Our Weekly Thought – November 16 - 22, 2020

In this Gospel passage (Matthew 25:21-46), we are reminded of God’s abiding love for the poor and God’s undeterred command for us to care for the poor. A few decades ago, people were worried that some poor people were taking advantage of the U.S.’s welfare system, and so began to describe these cheaters as the undeserving poor. This sadly led to an expansion of this notion to indicate poor people generally as negligent or undeserving of our attention and compassion. Nowhere in the Bible do we see any indication that God’s or Jesus’ dedication to helping the poor had any restraints. As Christians, we are called to care for the poor as if they were Christ in our midst. The person who leads us to this conclusion is none other than Jesus in today’s passage. May we go out and look for Christ in the world wherever we go.