(…continued) Jesus calls ‘blessed’ those who serve him in this life. Look at Jesus’ examples of serving others: giving a thirsty person something to drink, offering food to a hungry person, giving clothes to the needy, and visiting the sick and those in prison. Simple things. Common, everyday acts of kindness. People do them every day. You don’t have to be a saint or win the Nobel Peace Prize or even get your name in the local newspaper to serve Jesus. Jesus sees and remembers even a cup of cold water given in his name. In Matthew 10:42, Jesus says, “If anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”
In 1969 British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge spent a few days with Mother Teresa, interviewing and filming her for the BBC documentary Something Beautiful for God. He followed her on her daily rounds in the streets of Calcutta, picking up the sick and the dying, bringing them into a mission house where sisters would tend to them—washing, feeding, treating their illnesses, or, giving them a place to die with dignity and not alone. 
Muggeridge was in awe of this simple little nun. But then a thought occurred to him. He said, “This woman won a Nobel Prize, but anyone can do what she does.” She spent her life serving her Lord Jesus Christ by doing simple acts of kindness, and the whole world noticed.
Jesus is talking here about a way of life. The wrong response would be to say, “All right, I suppose I better do a little bit of that every once in a while, just to stay on the safe side.” That kind of calculating is not at all what Jesus wants from us. To calculate what one must do to stay on the safe side is a very selfish way to understand this. Serving others in that way is not then done for the sake of others, or even for the sake of Jesus, but for the sake of self; in order to get on the right side of God. This is not the kind of service Jesus asks of us. That is clear from the question that those on the right ask Jesus. The parable says “Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when did we see you all 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?”
‘When did we do any of that?,’ they ask. They were not thinking about salvation or getting on the safe side with God. They were just naturally doing those acts of kindness. That is what they wanted to do.
When a child falls and hurts herself, the mother doesn’t stop and think, “Well, I suppose if I go help, Jesus will be pleased, and that will benefit me in the long run.” No, the mother doesn’t need to think it through. She goes instinctively. Love prompts her to go automatically. For the Christian, such love and kindness ought not be limited to family members. As Jesus taught in the parable of the good Samaritan, our neighbor is whoever needs us. Those on Jesus’ right-side looked for ways to help others because they wanted to, not because they were looking to gain some advantage or favor by it.
Brother Andrew gave his life to working with homeless, orphan boys in the slums of a large city. He himself also lived in desperate poverty, while seeking to give his all to help these boys. He was being interviewed one time by a reporter who could not comprehend why anyone would freely choose such a harsh and difficult life. The reporter asked, “Why do you do this?”
“Why?,” said Brother Andrew incredulously. “Why?” And then he hesitated. He first thought this reporter must be joking, and he wasn’t sure how to respond. Finally, seeing that the reporter was serious, Brother Andrew said simply, “Well, the need is so obvious.” What a dumb question, Brother Andrew thought. When you see someone in need, you help them, don’t you? And why? Not to gain favor with God, not to make money, not to get a good feeling, and not to avoid guilt; but because someone needs help. Isn’t that reason enough?
But the people on Jesus’ right still wondered about that, and asked, “Yes, Jesus, but when did we see YOU in need, and when did we help YOU? And then Jesus replied, “Whatever you did for the least of these my children, you did it for me.”
This is perhaps the most striking line in the whole parable. We’re called on to serve others in many places in the Bible. But here Jesus says, more clearly than anywhere else, that when we help someone in need, we are helping him. Mother Teresa’s worldwide fame may make us forget that her day-to-day work was really quite mundane, difficult, and filled with sorrow. She worked with thousands of diseased, broken, and dying people, literally picking them up off the streets; filth, flies, maggots, and all. She said she gains the strength to do her work only by seeing the face of Jesus in the face of every person she helps.
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Matthew 25:40 — (Jesus said), “Whatever you did for the least of these my children, you did it for me.”
Matthew 7:12 — (Jesus said), “So, whatever you wish that others would do for you, do also for them.”
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Grant, Lord God, that we may cling to thee without parting, worship thee without wearying, serve thee without failing, faithfully seek thee, happily find thee, and forever possess thee, the one and only God, blessed for all eternity. Amen.
–Anselm (1033-1109) Benedictine monk, theologian, philosopher
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