul, who says: “So then, while we have time, let us work at what is good toward everyone, but especially toward those who belong to the household of faith. And let us not grow tired of doing good, for in its own season we will reap.” [d]

Think about what the community of believers did in the time of the apostles, beloved brothers — when at the very beginning the mind flourished with greater strength, and the faith of believers burned with a warmth that was still new. They sold their houses and their farms, and gladly and generously handed the proceeds to the apostles to be given out to the poor. By selling their earthly property and signing it away, they moved their estate to where they could receive the produce of a holding that lasts, and there they made ready homes where an eternal dwelling could begin. Their abundance in work matched their agreement in love, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles: “And the crowd of those who believed acted with one heart and one soul; there was no distinction among them, and none of them counted anything he owned as his own, but they had everything in common.” [e]

This is truly what it means to become sons of God by a spiritual birth. This is what it means to imitate, under the law of heaven, the even-handedness of God the Father. Whatever belongs to God is there for all of us to use. Nobody is shut out from his benefits and his gifts, so that the whole human race enjoys his goodness and generosity equally. The day gives its light to all alike, the sun shines, the rain falls, the wind blows; sleep is one and the same for everyone who sleeps; and the brightness of the stars and the moon belongs to all. Take that as the pattern of equality: the man who owns land on earth and shares his returns and his harvest with the brotherhood, giving freely and impartially and justly, is imitating God the Father.

What glory it will be, dearest brothers, for those who work in love — how great and high the joy — when the Lord begins to count his people, and hands out the promised rewards for what we have earned and done well: heavenly things for earthly, eternal for temporary, great for small; when he presents us to the Father, to whom he has restored us by making us holy; when he gives us immortality and eternity, into which he has made us new by the life-giving power of his blood; when he brings us back again to paradise and opens the kingdom of heaven, in the faith and truth of his promise. Let these things stay firmly fixed in our minds. Let them be grasped in full faith, loved with our whole heart, and bought at the price of a greatness of spirit that keeps enlarging what we do. [g]

The saving work of love is a shining and divine thing, dearest brothers: a great comfort to believers, a healthy guard over our safety, a protection for hope, a safeguard for faith, a cure for sin. It is a thing that lies within the doer’s own power, a thing both great and easy, a crown won in peacetime without the risk of persecution. It is God’s true and greatest gift: necessary for the weak, glorious for the strong. With its help a Christian carries out spiritual grace, deserves well of Christ his Judge, and makes God his debtor.

Let us compete gladly and eagerly for this palm, awarded for the works that save. Let all of us run in the contest of righteousness with God and Christ looking on. And since we have already begun to be greater than this life and this world, let us not slow our pace for any desire belonging to this life and this world. If the day finds us equipped and quick and running in this contest of love — whether it is the day of reward or the day of persecution — the Lord will never fail to give a reward for what we have earned. In peace he will give us who conquer a white crown for our labors; in persecution he will add a purple one for our suffering.