Learning to Contemplate the Face of Christ In Our Neighbor

Kindness, kindness, kindness.

I can’t emphasize that enough. Why should we be kind? Jesus Christ emphasized in Matthew 25:31-46 that whatever we did to the least of our brothers, we did to Him (emphasis added):

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne,
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and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
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He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
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Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
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For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me,
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naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’
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Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?
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When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?
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When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’
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And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’
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17 Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
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For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
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a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’
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Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’
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He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’
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And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Here we learn some of the corporal works of mercy:

• To feed the hungry
• To give drink to the thirsty
• To clothe the naked
• To welcome the stranger
• To visit the sick

These are very easy things for us to understand. It makes sense that giving food to someone is a good thing to do; it’s easy to wrap our minds around. The other examples easily reduce in similar fashion.

Let’s unpack Christ’s words a bit more though:

whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me – Matthew 25:40

Whatever you did. Not just giving food and water and clothing, but whatever you did.

When we come into contact with another human being, we are coming into contact with someone made in the image of God; we come into contact with Jesus Christ. We must learn to contemplate the face of Christ in our neighbor.

Lord, when did I do these things to You? “Whatever you did to the least of your brothers, you did to me.”

• Lord, when did I make fun of you? Whatever you did to the least.. you did to me
• Lord, when did I yell at you in traffic? Whatever you did to the least.. you did to me
• Lord, when did I lose my patience and get angry with you? Whatever you did to the least.. you did to me
• Lord, when was I rude to you? Whatever you did to the least.. you did to me
• Lord, when did I debase and lust after you? Whatever you did to the least.. you did to me

Sometimes when we deal with difficult people, it’s not always easy for us to keep our cool. There are going to be rough times. However, we must always consider that whatever we say or think or do to our neighbor, we do to Jesus Christ. This is not just a nice way of thinking, or a good philosophy on life. No, this is how we must live. We must make these words of Our Lord in Matthew our own, and let them transform our every action out of love for Jesus Christ.

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