The least of these my brethren...

In today's New Testament reading (Matthew 25), the Lord Jesus lays down an important and perhaps a much overlooked principle of our discipleship.

He tells the parable of the sheep and the goats. In this parable, the King thanks the sheep for their kindness in visiting him when he was in prison, for feeding him when he was hungry, and giving him drink when he was thirsty. The goats, on the other hand, are rebuked for ignoring his needs.

However, both the sheep and the goats are somewhat puzzled, for none of them can recall these occasions when they apparently helped or ignored the King. The King's reply to them is both sobering and thought-provoking:

"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." (v 40)

Have we ever really considered the full implications of what Jesus is saying here? He is telling us that the way in which we treat one another is a direct measure of the way in which we treat him.

All the things we say to each other, all our thoughts, all of our actions - they not only shape our relationships with each other, but also our relationship with our King. We find a similar test of our discipleship in John's 1st Epistle:

"If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" (1 John 4:21)

So as we await the return of the King, let us remember this important principle. Let us treat each other just as we would treat Jesus if he were here. In doing so, we pray that we shall be found amongst the sheep when Jesus returns.