Homeless JesusНамуна

Jesus is very clear about the judgment at the end of time—both blessings and curses. What's beautiful is that the blessings come first. Those headed for eternal life will not have the mood sullied by having to watch others going the other way. As Jesus put it, those others are the ones who didn't feed them when he was hungry or do all the many acts if mercy they could have done in response to the great act of mercy he had performed for them. As Jesus put it, they will ask, when did we not do these things. Simply put, it was when they didn't believe.

Jesus identifies with his followers like they are him and he is them. Saul, before he was called Paul, experienced this on the Damascus Road. He was on his way to drag new Christians out of their homes for the sake of his understanding of religion. The Lord stopped him in his tracks, first with a blinding light, then a voice. When Saul appealed, “Who are you, Lord?” the answer came back, “I am Jesus who you are persecuting.”

“You're persecuting me!” “Inasmuch as you've done it to the least of these, my brothers, you've done it unto me.”

Jesus had more to say about the final disposition of things. Remember the parable of the rich man and the beggar? Poor man Lazarus was an annoyance hanging around at a rich man's house and never got any help. But at the end of life we find everything reversed. The rich man cries out to the now comforted beggar to give him a drink of water—the heat apparently intense and unrelenting—but no, there was a great divide between them and no crossing to the other side.

But how about us? “Lord,” some will say, “I was good, I did a lot of good things.” To the self-justifying he'll have to say, “Did you know me? I don' t think so; I don't recognize you.”

It's serious, and never more serious than when it's too late to change anything.

At the same time, the blessing for those blessed is far beyond anything deserved. We'll marvel that we did so little to be rewarded so richly.

While there is time our part is to look for ways to feed the Lord and quench his thirst. Even the slightest act, the glass of cold water offered to a child in Jesus' name will not go unnoticed and unrewarded on the last day.