By Timothy Kitchen

“Inasmuch as Ye Have Done It Unto One of the Least of These”

There is something profound hidden within Christ’s words in Matthew 25:31–46.

Christ describes the time when the Son of Man comes in His glory and sits upon the throne of His glory. The nations are gathered before Him, and He separates them as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats.

Then the King says:

“For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.”
— Matthew 25:35–36

The righteous are confused.

When did we see You like this?

When did we see Christ hungry?

When did we see Christ thirsty?

When did we see Christ without clothing?

When did we see Christ as a stranger?

When did we see Christ sick or imprisoned?

Christ answers:

“Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
— Matthew 25:40

Why does Christ identify Himself with “the least”?

Perhaps we can understand something about this by taking a man whom the world calls rich—and stripping away everything by which the world identifies him.

STRIP AWAY THE WEALTH

Imagine a wealthy man standing before us.

He has millions of dollars.

Take it away.

Is he still a man?

Yes.

Take away his investments.

His savings.

His retirement.

His bank accounts.

His stocks.

His land.

His businesses.

Everything monetary.

What remains?

The man.

The money was something he possessed.

It was never the man himself.

STRIP AWAY THE HOUSE

Now take his mansion.

Take the acreage.

Take the vacation home.

Take every piece of real estate bearing his name.

What remains?

The man.

His house could shelter his body, but his house was never the measure of the man.

And if tomorrow he sleeps beneath a bridge, something astonishing remains unchanged:

He is still a human being.

STRIP AWAY THE CLOTHING

Now remove the expensive suit.

Remove the watch.

Remove the jewelry.

Remove the polished shoes.

Remove every visible symbol telling another human being:

This person is important.

What remains?

A naked man.

And suddenly we are standing very close to Matthew 25.

“Naked, and ye clothed me.”

Without clothing, we cannot tell whether the body before us belongs to a millionaire or a laborer.

The symbols are gone.

Only the man remains.

STRIP AWAY THE TITLE

Perhaps people once called him:

President.

Owner.

Director.

Pastor.

Doctor.

Professor.

Sir.

Boss.

Take every title away.

Now what do we call him?

A man.

The title described an office.

It never created his humanity.

STRIP AWAY HIS INFLUENCE

Perhaps when he entered a room, everyone noticed him.

People returned his telephone calls.

Doors opened.

People wanted his friendship.

His opinion carried weight because his name carried weight.

Take that away too.

Let nobody recognize him.

Now he enters the same room and nobody turns around.

Has his human value changed?

No.

Only man’s estimation of him has changed.

NOW TAKE AWAY HIS STRENGTH

Let him become sick.

Suddenly the man who commanded hundreds of employees cannot command his own body to stand.

Someone must bring him water.

Someone must prepare his food.

Someone must help him dress.

Someone must sit beside his bed.

And again Christ’s words appear:

“I was sick, and ye visited me.”

The layers continue disappearing.

Wealth.

Property.

Clothing.

Position.

Influence.

Strength.

Independence.

And underneath all of them is something none of those things created.

A man.

NOW LET HIM BECOME HUNGRY

His refrigerator is gone.

His money is gone.

His ability to buy food is gone.

Yesterday he could purchase dinner for a hundred people.

Today he needs someone to give him bread.

What changed?

His circumstances.

What did not change?

His humanity.

And Christ says:

“I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat.”

NOW LET HIM BECOME A STRANGER

Take away his community.

Take away the people who know his name.

Put him somewhere nobody knows him.

No connections.

No reputation.

No one to vouch for him.

He knocks on a door.

Now the question becomes:

Will you receive the man when there is nothing he can offer you in return?

Christ says:

“I was a stranger, and ye took me in.”

Layer after layer has disappeared.

Until finally the world’s entire system of measuring human importance has been removed.

No wealth.

No possessions.

No house.

No title.

No influence.

No fine clothing.

No power.

No social standing.

Perhaps not even health.

What remains?

THE MAN

And now we must return much farther than Matthew 25.

We must return to Genesis.

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…”
— Genesis 1:26

Before man possessed a house, he possessed something greater.

Before man possessed land, he bore something greater.

Before there were bank accounts, governments, corporations, social classes, titles or estates, there was:

Man made in the image of God.

That is something poverty cannot strip away.

A man’s bank account can reach zero.

His house can disappear.

His clothing can wear out.

His reputation can collapse.

His health can fail.

But poverty cannot reach backward into Genesis and erase what God determined concerning mankind.

“In the image of God created he him.”
— Genesis 1:27

THEN WHO IS THE IMAGE OF GOD?

Here the New Testament takes us deeper.

Speaking of Jesus Christ, Paul writes:

“Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.”
— Colossians 1:15

Again:

“Christ, who is the image of God…”
— 2 Corinthians 4:4

Christ is the perfect Image.

And this brings us to Adam.

Scripture calls Adam:

“the figure of him that was to come.”
— Romans 5:14

Paul then draws the contrast between Adam and Christ.

“The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:45

Then:

“The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:47

Adam was the first man.

Christ is the Last Adam.

The first Adam was made in God’s image.

But Jesus Christ reveals that Image perfectly.

Hebrews 1:3 calls Him:

“the express image of his person.”

So now return to Matthew 25.

Perhaps Christ’s words should strike us much harder.

“YE HAVE DONE IT UNTO ME”

There stands the hungry man.

We see poverty.

Christ tells us to look deeper.

There stands the thirsty man.

We see need.

Christ tells us to look deeper.

There stands the stranger.

We see someone without standing or connections.

Christ tells us to look deeper.

There stands the naked man.

Every outward indication of worldly status has literally been removed.

Christ tells us:

Look deeper.

There stands the sick man.

There stands the prisoner.

There stands “the least.”

And Christ says:

“Ye have done it unto me.”

The world looks at the outward layers and determines value.

Christ strips away the layers and forces us to confront the person underneath them.

And underneath them is a human life that originated in God’s purpose for mankind.

THE LEAST REVEALS WHAT WE ACTUALLY VALUE

There is something particularly revealing about the words:

“one of the least of these.”

It is relatively easy to honor someone when we perceive greatness.

We may treat the wealthy man well because he could help us.

We may honor the powerful man because he has authority.

We may welcome the influential man because association with him benefits us.

But what happens when the person standing before us apparently has nothing to offer?

That reveals something.

If I honor a millionaire but despise a homeless man, perhaps I wasn’t honoring the man at all.

Perhaps I was honoring his millions.

If I warmly receive someone with influence but ignore the stranger, perhaps I wasn’t valuing humanity.

Perhaps I was valuing influence.

If I respect fine clothing but turn away from someone in rags, perhaps I was respecting clothing.

Strip those things away.

What remains?

The man.

And that is precisely where our love is tested.

JAMES SAW THE SAME PROBLEM

James describes two men entering an assembly.

One wears goodly apparel and a gold ring.

The other wears vile raiment.

The wealthy man is told:

“Sit thou here in a good place.”

The poor man is told:

“Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool.”

— James 2:2–3

What created the difference?

Clothing.

Wealth.

Appearance.

External things.

James asks:

“Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?”
— James 2:4

Then comes the reversal:

“Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom…”
— James 2:5

Man saw poverty.

God saw an heir.

Man saw vile clothing.

God saw riches of another kind.

CHRIST WAS STRIPPED TOO

And there is another profound dimension to this.

The One speaking in Matthew 25 knows what it means to have worldly things stripped away.

Jesus Christ had no palace.

He said:

“The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.”
— Matthew 8:20

He experienced hunger.

He experienced thirst.

He was rejected.

He was arrested.

His clothing was taken.

Soldiers divided His garments.

He was mocked.

His reputation among men was attacked.

His freedom was taken.

His body was beaten.

And finally His physical life itself was taken.

Layer after layer was removed.

Yet what men despised was the very One who was:

“the image of the invisible God.”

Imagine that.

Men looked upon Jesus Christ and saw someone worthy of rejection.

God looked upon Him and saw:

His beloved Son.

Human judgment and God’s judgment could hardly have been farther apart.

THE NEW ADAM SHOWS US WHAT MAN IS TO BECOME

Christ is not merely restoring possessions to mankind.

He is restoring man.

Paul writes:

“And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:49

And:

“And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.”
— Colossians 3:10

God’s purpose is not ultimately about preserving the temporary layers surrounding us.

Those layers disappear.

Money disappears.

Houses disappear.

Titles disappear.

Human institutions disappear.

Our present physical bodies themselves disappear.

But God’s purpose for man remains.

God is creating children in His image.

SO LOOK AGAIN AT “THE LEAST”

The next time we encounter someone who has little, mentally strip away the measurements this world uses.

Do not begin with:

What does he own?

Where does he live?

What does he drive?

What does he wear?

What position does he hold?

What can he do for me?

Ask instead:

What remains when all of that disappears?

A man.

A human being created according to the purpose of God.

A human being for whom Christ died.

A human being capable of becoming part of the Family of God.

And Christ—the Image of God, the Last Adam—places Himself alongside “the least” and says:

How you treated him, you treated Me.

That changes Matthew 25 profoundly.

When we feed the hungry, we are not merely feeding a stomach.

When we clothe the naked, we are not merely covering a body.

When we receive the stranger, we are not merely providing hospitality.

When we visit the sick, we are not merely performing a social kindness.

We are learning to look past everything temporary and recognize what God values.

The world adds layers and then assigns value according to those layers.

God strips the layers away.

And when the wealth is gone,

when the possessions are gone,

when the title is gone,

when the clothing is gone,

when the influence is gone,

when every earthly measurement has disappeared,

the man remains.

And behind the creation of man stands God’s declaration:

“Let us make man in our image.”

Before us stands the purpose begun in Adam.

Above us stands its perfect revelation in Jesus Christ, the Image of God and the Last Adam.

And before His throne the King asks a question that reaches beyond wealth and poverty:

When all you could see was the man—how did you treat him?

For Christ says:

“Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

Take away what a man has, and you have not taken away what God made him to be.

And perhaps that is one reason “the least” matters so much.

When there is nothing left for us to honor except the person himself, we discover whether we have learned to value man according to God’s purpose and God’s image—or according to the temporary things of this world.