I was watching a Tik Tok this morning and a commenter showed me something in the Bible that I had never seen before. It relates to my work both as a pastor and as a chaplain, and I thought I would expand on it here.
This commenter began with Jesus’ famous discussion of sheep and goats at the end of time in Matthew 25.
Jesus says in verse 31, “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.’”
Jesus then says that the opposite is also true in verse 41: “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.’
I have often taught on these verse about the importance of providing for those who have nothing; and that in Jesus’ eyes, providing something for the poor is like providing food and water for Him.
This Tik Toker presented this idea: when Jesus was hungry, the sheep gave Him food. When He was thirsty, (or when the least of these were thirsty), the sheep, or the righteous gave Him a drink. When He was without clothes, the righteous gave Him clothes.
But when He was sick and in prison, what did the righteous give Him? The gave Him their presence. They visited Him. They sat with Him. They made sure that He was not alone.
Food is essential to the hungry, water is essential to the thirsty, clothes are essential to the cold, and presence is essential to the sick and imprisoned.
Jesus is equating your presence to food and water. That’s how important it is to Him that we provide it. Food, and clothes cost money, but your presence is free. It only costs your time and effort.
In the second part of the statement, Jesus condemns the wicked for withholding their presence to the sick and imprisoned. Their selfishness with their own time condemned them.
When we, as chaplains provide our presence to a patient or a co-worker, we are providing a gift that is equivalent to providing a starving person food, or a cold person clothes.
This idea blows my mind. Providing your undivided attention, comfort and concern is that valuable in the eyes of Christ. It is that essential; and withholding it is that wicked.
When you sit with a patient, give them your full attention. Give them your empathy and compassion. Follow the Spirit’s lead, and in doing so, you are providing your presence to Christ; because in His eyes, it’s Him who is sitting in that bed.
God is love.
-rev-rob
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