Unseen and Unvalued

January 19, 2022

“For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.” Then they will reply, “Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?” And he will answer, “I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.” Matthew 25:42-45

It’s so easy to be in a group of people and not notice who else is there if they fall outside our immediate group. We understandably focus on the persons with whom we have natural, automatic connections. One of the shocks to almost every church that calls itself “the friendliest, most loving church in town” is the discovery is that not nearly everyone feels that way. It doesn’t take many conversations to find people who felt overlooked, unnoticed, and unvalued when they tried attending.

We’re not mean. We just don’t notice. We’re not unfeeling. It’s just that it stops there. Following Jesus is not a matter of our emotions and feelings. It’s actively DOING, paying attention on purpose, and making actively caring for people our default activity. 

The people Jesus described in this scene at the final judgment were not bad people. They were good neighbors, kind people. They were people who would feed you if you told them you were hungry. Need a drink? All you have to do is ask nicely. Show up at their house and they will invite you in for a spell. Lose your suitcase with your clothes in it, and they’d tide you over with a few things. If you are sick and isolated and you call and tell them you are lonely and out of food, they’d probably mask up and bring you a meal or at least call the church and tell them somebody needs to do something. If you were in prison and they knew about it, they would for sure tell the pastor. That’s what he/she is there for, right?

That’s how they defended themselves to Jesus. “We didn’t see You in any of those situations, Jesus. If we knew, if we saw, we would have helped You. We’re not cold and unfeeling.”

Jesus was unmoved. He said, “I was there. I was there in the people you didn’t notice. The people you don’t think about unless they are shoved in your face. The people you assume someone else will care for. That’s where I am. In the unnoticed, the undervalued, the people you have to follow Me to find. And when you don’t find them, you have rejected Me.”

• Sobering. What would Jesus say to you today?