Mat 25:39-40 | KingComments | STEP | The Lord first addresses those who are on His right hand, the sheep. He calls them “blessed of My Father”. That must have sounded good, but also surprising, to their ears. They may come in order to inherit the kingdom. They will be overwhelmed by it. They hear that they are heirs and that they are receiving something that is already prepared for them “from the foundation of the world”. This has always been God’s intention with the earth, this has always been in His mind. The Lord tells them why they are receiving this blessing. They have done something for Him. All the things He mentions are related to a situation of need, misery and loneliness. He mentions it all one by one. He doesn’t say very generally in one word that they have been good to Him, but He says what they have done for Him. As the Creator He provides others with food and drink and He provides shelter. His concern extends even to the foxes and birds of heaven ( ). But as Man He made Himself dependent on people’s care for Him. He was hungry and thirsty and was like a stranger on earth. And the sheep provided Him with food and drink and shelter. Even when He was naked and sick and in prison, they dressed Him and visited Him, and made the effort to come to Him. Clothing and shelter provide protection. He was without protection. That is what they offered Him. Disease and imprisonment limit a person’s freedom to go and be wherever he wants. The sheep have come to Him Who had those restrictions. By the way, we see here that the Lord has participated in the consequences of sin, including illness. Not that He Himself was sick, but He made Himself one with those who are sick and felt and carried sickness (cf. ). Sickness is not a sin. He says “I was sick” in the same way He suffered hunger and thirst. This means that sickness is not something bound up in salvation and should therefore be contested. We must bear the consequences of sin, including sickness, and He helps us to bear them. The sheep who are called “the righteous” here do not boast of anything. On the contrary. Amazed, they ask when they saw Him hungry and thirsty, and then gave Him food and drink. They don’t remember that at all. They go through the list He has mentioned and do not recognize any of the charitable acts where He says that they have done it to Him. They don’t know that they ever welcomed Him hospitably into their house or that He was naked and that they dressed Him. Nor can they remember ever seeing Him sick or in prison and then coming to Him. The Lord makes it clear to them that He and His brethren are one. Everything they have done for even the least of His brethren, they have done for Him. He sent out His brothers in a time of great tribulation to preach the gospel of the kingdom. They have done so under the toughest conditions of trial and persecution. And these people have invited His brethren and provided them with what was necessary. This deed proved that they received Him Who had sent them. The sheep, those who received the servants, thereby participated in their trials and tribulations. As proof of His appreciation and the Father’s appreciation, the Lord gives them the kingdom as inheritance. Here we see how highly He values their work. We also see here how great His love is for His faithful servants He has sent out. The proof of this we see in the fact that He judges the nations to whom the testimony has been sent, according to whether or not they received the servants as if it were Him.