Matthew 25:31-46
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 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. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; 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, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
During my last semester of Seminary, back in 1985, I took a class in evangelism. The final project of the class involved a “field trip” to Chicago during which we were required to engage in “street evangelism.” The point was to engage a total stranger in a “spiritual conversation” with the goal of sharing the gospel of Christ with them in some way.
I was terrified.
While I understood the assignment and understood that “street evangelism” was a good thing, it just was outside my personal comfort zone; way outside my comfort zone!
The day came for the field trip and we were driven to Chicago and dropped off and told we had something like 3 hours to complete the assignment. I walked along the streets feeling completely inadequate and unprepared to do what I was supposed to do.
After 30 minutes or so of meandering along the streets of downtown Chicago wondering how I was ever going to engage someone in a conversation about Jesus, I walked by what appeared to be a homeless man standing on the edge of the sidewalk with his back up against a building. He was holding a plastic cup and shaking it while speaking softly to no one in particular.
“Can you spare a buck? Will you help me out a little? Can you spare some change?”
Instead of looking away and continuing down the street as I would usually do, I looked at him. He was a gentle-looking African American man who looked to be about 55 or 60 years old. I don’t really know how to explain it but there was just something dignified about him.
The thought suddenly popped into my head that he was the person I should try to talk to for my class assignment. I hesitated for a few moments thinking that it was crazy to come all the way to Chicago to talk to a homeless man about Jesus, but I noticed there was a Burger King restaurant across the street, so I swallowed hard and walked up to the man.
I said, “Hi, my name’s Brian; what’s yours?”
He said, “I’m John.”
I said, “John, are you hungry? I was just heading over to that Burger King across the street; can I get you a burger or something?”
He said, “A burger sounds good.”
So we walked across the street and I ordered a couple of burgers, a couple of soft drinks, and we talked. I asked
John about his life and he told me a story of broken dreams and a broken life. He spoke with a clarity and eloquence that, frankly, took me by surprise. A couple of times his eyes glistened with tears.
Then he asked me about my life. I told him I was a seminary student trying to figure out what God wanted me to do with my life. He talked about how he had grown up going to church but had drifted away from God in recent years.
We talked for about 30 minutes or so and when we had finished our food it was time for me to head back to my classmates. We stood up and headed out of the Burger King, but as we prepared to go our separate ways John had one more request.
He said, “Thanks for the burger, but I gotta be honest with you. I’m a wino and I could really use a drink.”
I thought for a moment and reached in my pocket and found a $5 bill. I offered it to him and said, “I appreciate your honesty; but I hope you will use this for dinner tonight instead of a drink. I hope you will find your way back to God because he loves you more than you love yourself.” And I gave him the 5 bucks.
John looked me right in the eye, shook my hand, and said, “You’re gonna be a heckuva a priest (only he used a more colorful expression).”
Jesus said:
“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, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Jesus is teaching us to see in a different way. He wants us to see not the nameless homeless man looking for a handout on a city street; he wants us to see a man with a name and a life story. He was us to see people the way he sees them. Beyond that, Jesus is saying that we can learn to see more than a homeless man named “John,” we can learn to see Christ himself.
Pastor Brian Coffey
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