Wednesday: The Secret of This Caring?
WEEK 40
WEDNESDAY
THE SECRET OF THIS CARING?
Ephesians 4:31-32; 5:1-2
What is the secret of this caring on the part of the Christian? Its roots are deep, deep in the very nature of our faith. In depicting the last accounting, Jesus is shown saying to those on his right: “I was hungry and you gave me food . . . a stranger and you welcomed me . . . in prison and you visited me” (Matt 25:35-36). The righteous replied, “When did we see you hungry and feed you?” (v. 37). And the Master replied, “When you have done it for one of the least of these . . . you have done it for me” (v. 40). He was hungry in their hunger, bound in their imprisonment, and lonely in their being a stranger. In other words, when we care for them, we care for him. No deeper motive for caring could be conceived; to care for the least is to care for the Lord.
And to hurt the least is to hurt the Lord. When Paul was arrested by the risen Jesus, “he heard a voice asking him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you harassing me?’” And when Paul asked, “Who are you, Lord?” he received the reply, “I am Jesus, whom you are harassing” (Acts 9:4-5). To hurt them was to hurt him. This gave action universal significance—every act was significant beyond the immediate act to that immediate person—it touched God, the universal Lord. This makes morality more than morality; it makes it spirituality. To have relationships with an act is to have relationships with a Person. Morality is not merely related to an impersonal law; it is related to a Personal Life. To break a law is to wound Love.
This universalizes the incarnation of Jesus. He was incarnated once in Palestine, but he is incarnated again in a sense in every person. To do it to them is to do it to him. “I have stopped slamming doors to show my resentment against people, for I find I’m slamming the door on Jesus,” said an awakened Christian. That gives significance to every person and to every act toward that person.
That makes all life vascular; cut it anywhere and it will bleed with the blood of the Son of God. To be at enmity with any person is to be at enmity with him. To love anyone is to love him. To care for anyone is to care for him. No wonder the Christians cared! They had a motive for caring, the profoundest motive imaginable.
O Jesus, I see you in the hungry eyes of every little child; I see you in the sick, in the sinful; I see you everywhere. I kneel in awe and reverence. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: Jesus will meet me today in the person of someone in need; I must not miss him.