Compassion

                                                     GOD’S STANDARD OF JUDGMENT

“When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will take his seat upon the throne of his glory, and all nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate them from each other, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right hand, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, enter into possession of the Kingdom which has been prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you gathered me in; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you came to visit me; in prison, and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and nourish you? Or thirsty, and gave you to drink? When did we see you a stranger, and gather you to us? Or naked, and clothed you? When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘This is the truth I tell you—insomuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ then he will say to those on the left, ‘Go from me, you cursed ones, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you did not give me to eat; I was thirsty, and you did not give me to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not gather me to you; naked, and you did not clothe me; sick and in prison, and you did not come to visit me.’ Then these too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not render service to you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘This is the truth I tell you—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 to eternal punishment, but the righteous will go away to eternal life.”

Those who fed the poor were surprised. They clothed the naked, visited the sick simply because they had loving hearts. They souls were moved with compassion. They could see the need .  

Those who did not feed the poor were surprised. They did not clothe the naked, visit the sick, simply because they had hearts without love. Something had died within.They had lost their souls. They had no compassion.They were blind to the need.

 If we had known it was you we would gladly have helped; (but we thought it was only some common somebody who was not worth helping.) There are those who will help in order to receive praise, thanks, publicity. Help like this is disguised selfishness. The help which wins the approval of God is that which is given for nothing. It is the reaction of love.

The things which Jesus picks out: giving the hungry a meal, or the thirsty a drink, welcoming a stranger, cheering the sick, visiting the prisoner—all of us can do these things . It is a case of giving simple help to the people we meet every day.

Jesus confronts us with the wonderful truth that all such help given is given to himself, and all such help withheld is withheld from himself.  If we really wish to delight a parent’s heart, if we really wish to move him to gratitude the best way to do it is to help his child. God is the great Father; the way to delight the heart of God is to help his children. We are all the children of God.

There were two men who found this parable blessedly true. The one was Francis of Asissi; he was wealthy and high-born and high-spirited. But he was not happy. He felt that life was incomplete. Then one day he was out riding and met a leper, loathsome and repulsive in the ugliness of his disease. Something moved Francis to dismount and fling his arms around this wretched sufferer; and in his arms the face of the leper changed to the face of Christ.

The other was Martin of Tours. He was a Roman soldier and a Christian. One cold winter day, as he was entering a city, a beggar stopped him and asked for alms. Martin had no money; but the beggar was blue and shivering with cold, and Martin gave what he had. He took off his soldier’s coat, worn and frayed as it was; he cut it in two and gave half of it to the beggar man. That night he had a dream. In it he saw the heavenly places and all the angels and Jesus in the midst of them; and Jesus was wearing half of a Roman soldier’s cloak. One of the angels said to him, “Master, why are you wearing that battered old cloak? Who gave it to you?” And Jesus answered softly, “My servant Martin gave it to me.”