For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink,for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink;For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:for I was hungry, and ye did not give me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink;
7 sermons cite this verse
… but this is how the parable begins, and it's in Matthew chapter 25, verses 31 through 46. If you have your Bible, turn there. and Jesus says this, when the Son of Man, remember that's what he called himself, 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 the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Now he's going to send the goats away. He's going to say, you have no part with me and he's going to send them away, but he's going to invite the sheep to join him. And when he invites the sheep to join him, and when he welcomes them into his kingdom, he says this, I was hungry and you gave me food. …
… come you blessed of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from 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 you took me in I was 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 saying Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in or naked and clothe you? Or when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? Verse 40, and the king will answer and say to them, assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren. You did it to me. Oh, that's powerful. Jesus says, I'm coming back to establish my kingdom on this planet. I'm going to establish my kingdom, and I'm going to set you to the side, and you will be blessed. You will inherit with everything that goes along with a part of being a part of his kingdom. And they will say to the king, they will ask the question, how did I get here? And he said, because I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty. You gave me drink. I was a stranger. You took me in. I was naked. You clothed me. I was sick. You …
… Take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation 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 invited me in. 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. 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 invite you in? When did we see you needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? And the king will reply, I tell you the truth, whatever you did to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did to me. Then the king will say to those on his left, depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire, prepare for the devil and his angels. …
… 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 food. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me clothing. 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 was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you? And the king will answer them, truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me. Then he will say to those on his left hand, You who are accursed depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. …
… And then he will say to them, 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. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to visit me. You came to be with me. And then they're gonna go, well, wait, when did we ever give you food or drink or clothing, Jesus? And he will say, what you did for the least of these, you did for me. Remember what he said to Paul on the way? He said, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? He takes what's done to his church personally. He takes what's done to the poor, what's done to the lost, what's done to those who don't know the gospel yet. He takes it personally. It seems to be that Jesus is saying the dress code in determining whether you are a sheep or a goat comes down to your caring for what God cares for. …
… 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 food. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. 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 was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you? And the king will answer them, truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters, siblings of mine, you did it to me. This is the word of God for the people of God. …
… Jesus already knows how mean we can be. Jesus said, I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat. Jesus said, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. Jesus said I was sick and I was in prison and you did not visit me. We can be devilishly mean. But this means spiritedness. It's not innate to our human personality. It's not natural for us. It is born from a culture of deprivation that is being consumed by what we don't have instead of focused on what we do have. And when we are focused on what we don't have, we lose sight. We lose sight of the fact that our mission is not dependent on what we don't have. Our mission is not dependent on our deficiencies, on our deficits, on our shortages, on our insufficiencies. But our mission as the church, as the people of God, is dependent first on the power of a God who can take nothing and make something. We serve a God, in case anybody has forgotten, that was born in the poverty of a barn. …