Ye Did It Not To One Of The Least Of These, Ye Did It Not To Me

Matt 25:42-45 "For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: 43I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. 44Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 45Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me."

Is this verse talking about not meeting worldly needs of our neighbors or not meeting their greater spiritual need?

Let us examine the verse 32.

Matt 25:32 "And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:"

The separation between Sheep and Goats is not made based on our good works (charity work) but on the Salvation. The Sheep are the ones who found Grace in the eyes of God. Great philanthropists can be in the list of goats too, and this allegation is against them too.

Matt 25:41 "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:"

So how do we understand this verse? 

With this in mind, let us examine this by comparing scripture with scripture.

• Hunger and Thirst

Matt 5:6 "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled."

John 6:35 "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst."

John 4:14 "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."

"bread of life" and "living water" represent the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, Word in flesh.

• Stranger

Eph 2:12-13 "That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: 13But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ."

we all are "by nature the children of wrath" (Eph 2:3) and aliens and strangers to the Kingdom of God until He "translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son" (col 1:13).

• Naked

2 Cor 5:1-3 "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle [corruptible bodies] were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven [glorious spiritual bodies]: 3If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked."

Isa 61:10 "I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness , as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels."

We are all naked before God because of our sin until God clothes us with "Christ's robe of righteousness". God clothing Adam and Eve with animal skin typifies the covering God is providing through his son Jesus "to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Cor 5:21)

• Sick

Isa 1:4-6 "Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. 5Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 6From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment."

Mark 2:17 "When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

We are all infected with sin which brings us eternal death unless God heals us by giving Salvation. Jesus Christ is our Great Physician.

• Prison

John 8:32-34 "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. 33They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? 34Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin."

Isa 42:6-7 "I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; 7To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house."

We are all are in the bondage of sin and servants (slaves) to sin. Our Savior gave the Gospel of Grace to us and redeemed us by his precious blood. we are commanded to go into all the world and "to testify the gospel of the grace of God." (Acts 20:24)

Luke 4:18-19 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me [Jesus Christ], because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 9To preach the acceptable year of the Lord." Isa 61:1

We have to share Gospel with our neighbors to meet their greater spiritual need, escape from the eternal damnation. God has commissioned Paul and all believers to share Gospel.

Acts 26:18 "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me."

• Does it mean that we ignore our neighbors physical needs? meeting our neighbors physical needs is a good work that results from or the evidence of Salvation.If we do not show our love for a brother in physical need, then there is no love in us, in other words we are not truly born-again.

1 John 3:17 "But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?"

James 2:26 "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."

Now with all the above in mind, we can interpret the above verse as follows:

Matthew 25:42-45 "For I was an hungred [for bread of life] , and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty [for living water] , and ye gave me no drink: 43I was a stranger [alien to the kingdom of God] , and ye took me not in: naked [in need of Robe of Righteousness], and ye clothed me not: sick [sin sick] , and in prison [bondage of Satan] , and ye visited me not. 44Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 45Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me."