for what you do to the least of these
Matthew 25:31-46 is a cute statement of Jesus'southward concern for the weak and the vulnerable. It's besides a challenging exhortation for Christians to model the same business.
Merely what exactly does Jesus mean by "the least of these"?
It'southward often assumed that "the least of these" are guild'south poor and downtrodden, and that, past implication, Jesus would have usa back up any program (church, government, or otherwise) that aims to assistance hurting people. While it is certainly adept to treat those outside the church (Gal. vi:10), we must be careful non to make Matthew 25 say more than it means to say. How the government spends our tax dollars is a question that sincere Christians can disagree on. Information technology's not my place as a pastor to make definitive statements on proposed federal budgets.
What'due south more important to me is that we handle the Bible carefully, both from the pulpit and in our public pronouncements. Which is why we should effort to sympathize "the least of these" in its proper context. What Jesus says in Matthew 25 is non "conservative" or "liberal." It'southward Christian, and has everything to do with how we treat other Christians.
"The least of these" refers to other believers in need—specifically, afoot Christian teachers dependent on other Christians for hospitality and back up. That'southward my answer to the title of this web log post.
Allow me offer four points in support of this interpretation.
Supporting Points
1. In verse 45 Jesus uses the phrase "the least of these," but in verse 40 he uses a more exact phrase: "the least of these of my brothers." The ii phrases refer to the same grouping. Then the more complete phrase in verse 40 should be used to explain the shorter phrase in verse 45. Whatsoever "the least of these" is almost, it's near "the to the lowest degree of these" who are brothers.
The reference to "my brothers" cannot exist a reference to all of suffering humanity. "Brother" is never used this way in the New Testament. The word always refers to a physical/blood brother or to the spiritual family unit of God. With regard to the first category, Jesus is clearly not request us only to care for his blood brother James. He must be speaking from the second category, insisting that any we practice for believers in need nosotros practice for him.
This interpretation is confirmed when we wait at the last fourth dimension before chapter 25 where Jesus talks near "brothers." In Matthew 23, Jesus tells the crowds and his disciples (v. one) that they are all brothers (v. 8). The group of "brothers" is narrowed in the following verses to those who have one Father, who is in sky (five. nine) and have ane instructor, Christ (5. 10). "Brother" is a narrower category than all suffering people or all people everywhere. Those who belong to Christ and practice his will are his brothers (Mark 3:35).
ii. Likewise, information technology makes more sense to think Jesus is comparing service to beau believers with service to him, rather than to hear him saying, "You should see my paradigm in the faces of the poor." Granted, Jesus was a "man of sorrows," and so other sufferers may exist able to identify with Jesus in a special way. But in the rest of the New Attestation information technology'south not the poor but the body of Christ (the church) that represents Christ on world. Christ "in us" is the promise of the gospel for those who believe, non an assumed reality for those living in a certain economic status.
Matthew 25 equates caring for Jesus'due south spiritual family with caring for Jesus. The passage does not offer the generic message: "care for the poor and you're caring for me." This doesn't mean God is indifferent to the concerns of the poor or that we should be either. It just means that "the least of these" is not a blanket statement well-nigh physical deprivation.
iii. The word "least" is the superlative from of mikroi (little ones), and mikroi e'er refers to the disciples in Matthew's gospel (10:42; 18:6, ten, 14; encounter also 11:11).
4. The similarity betwixt Matthew 10 and 25 is non accidental. In Matthew 10:40-42, Jesus tells the disciples, "Whoever receives yous receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet'due south advantage, and the i who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's advantage. And whoever gives one of these lilliputian ones fifty-fifty a cup of cold h2o because he is a disciple, truly, I say to y'all, he volition by no means lose his reward." The context for these remarks is Jesus sending out his disciples to minister throughout the towns of Israel (vv. v-15). The disciples were to take no bag or staff for the journey. Instead, they were to seek a "worthy" house that would welcome them in. Their success every bit preachers would depend upon the kindness of others. In the face of persecution and a hostile world (10:sixteen-39), Jesus exhorts his followers to care for the traveling minister, no matter the cost. The disciples would depend upon the good will of others to welcome them, feed them, and support them in their itinerant ministry building. Then Jesus explains that to show love in this way to his ambassadors is really to show honey to him.
I of the showtime post-canon documents, The Didache, demonstrates that caring for traveling ministers was a pressing issue in the first centuries of the church'south history. The Didache—essentially, an early church constitution—contains 15 short chapters, three of which deal with the protocol for welcoming itinerant teachers, apostles, and prophets. Some so-called ministers, the document concludes, are cheats looking for a handout. Just equally for the true teacher: "welcome him every bit you would the Lord" (11:2). This was a pressing issue in the early on church and the crux of Jesus's business in Matthew 10 and 25.
Conclusion
Matthew 25 is about social justice in the sense that it is about caring for the needy. Only the needy in view are fellow Christians, peculiarly those who depend on our hospitality and generosity for their ministry building. "The to the lowest degree of these" is not a blanket statement about the church building's responsibility to run across the needs of all the poor, let alone a definitive statement virtually federal budgets.
Again, this is no alibi to be indifferent toward the poor or unconcerned almost hurting people. Christians tin can argue for whatsoever number of programs based on other texts and other principles. But every bit an exegetical point about Matthew 25, nosotros must try our best to say what the text means to say. And in this example, Jesus says we are big trouble if we are also embarrassed, too lazy, or also cowardly to support young man Christians who depend on our assistance and suffer for the sake of the gospel.
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Source: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-deyoung/who-are-the-least-of-these/
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