REACHING OUT TO
AND IDENTIFYING WITH THE LEAST
Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17; 1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28; Matthew 25:31-46
According to a Jewish legend, a man went to heaven and watched at the gates.
A rabbi came and made his claim to enter: “Day and night I studied the Torah.” The angel at the gate said: “Wait! We will investigate whether your study was for its own sake or for the sake of honours.”
A zaddik approached next: “I fasted much; I underwent many ritual cleansings.” The angel said: “Wait until we investigate your motives.”
Then a tavern-keeper came and said: “I fed without charge every poor person who came into my inn.” The angel opened the gates for him.
The Jewish legend has the same thrust as the gospel about the final judgment: God judges us not upon our acts of religiosity but upon the acts of mercy we show (or do not show) to the least – the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the ill, and the imprisoned. More important, whenever we serve these least ones, we serve him, who identifies himself with them.
In the first reading, through Ezekiel, God promises that he will reach out to the lost, the strayed, the injured, and the sick, and he will shepherd them. In the gospel, he challenges us – who have experienced his shepherding love – to be the shepherds and to reach out to the least.
At the end of the liturgical year, the liturgy invites us to ask:
How has God has reached out to me and shepherded me? How will I reach out to and identify with the least of my brothers and sisters?
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