Sometimes we just don't seem to care

The sin of omission has a high price.

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”-Matthew25:31-46

One of the sicknesses of the world is that there are too many people who just don't seem to care. We see hungry and thirsty people everyday. Did we ease their hunger and thirst? We see strangers who are lost and possibly do not have anybody to talk to. Did we reach out to them? We see people in need of clothes. Did we share our clothes? Did we share our new clothes that only sit forever in our cabinet? Many people are getting sick. Did we visit them? Some people are being eaten by loneliness in prison. Did we visit them?

Once there was a kid who keeps on yelling for my father. The way he yelled is disrespectful like calling for a slave. Since my father is out, I was the one who calmly asked him what he wanted. He equally yelled back at me with no respect at all. Straight to my face! The next time the poor kid yelled for my father, we did not mind him at all and even closed the door. That incident made me reflect if what I did - not helpful to the poor kid - was right or wrong. I consider myself a generous person. However, if the person asking for help is showing lack of respect at all especially to his/her benefactor, who would be happy to give? Maybe, I was not generous at all.

Image courtesy: various artists