“The poor you will always have with you, but you
will not always have me.”
Matthew 26:11
“All they asked was
that we should continue to remember the poor,
the very thing I had
been eager to do all along.”
Galatians 2:10
The disciples could
rejoice that Jesus was in their midst.
At the time they did
not fully comprehend what that meant.
The Bridegroom was
with them.
“The Word became
flesh and dwelt among us” is how John later described it in the Gospel.
But what of the poor?
Jesus said we would
always have them with us.
In saying that was He
relegating them to some second class role?
Not at all.
The 1st
century church understood this and as Paul wrote in the Book of Galatians they
were eager to ‘remember’ or minister to the poor.
Jesus no longer
walked among them as He had done previously but there were still many, many opportunities
to minister to Him.
How?
Listen to these
words:
“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.’
“Then the righteous
will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and
give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in,
or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go
to visit you?’
“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.’
Matthew 25:36-40
No, we will not
always have Jesus in our midst as the disciples did but we have no less of an
opportunity to minister to Him as we minister to the poor, the lost, the
prisoner, the widow and the orphan.
Have you ministered to
Jesus today?
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