Compassion
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘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 something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You who are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life.”
Matthew 25:31-46
Scott Neeson, as a teenager, never thought that he would amount to much. He was a frail kid, growing up in a working-class neighborhood in Elizabeth, Australia. Unhappy at home, he dropped out of high school and found work delivering movie posters to theaters. He continued in the movie business, moving beyond being a delivery boy to a projectionist, and after many more accomplishments, he became, in 1993, vice president of international marketing for Fox. He then moved to America, and in 2003 was promoted to president of 20th Century Fox International.
The teenager who thought he would be nothing, now embraced a life of lavish perks. He boasted that Cindy Crawford was his neighbor in Brentwood, California. He enjoyed power lunches, along with his Porsche and yacht. He described himself as a “babeaholic” with the mantra of being a “No Ties” person. Success, status, money came easily to Neeson as the executive overseeing films from Titanic to X-Men.
He was a proud man, saying of his admired role in society: “For someone who’d been told over and over he’d never amount to anything, to earn millions of dollars and have this great lifestyle was something I’d never dreamed of.”
But, all of that suddenly changed.
In Phnom Penh, as he was on location for a movie, he came across a scene that he never saw in one of his film productions. He stumbled upon the Steung Meanchey garbage dump, and there were two young girls and their mother living there, selling the scraps to buy food. He recalled thinking at the time, “How could anyone survive there. I couldn’t look away.”
He returned to help that family at the dump, when he got a call on his cell phone. It was an agent whose star client was having a meltdown before boarding his private plane because it wasn’t stocked with his favorite amenities. The agent reported that his client said, “My life wasn’t meant to be this difficult.” Neeson, reflecting on that incident, recalled his thought, “The kids I was with were very sick and here this movie star yelling. If I needed a sign, that was it.”
A few months after that encounter, Neeson became a transformed man. He sold off his cumbersome extravagant belongings, left his seven-figure position, downsized into a two-story home that doubled as his office for his new life journey, his nonprofit Cambodia Children’s Fund. His only extravagance today is a morning cup of coffee from his expresso machine.
Reflecting on his life, his new occupation, his new value system, his new orientation to society, Scott Neeson said, “My fear is what would have happened to me if I was still living a life all about me.”
Throughout his public ministry Jesus shared words that were very soothing and comforting, equally he could make statements that were very harsh and confrontative. Our reading for this morning is certainly the latter case. It is not possible to misinterpret the message that Jesus thundered forth: whenever you saw a person in need, you saw me!
This is the last parable that Matthew chose to record in his gospel. It is a message of judgement. It is a message that what we do on earth will have eternal consequences. And what we are to do in our earthly existence is so very simple: we are to help others. The help that we are to offer is not extravagant, as it is to assist in everyday things. It doesn’t require mountains of gold; just a warm embrace.
Those who were unaware of Jesus in their midst only wanted to get involved when accolades could be bestowed upon them. Those who simply helped when and where they could, absent of seeking recognition, only desiring to fulfill a scriptural calling.
It is a ministry of humility.
Saint Martin of Tours was born in in Savaria, Pannonia in the year 316 or 336 AD. That region today is the nation of Hungary. His father was a tribune, which is a high-ranking officer in the Imperial Horse Guard. Martin and his family went with his father when he was assigned to a post at Ticinum, in Northern Italy. It is here that Martin would grow up. At the age of fifteen, Martin followed his father into the cavalry corps of the Roman military.
Just before Martin was born, Christianity was legalized in the Roman Empire and the bloody persecution of Christians soon came to an end. It was not the official religion of the State, but it could be practiced and proclaimed openly. The Gospel message soon flourished in ancient Rome, transforming the empire. Martin’s parents were pagans, but at the age of ten, Martin chose to respond to the call of the Gospel and become a Christian.
At the age of twenty Martin refused to be a soldier. He left the military and became a monk and a priest. He was esteemed as a very kind and benevolent man. Martin became the bishop of Tours, and was so revered by the French populace that he was declared a saint.
The story most associated with Martin occurred when he was a young soldier. He encountered a beggar in the city Amiens, located in Northern France. Martin was riding one day through the city gate, when he passed a naked beggar shivering on the pavement, during an unrelentless cold winter. Immediately he drew rein, and spoke pityingly to the poor creature. The young soldier was wearing over his coat of mail a long mantle. Slipping this garment from his shoulders he divided it with his sword, giving half to the beggar. That same night, as he slept, he had a vision of Jesus clad in the portion of his mantle. And Jesus, turning to the angels who accompanied him, said, “My servant Martin hath done this.”
The message is very clear to us this day, we are to help anyone and everyone, whenever and wherever we can.