Option for the Least

(Note: Today’s blog was written by Mark Potter. Each week, we will feature ‘guest voices’ who offer us their insights and wisdom. Thank you, Mark, for writing today!)

I should start with a little self-disclosure here as we begin.  I do not consider myself to be a person immersed in the many cultures of the world. I am happy to stroll down the street in my 10-year-old shorts and my favorite t-shirt.  As much as I would love to have had travels to many different countries and know many languages, I have not.  To date, the most French culture I have been exposed to is watching the Disney movie Ratatouille and watching Julia Child cook her way through the cuisine of France with Jacques Pépin.

Thankfully though, I do consider myself to be somewhat of a history buff.  One figure that has caught my attention over the years has been Le Roi Soleil, or the Sun King.  He was Louis XIV, the extravagant ruler of 17^th century France.  He is notably the most powerful ruler of France and quite possibly the richest.  

The palace of Louis XIV (both the grounds and inside the palace itself) was showered with gold, the finest tapestries and more fine furniture than anyone could possibly use.  The finest foods were brought to the King for five extravagant meals a day. Louis XIV’s staff consisted of over 100 people to dress him, feed him, protect him, and fetch whatever he pointed at.  Outside of the palace, however, was a very different France.  Nearing the end of the Thirty Years’ War, the people of France were hungry – many of them starving. While The Sun King was getting richer and fatter, the people were becoming poorer by the day and dying.  When unrest with the people started to result in uprisings, Louis XIV decided to give them the food they were begging for.  How did he do this?  He raised taxes on the poor in order to pay for the very food they would eat.  Of course, this did not work.  They could not afford the taxes – they were already poor and had nothing.  

Le Roi Soleil was under the impression that in order to gain favor in the kingdom, you must favor and serve the king.  Perhaps Louis XIV missed the day in church where his royal appointed bishop read Matthew 25: 31-46 (today’s scripture).  In today’s scripture, Jesus is very clear about who we are to serve.  That is, Jesus once again is taking a system and turning it upside down.  He is changing the status quo.  He is going against the grain of many “kings” in the world.  

Jesus believed that in order to gain favor in the kingdom, you must favor and serve those that have the least.  And wait – it gets better… There is no fine print.  

The instructions are simple:

‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father.
Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me drink,
a stranger and you welcomed me,
naked and you clothed me,
ill and you cared for me,
in prison and you visited me.’

How could something so simple be so incredibly pivotal in our role as disciples of Christ?  

The more I think about it, the more I wonder if I’m actually doing what Jesus is asking of me.

There have been many times that I have stuffed old coats and old clothes into drawstring garbage bags and brought them to a donation site.  In order to get the full relief of Spring cleaning, I gladly drive the bags to the site and unload them into a big yellow bin as fast as I drove up.  While zooming away, I find that the relief of de-cluttering my home of old things is the feeling that lingers – not the feeling of giving my coat to a stranger that is cold.  

Lent is a time that we can ask challenging questions to ourselves in order to keep our feet on the path that leads to the Kingdom.  You’ll know the questions are challenging enough if they make you feel uncomfortable.  Here are the questions I had to sit with today:

Who have I fed that was hungry?

Who did I bring water to that was thirsty?

Which stranger did I welcome?

Who have I visited that has felt imprisoned?

The place of discomfort while asking these difficult questions is not guilt, although it could be easy to confuse the two in this case.  Rather, it is an examination of how I serve the least that will allow me to do better. This is what I love about Lent.  We get a 40-day retreat to examine how we can live closer to Jesus’ blueprints for us.  

I must admit… I am thankful that Jesus welcomes me to this challenge year after year during Lent.  I am appreciative that I get all these chances to get better at serving others.  It is a winding path to the Kingdom.  At first glance of this scripture, it seems that we will be asked these questions at the end of the path, but we know otherwise.  Jesus will not be at the gate checking our boarding passes to the Kingdom and deciding who will be in and who will be out.  Jesus meets us on the path.  He is at every turn and straight-away.  He is in the middle of the path when we are on course, and he meets us in the thick of the dark woods when we make a sketchy turn.  

Move over le Roi Soleil – Jesus is the King.  

Jesus is the king and He is the stranger.  Jesus is the teacher, and He is the one in prison.  

Jesus is the one that feeds us and He is the one that is hungry and needs to be fed.  

So, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father.
Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me drink,
a stranger and you welcomed me,
naked and you clothed me,
ill and you cared for me,
in prison and you visited me.’