The Gospel According to Matthew - The Least and the Lost [June 28, 2026]

Good morning, friends. It's nice to be with you

today. This has been a good morning. Oh. I don't

know if it's that. Sorry, guys. It's doing some

hard work today. How about now? I think we're

good? All right. I wasn't scheduled to preach

today, but I'm excited to bring this passage

today because I really like it. It's a hard passage,

but I am excited for what it means for us as

a community. So we are thanking Jesus in jet

lag for it. But if you've been around Christian

circles for a minute, you've heard the phrase,

the least of these. And it is the message and

theme that drives most Christian ministry in

communities and around the world. It is often

the least of these as a concept that people experience

specific callings. God called me to and insert

a people group that is underrepresented in some

way, which has led us to often believe that care

for the least of these is optional or delegated

to those with a certain kind of unique fortitude

or skill or calling. And my friends, when we

see it that way, those that end up identified

as the least of these will remain the least of

these until the least of these become our neighbors.

And so we're gonna just jump right into the passage

today. It's Matthew 25, 31 through 40. There

are Bibles on the table. Most of you also have

them on your phones. If you need a Bible and

you don't have one, we have them in the lobby.

You can also take one from the table. But we

are in the book of Matthew. It is in the New

Testament, the first gospel. So we're in chapter

25, verses 31 through 40. And at the house, we

have a tradition of honoring the word of God

with a posture of recognition for some that is

standing, for some that is sitting at attention,

but what if we do? We wanna give the scriptures

our full attention. And so take a posture of

attention this morning with the word of God.

And so it reads that 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 his 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, and I was thirsty,

and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger

and you welcomed me and 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 as a stranger and

we welcomed you or naked and we 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. Let's pray. Jesus, I ask that

you add your blessing to the reading of these

words this morning, that as we hear them, they

would be something that would change us from

the inside out, that we would learn to be obedient.

to the direction that you move us in as you speak

to us today through this passage. And I pray

that you move us to prayer and action as a result.

Let me pray this in your name. Amen. You may

be seated. So we have been in the book of Matthew

since April. It is one of the gospels, one of

the books that tells of the good news of Jesus.

I want to remember a couple things about the

book of Matthew. The book of Matthew was written

to a Jewish audience with an increasing amount

of Gentile converts coming into the picture among

them, reminding them that they're, and Matthew

is trying to remind them that their roots are

in fact Jewish. It is also to show that those

that are remaining adhered to the Jewish scriptures,

that Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and

the prophets. And so whenever things come up

in a passage that make you wonder where did that

come from, like the passage that we just read,

we need to consider who it was written to and

when. And in an age of information, these pieces

of data are easily retrievable. So I encourage

you in your reading of scripture, if you're ever

like, this came out of nowhere. I don't understand.

Do a little bit of search. When was it written?

Where was it written? Who was it written to?

That gives a lot of information. It's really

important and also the book of Matthew is offering

Basically a manual for discipleship. It was written

in a time where the Christian diaspora the followers

of Jesus were starting to get really spread out

and Numbers were being added regularly and so

there was a lot of question like what does it

mean? To follow Jesus as people got further and

further away from them So the book of Matthew

is offering a manual for discipleship for a church

living as a minority group in a hostile majority

culture. Basically, how do we live while we wait

for Jesus to return? So this passage could seem

a little bit out of nowhere in the context of,

and it's a very strong passage if you don't have

the context. But it does fit logically into the

purpose and intent of Matthew's gospel. The setting

comes in the previous chapters. So this passage

takes place during what is commonly called the

Olivet Discourse. That's Matthew 24 through 25,

which occurred on the Mount of Olives, across

from the temple, down a valley, and across and

up from the temple. the Mount of Olives during

the final week of Jesus' life, just days before

his crucifixion. Jesus is seated on the Mount

of Olives, addressing his closest disciples privately,

shifting from immediate warnings of the end times

to a prophetic illustration of his return in

glory. This passage concludes a short series

of parables in chapter 25, the parable of the

10 bridesmaids and the parable of the talents.

which were intended to teach the disciples to

stay alert and spiritually ready for the return

of the Son of Man. So Jesus is setting up his

return. Briefly, in chapter 24, while on their

way to the Mount of Olives, chapter 24, one and

two say, as Jesus came out of the temple, that's

where he's coming from, and he was going away.

His disciples came to point out to him the buildings

of the temple. They're looking, they're marveling.

It's a grand set of structures. And then he asked

them, you see all this. Do you not? We all see

it? Truly I tell you not one stone will be left

here upon another. All will be thrown down. That

is an unthinkable idea. And the disciples are

very curious. They have questions. So Jesus.

continues on his way, and heads up to the Mount

of Olives, and his disciples come after him.

And they're like, when he was sitting on the

Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately

saying, this is verse three of 24, tell us, when

will this be? And what will be the sign of your

coming in at the end of the age? So Jesus begins

talking to them about what's to come the destruction

of the temples mentioned earlier earlier the

diaspora where the persecution of believers leads

to the rather the diaspora and persecution which

leads to the dispersion of the Jews from Jerusalem

the division between Orthodox Jews and newer

followers to Jesus which would include Gentiles

the non -jews Jesus tells them all he will come

back and that there will be signs, but no one

will know when So be alert and ready. This is

what he's trying to communicate There is a time

when I will come back there's a time I will leave

you I will come back and there will be signs

and so Jesus says this is getting us into chapter

25 He tells the parable of the ten bridesmaids

So because Jewish weddings were a grand affair

The groom would travel from his home to the bride's

home usually in the evening or the night He would

then escort the bride and her bridal party back

to his or his father's house for the wedding

feast. Bridesmaids would wait at a designated

location along the route or at a bride's home.

So once the groom's approach was announced, they

would light their lamps or torches to illuminate

the path and join the celebratory procession.

Their role was to be on the lookout and ready

to light the way. And so when Jesus tells the

parable of the 10 bridesmaids, Five were ready.

Five were not ready and needed to go get oil

for their lamps. They were gone when the bridegroom

came. They were not ready. So those who had the

oil could light their lamps and go along the

way. Jesus then tells the parable of the talents,

where a master gives his servants various units

of talents about a year's wage. It's no small

amount. One gets Five talents, one gets two,

and one gets one. Two servants immediately put

the money to work, trading with it and doubling

their master's wealth. The third servant, paralyzed

by fear and a negative view of his master, buries

the single talent in the ground to keep it safe.

He didn't lose any of it, but he didn't put the

money to work. Nothing was gained. And so collectively,

these two parables, right before the passage

I read, These stories are about watchfulness

and readiness and stewarding resources well until

the coming of the bridegroom, the servant, until

the coming of Jesus. So there are connected themes

here and Jesus is hoping that by the time he

gets to telling of the sheep and the goats, the

setup has been understood. By the time he gets

to verse 31, specifically preceded by the coming

of the bridegroom and the master, when the son

of man comes in his glory, he says, you should

be ready. And while I'm gone, I leave the work

to you. So as readers of the book of Matthew,

they are reading this gospel after the destruction

of the temple. So even though the story is talking

about Jesus saying, Not one stone of this temple

will remain standing. The readers in the audience

are hearing this well after the temple has in

fact been destroyed by Rome. They're reading

it in a time when there is struggle in the Jewish

community and the life of the godly is no longer

building centric, which it was with the temple,

and the rules that govern even how they worshiped.

had literally been torn down. They were having

to rebuild the body of worshipers in the time

of the reading of this book and the writing of

this book. And there were challenges to identifying

who was in the community, who was out, who was

a follower, who wasn't. Not only had things been

decentralized because of the temple's destruction,

but the religious were now also scattered away

from Jerusalem. And so who were the true followers

of God? The ones that have been there for centuries?

The ones that just showed up? The ones that follow

Jesus? Does the Torah law decide? So the Gospel

of Matthew stresses that the Torah, the first

five books of the law, was to be fulfilled by

Jesus' love ethic. That is what the Gospel of

Matthew is trying to communicate. that we have

moved beyond the Torah, we are rooted in it,

but we've moved beyond it now, to an ethic of

Jesus' love, rather than the Pharisaic rules,

the holocaust, the collective body of Jewish

religious law, which encompassed all areas of

life, civil, criminal, ritual regulations, literally

translated to the path that one walks or the

way to proceed. This was the Pharisee's way.

This was the religious leaders way. And it governed

daily actions, ethics, dietary restrictions,

holiday observances, and even interpersonal relationships.

Matthew is trying to communicate we are past

that. We have moved on. Jesus leads a new way.

And so here in this passage, when we get to 2531

and we're talking about the sheep and the goats

and the separation, everybody's wondering. How

how do we define it? How do we know who gets

chosen and who doesn't? Here Jesus is Jesus teaches

that he will separate all nations into two groups

based on How they practically cared for the vulnerable

not how they practice the law Him himself identifying

his own self with the hungry and the thirsty

and the imprisoned This passage, many times,

if not mostly in the last, I don't know how many

years, but certainly we're in an era in which

this passage has often been used to give imagery

to salvation and the punishment of hell for those

who have not accepted Jesus as their personal

savior, but in the greater context of these passages,

we cannot conclude this. If we shift back a little

further to Matthew 23, so jump back with me,

before we got to the Mount of Olives, we find

ourselves in the message that Rachel and Mike

Aubrey preached a few weeks ago about righteousness

and mercy. We are back at the woes, the woe to

you that Jesus says to the Pharisees and the

religious leaders. And I encourage you to go

back to it. I think it was... early May late

April So Jesus is in Jerusalem He's teaching

from the temple courts at the beginning of chapter

23 in Matthew He has just concluded a series

of debates with the religious leaders and is

publicly addressing the gathered crowd and his

disciples and so Matthew 23 1 through 12 says

then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples

The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat.

Therefore, do what they teach you and follow

it, but do not do as they do, for they do not

practice what they teach. They tie up heavy burdens,

hard to bear, and they lay them on the shoulders

of others. But they themselves are unwilling

to lift a finger to move them They do all their

deeds to be seen by others for they make their

phylacteries broad and their fringes long and

they love to have a place of honor at banquets

and the best seats of the synagogues and To be

greeted with respect in the marketplaces and

to have people call them rabbi But you are not

to be called rabbi for you have one teacher and

you are all brothers and sisters Call no one

your father on earth for you have one father

the one in heaven Nor are you to be called instructors

for you have one struck instructor the Messiah

the greatest Among you will be your servant He's

already pointing out that we need to pay attention

not to the greatest That the place of honor is

the servant all who exalt themselves will be

humbled But all who humble themselves will be

exalted This is so much of what embodies the

conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders

of the day, and it leads to his crucifixion.

This message that he is saying here is entirely

upside down from what the religious teachers

teach. Jesus has disrupted everything. And so

here we come to the woes. I will read just a

few. Matthew 23, at 13 it says, but woe to you,

scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you, lock

people out of the kingdom of heaven. You do not

go in yourselves, and when others are going in,

you stop them. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,

hypocrites, for you cross sea and land to make

a single convert, and you make the new convert

twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

This is strong. It goes on at 23, woe to you,

scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe

your mint and your dill and your cumin, and you

have neglected the weightier matters of the law,

justice and mercy and faith. It is these you

ought to have practiced without neglecting the

others. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees and

hypocrites, for you build the tombs of the prophets

and decorate the graves of the righteous, and

you say, If we had lived in the days of our ancestors,

we would not have taken part with them in shedding

the blood of the prophets. Thus you testify against

yourselves that you are descendants of those

who murdered the prophets. Fill up then the measure

of your ancestors. You snakes, you brood of vipers,

how can you escape the judgment of hell? For

this reason I send you prophets sages and scribes

some of whom you will kill and crucify and some

you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from

town to town Overwhelmingly overwhelmingly Jesus

is very concerned with the access to the kingdom

of God Anyone who makes access difficult anyone

who makes access conditional Jesus opposes Jesus

is in opposition to anyone who opposes access

to him or makes it difficult. The gate may be

narrow, but it is not locked. And Jesus is calling

out the leaders who lock people out of the kingdom

of heaven. It is to those people, he says, you

snakes, you brood of vipers, how can you escape

the judgment of hell? It is in direct relationship

to making Access to Jesus, difficult. Access

to the kingdom of God, locked. This is what he

is calling out, and this is where the judgment

of hell is being called, when you prevent others

from getting to Jesus. It is to them, the ones

for whom justice and mercy are optional, that

Jesus says the threat of the judgment of hell

belongs. And so when we get to this passage in

Matthew 25, The writer has taken us on a full

journey to set this moment up, to give us clear

understanding. So let's read it again, and I'm

going to include the second part in verse 41

to the end of the passage now. It says, 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, and 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 his 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. And 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. 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 answered, 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. I was naked and you did not give me clothing.

Sick and in prison and you did not visit me.

Then they will also 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? And 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. And there's

a really interesting parallel here to the sentiments

we heard in chapter 23. Chapter 23, Jesus is

saying, you snakes, you brood of vipers, how

can you escape the judgment of hell? And at chapter

25, he says, you who are accursed, Depart me

into the eternal fire. Chapter 23 says, you say,

if we had lived in the days of our ancestors,

we would not have taken part with them in the

shedding of the blood of the prophets. And for

this reason, Jesus says, I send you prophets

and sages and scribes. He's saying, what you

are doing now is what you would have done. I

sent the messengers. I will send the messengers,

and you will take part. At the reading of this

passage later on, Matthew, we all know, all the

readers know this has in fact happened. It goes

on to say, some of whom you will kill and crucify

and some you will flog in your synagogues and

pursue them from town. Paul himself, which the

early church would have known, was one of those

when he was still Saul. He was one of those that

stood over, as a Pharisee, the persecution of

these people. And so at the end of the reading

of this gospel, the audience had known these

things had already come to fruition. These things

had, in fact, happened. The parallel in chapter

25 is the, Lord, when was it that we saw you

hungry or thirsty or a stranger and we did not

take care of you? The hungry and the thirsty

were there, and they were ignored. This gospel

has spent so much time declaring that this message,

that justice and mercy are non -negotiable in

the kingdom of God. Jesus has cleared the good

news to all people. But if that message is gate

-kept, if that message is conditional, if that

message is at all handled with an earthly control,

Jesus has a message for us. You will be opposed.

He, in fact, is the least of these. And those

who care for them are identified as righteous.

Verses 37 through 39 again. Then the righteous,

Jesus is calling those who respond the righteous.

Then the righteous will answer him, 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 and I was naked and you gave

me clothing. I was sick and you took care of

me. I was in prison and you visited. One of my

jobs has me traveling a lot. It has me traveling

outside of the United States and has taken me

many places, six continents, over 40 countries.

And it has provided the opportunity to observe

and participate in the fellowship of believers

in many different places. I've not been everywhere,

but I do have a range of observations. And the

reality is churches are shaped by their societies

and their settings. This is unavoidable. This

is real. And the US is no exception. And so we

must be alert and aware ourselves. In the U .S.,

we do not hold this message well of caring for

the least of these. We have deep messages within

our country that live often in opposition to

these kingdom values. The American church is

very comfortable and it likes its comfort. The

American church is rich by comparison. and can

often be fat on its resources, not always, but

it's visible here. The American church, we live

in a system of capitalism where the message is

that the value of your own hard work earns you

a better place in society. If you don't have

a higher place, it is often believed to be directly

reflective of the work you have or have not done.

and we tend to honor those that work harder than

others. If you don't have a shelter, clothing,

or food, it is largely viewed as the fault of

the person lacking those resources. The American

church is deeply segregated. Our country developed

over centuries by various nations ending up in

the same place. Whatever the prevailing group

was at any given time, they saw the minority

as other. There has, broadly speaking, speaking,

not been a good history of neighborliness in

the US. There has not been a good history of

living alongside those who do not look like you

well. There has always been an other, a stranger

among you. It was the indigenous population.

It was formerly the enslaved. Or it was the formerly

enslaved. It was the Italian. It was the Irish.

It was the Japanese, until another came along.

Fear of the stranger has been a prevalent aspect

of living in the US And it has become a part

of the practice of the American Church To be

conditional when it comes to the question a Jewish

expert in the law once asked Jesus in Luke 10

Who is my neighbor? And the American Church lives

within a society that identifies as a law -and

-order society and though the laws are the same

for everyone on paper They are disproportionate

in how they are enacted We believe people who

are in prison deserve to be there. However, we

do not tend to broadly evaluate the system that

put them there. And the U .S. incarcerates roughly

1 .9 million people, which represents the highest

incarceration rate of any major democracy globally.

There are so many adjacent items I could touch

on when referencing this, but how we view those

that are infected by imprisonment, including

how we care for adjacent family members, How

we speak to those systems that imprison our neighbors

and address the management of justice. How we

view those things matter. How we view the people

affected by these things matter. So these are

the realities that shape how we interact with

this passage. And we know it's true because when

this passage is put in front of us, we know it

is counter -cultural. Not just in our society,

but also in our churches. We show we excuse me.

We know it's countercultural because we have

built up more societal norms around shunning

those in these positions in Keeping them marginalized

than we have had in raising them up out of their

position We have echoed messages closer to the

religious leaders of Jesus's day about the least

of these Then we have echoed Jesus's message

So in the United States because that is where

we live We often view any societal safety nets

be them governmental religiously based or strict

non strictly nonprofit We tend to view them as

initiatives that contribute to the issue versus

helping them So when we hear for I was hungry

and you gave me food I was thirsty you gave me

something to eat. I was naked and you gave me

clothing We often hear no handouts You need to

earn it I'm not going to give them money. I'm

not going to provide their resources. They'll

just spend it on drugs and alcohol. We've heard

it, and we might have said it. When scripture

says, I was a stranger, and you welcomed me,

we hear, they need to come into our country legally.

When we hear, I was sick, and you took care of

me, we often hear, if they got a job, they would

have health care. And to that I say, I've consistently

held four jobs over a decade and have been without

health insurance for 16 years. So tell me about

getting a job and getting health care. I was

in prison and you visited me. Well, those are

dangerous criminals. That is a message we've

heard recently over and over and over again.

And they deserve to be there. They don't deserve

kindness. The American church has difficulty

in identifying itself with the version of Jesus

that identified himself in this way. Truly, I

tell you, just as you did it to one of the least

of these brothers and sisters, you did it to

me. And just as a note, there are other places

in societies in the world that don't see things

the same way. And I'm reminded that we don't

have to either. The kingdom of God is not a future

far off thing. It is meant to be in us now. And

we are meant to be shaped by these words versus

our context. As followers of Christ, we carry

the message and life way of the kingdom. We now

are accountable to this message and this way

of life. The kingdom of God is within you now,

Luke says. And as followers of Jesus today, the

message for us now is that all of us, not just

the elected, not just the called, not just those

with fortitude and skill, all of us are called

to care for the least of these as our regular

practice of life in the kingdom, because they

are our neighbor. As a regular practice as people

who are living out their faith, as a regular

practice of loving others as ourselves. Not just

some, but all. And so, if you are wondering what

now, I offer this. When the passage says, for

I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty

and you gave me something to drink, I want to

encourage you to see how you can partner with

Ness Cafe here in Rock Island. Riverbend Food

Bank also can connect you to any other food pantries

or serving centers here in the Quad Cities. When

it says I was a stranger and you welcomed me,

I encourage you to speak with Leah or Dave Hodge

about world relief in the Quad City and their

work with the refugee community. I encourage

you to speak with Kristin Koski about the third

place, and you can speak with Robin McConnell

about fixing up spaces for those that are unhoused

or under -resourced. When it says I was naked

and you gave me clothing, I encourage you to

speak with those involved in Closet to Closet,

Scott and Tashiana McConnell and Alex North.

And Josh Fowler over here. I was sick and you

took care of me. You can speak to Linda Anders

as an excellent resource in public health in

our area and the work of local clinics making

health care more accessible to those who need

it. And when it says I was in prison and you

visited me, I encourage you to speak with Andy

Boswell who works in corrections and can resource

you on ways to care for those impacted by the

system of incarceration locally. If there are

other ways you'd like to investigate serving

and caring for the least of these in our community

at the local level, you can connect with Pastor

Marissa, who has a long history of community

engagement -based work. Kathy Webb and Scott

McConnell are also excellent resources when it

comes to how disabilities disenfranchise individuals

who lack access and how that lack of access can

often systematically place them in some of these

areas that we've already talked through. We are

not without pathways. And in fact, we are so

close to them here in our community. I just listed

off. As I was going through this passage, I was

so encouraged and amazed at how many people are

actively involved in work that cares for the

least of these, and how close we are to it, and

how accountable we are to it too. We are not

without pathways, and we are without excuse.

It can be uncomfortable, but it is also non -negotiable,

guys. It is 100 % non -negotiable. The message

of Jesus, which is the message of the kingdom,

it has always been the message of the kingdom,

is that the gate is open to all. All are invited

through. All the things this world stratifies

and creates caste systems out of. All of the

things the world notices and uses to marginalize

others. All of the things that get conditionalized.

Those tickets do not exist. There are no tickets.

to access. And we are held directly accountable

for our actions. The message we purport about

Jesus and what we teach as truth in our lives

as it relates to the least of these. Jesus is

very clear. We are separated out by those who

care for the least of these and those who do

not. For those who act justly and love mercy

and walk humbly with God. This is not for the

called. This is not for certain individuals with

fortitude and skill. It is, in fact, all of us

that must be in the way of Christ with this.

Amen? Let's pray. God, make clear the pathways

open to us and the way that we need to walk.

We need your help with this because for many,

This is an area of discomfort. But you have told

us that it is the way of life. And in fact, when

we care for those who perhaps are out of the

same strata we are or the same system we are

or have different ways of life than we do, you

tell us that is the way of the righteous and

that it leads to life. And so we ask for your

bravery. We ask for your courage. We ask for

your fortitude. We ask for your way. We pray

this all in your name. Amen.