In today's readings look how the world is full of people who claim to know God's will. They proclaim what must be pleasing to God. Many of them claim a mandate from God to do this or that. And these people are speaking, allegedly in the name of the Lord. Not only are they dedicated to their cause but it seems they are effective servants of God. People are hearing them and accepting what they have to say. What does our Lord say about this situation? He says that he is the one who gives true callings and appoints his messengers with the message they are to carry. He is the Lord who accomplishes in the world what he wishes to accomplish. And in Matthew we see that Jesus himself is in the world. The people who are sick, hungry, and in prison are being used by our Lord as his masks. He is there in the prisoner, in the hospitalized person, in the beggar on the street.
What is our response to this? First, we want to be very hesitant to appoint ourselves as ministers of Christ. It is God who appoints, who gives a calling, who gives a message, and who is himself the Gospel. This is not something to be taken lightly. Thanks be to God he has given us the message in the Scripture. We do not have to discern his priorities without his written word. Second, we want to look for Christ's presence everywhere. He may be there in the homeless person who asks for a dollar. How would our Lord have us minister to those around us? He has appointed that they be around us. Finally, as the people Jesus characterizes as "sheep" in Matthew 25 find out, we need to also realize that we will not recognize Christ in the poor, sick, and imprisoned. When we are serving our Lord best we are probably unaware that we are doing anything in particular to serve him. On the contrary, we simply go around doing what the Lord has given us to do each day. The Lord brings his work to us and enables us to minister in his name, often without being aware of the importance of what we are doing.
Lord, may we see everything we do today as a holy opportunity to delight in you. We pray you will take what we are doing and use it in your kingdom in ways we would never anticipate. And we pray you will guide us willingly into many opportunities to serve our neighbors for your sake.
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