Read Matthew 25:37-40 (NLT)
Movie Where the Crawdads Sing… is based on a young girl who was raised on 381 acres of marsh land, near the ocean shore of North Carolina. Her parents were hard hit by the great depression and her father turned to gambling and alcohol to deal with his own depression. He became abusive and beat his mom and 4 other siblings. One by one each of them left home, leaving Kya and her father all alone in the marsh with no job, no money and just each other. After watching her mom and siblings get beat up, she learned how to stay out of her fathers way and live with him. Within a short amount of time he too left, leaving this 8 year old girl all alone to live by herself in the marsh. She became known by everyone the swamp girl instead of Kya. So at age 8 years old, all alone, no food and no money, she dug up some fresh mussels early in the morning and took them into the local store located on the marsh shoreline. It was owned by a local black couple who knew Kya and her family and knew of his reputation, so when she showed up all by herself trying to get money for the mussels the husband agreed to 50 cents for one bag and a tank of gas for her 12’ aluminum fishing boat.
After she left the wife looking all concerned starting talking about how it’s not safe for her to be all alone out there in the marsh and how they needed to notify the authorities and her husband looked at her and says “Be careful about getting into other peoples business.” And his wife looks at him and says “Be careful? There is nothing careful about the bible.” And she quotes Matthew 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. KJV
Who are the least of these (my brethren)? The hungry, thirsty, strangers that you took in and shown hospitality, the naked and you clothed them, the sick or in prison and you visited them. Loving others isn’t easy, yet it’s what we are called to do.
There is a problem with our thinking today…
The problem in many churches today… We think that these scriptures only apply to the “called.” The pastors, teachers, evangelists, missionaries, hired staff in our churches or even the elected positions in our churches. But Jesus is speaking to the sheep in Matthew 25, the believers who follow the shepherd. The disciples of Jesus. The only one he excludes from loving the others is the goats (unbelievers).
The point is as a follower of Jesus we are all called to “get busy” to work, to serve and to do unto the least of these. Who are the least of these? The widow or shut-in unable to get out and about. The abandoned children or foster children, orphaned by choice or circumstances of the parents. As Kit will share tomorrow, those forced into sex slavery. Those abused or molested or raped. Those with mental health issues, or those physically sick, or those who are poor. Jesus never says “if it’s not their fault then help them.” He teaches us to love them regardless of their situation or sin. That’s where the non-judgmental part of our ministry comes into play.
It’s not easy loving others, it forces us to be selfless instead of selfish. Philippians 2:4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
Read Luke 10:25-37 (NLT)
When Jesus says to love others (love our neighbors as ourselves) it makes us uncomfortable. So we try to justify our negative responses by asking the question “who is our neighbor.” In other words why should I care? (Because God cares.) That question who is our neighbor gives us the opportunity to ignore the problem.
Notice how the religious people in this story reacted to the Jewish man who was robbed, beaten, and left for dead. They walked around or away from the problem, unphased by what they saw. . It’s easy to make excuses: I’m to busy, I’m to tired, I’m better than them or worse, they deserve it or they did it to themselves.
