This passage in the New Testament of the Bible is of considerable importance these days. For those who can't readily conjure it in your memory, let me recap. I might add first, that this story from the Bible is only told in Matthew's Gospel. It does not appear in any of the other major Gospels. Of course, it's been translated into several versions-but the essence is the same, in spite of some changes in the wording. I'll do my best to be true to the underlying story.
In this Chapter of Matthew, Jesus speaks to his followers and instructs them on the way to achieve a place in heaven. He says that when God comes back to earth to select those who will be in heaven, he will separate them like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. The test for what group you will be in depends on how you did the following things: He says, "I was hungry and you fed me- I was naked and you clothed me-I was in prison and you comforted me- I was sick and you cared for me". As the story goes, the followers were a bit upset knowing they had never seen Jesus in need like this. They questioned Jesus asking, "when did we see you hungry and not feed you? see you naked and not cloth you?-see you in prison and not comfort you, or see you sick and not care for you?" Then Jesus said: " Truly I tell you, as you did for the least of these my brethren, you did for me." Following verses go on to say that those who did NOT do for "the least of them" will suffer eternal punishment.
By way of full disclosure: I do not practice any religion. I'm not promoting religion by discussing this Biblical parable here. I was raised in a devout Catholic family and was educated in Catholic Schools. Though I don't practice a religion now, I recognize that some religions can contain some very important lessons that are good for mankind and have applications in civil, humane behavior. The story above is one of those. There is debate about this passage. The question is whether the clear message pertains only to ones personal life or whether it applies in a much broader societal way? Not being a biblical scholar- I can't say for sure.
I am, however, moved to think of how our leaders behave in light of this parable; and how we as a people hold our leaders to principals we claim to believe in. Believe me, the very last thing I want is for our government to be a theocracy- guided by the rules of one or more religions. But the next-to-last thing I want is government leadership (at any level of government) elected based on fraud, deception and hypocrisy. Somehow, we have allowed religion to be a huge factor in the selection of our leadership, and today's politicians play this to the hilt. This is particularly true of the very right-wing conservatives seeking elected office. They make a point of telling us over and over of their Christian beliefs and how it influences their lives and their politics. They call them "values". To be fair, some Democrats do it too. But consider Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachman, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty, Haley Barbour and the others who will seek your vote. Each of these politicians wear their Christian religion on their sleeves (or lapels buttons) then govern in the exact opposite direction- that is, forsaking the "least of our brethren".
In America "the least of these" are the poor and the working poor. In 2009 43.6 million Americans lived in poverty. 1 in 5 of our children are poor. 60 million of us do not have access to health care. Poverty and lack of health care are continuing to grow. Aren't these the very people Matthew's Gospel talks about? Yet the conservative mantra is: CUT! CUT! CUT!. Cut education, cut social security (that protects our seniors from living in poverty) cut medical programs for children, cut wages, cut family planning for the poor, cut social programs for the poor and the disabled- cut it all!- Except the military, of course. And by all means don't tax the rich. Our elected officials continue to give the corporations and the rich more and more tax breaks.
This is the richest country in the world. We still have the strongest economy and the greatest wealth in the world, yet we continue to allow the "least of us" to suffer while corporations and the rich continue to build wealth. They ship money and jobs to other countries and take advantage of the American worker all to enrich themselves. The privileged few own our political system and they rarely pay their fair share. I don't really care about their so-called religious values, but I resent the idea that many conservatives will convince you to vote for them because of their religious values. I don't resent the religion- I resent those who lie to us about their real values and intentions, while boasting about their religious values.
As long as I'm quoting Jesus, allow me to mention that it was Jesus who said: It will be harder for a rich man to attain heaven that it would be to pass a camel through the eye of a needle. Whether it comes from religious values or an innate sense of justice and social conscience-or our Constitution itself: now is the time to stand up and demand that our leaders (and those who would be our leaders) act on behalf of the people by providing for "the general welfare". We cannot be great if we do not have policies and purposes that protect all our people, not just the privileged few. If not your God, then at least history will judge us on how treat "the least of our brethren".
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