When did we see you?
- Gary Fritsch
- Mar 9
- 2 min read
Nothing very hidden or subtle about Jesus' example in today's Gospel. It doesn't seem to leave much there for those of us who are used to trying to 'dig deeper'. "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink." These commendations for the righteous provide positive reinforcement for a number of acts of charity and kindness, and later, we will hear a rebuke for the wicked who refuse to engage in these same acts. Seems pretty simple - do these things, Our Lord will be pleased, don't do them and He will not be.
But as I poured over this reading for yet another time, I was struck by the fact that both the righteous and the wicked ask the same question of The Lord: Lord, when did we see you... It makes me think of what my encounter with The Lord at the time of judgement might be like. Will I be asking the same question: Lord, when did I see you?
This is a bit disquieting to me. I think back over my last week and try to remember all of the people that I encountered and wonder: Was there someone in need that I dismissed, bypassed, discounted? Wow, I hope not, but I can't say for sure. More important than that, did I see Christ in them?
This is real challenge - to see Jesus in the inconvenient, the annoying, the unpleasant. Can we somehow look beyond for the way that Christ is in them, and if we don't see it initially, are we willing to stay with them until we do see something? I wish that I could say that I do this effectively, but no.
I do think that I have occasionally been blessed that God has shown me something in someone that I would not have normally discovered on my own, and this has allowed me to be more Christlike to them. And this is where the beautiful pairing comes: Seeing Christ, Being Christ. When it happens, we begin to understand that it is not 'passing the judgement' that matters, it is pursuing Jesus, wherever He might be found - even if it's in you.
留言