Dear Christian friends:

In a Bible Class, two men recited the Twenty-Third Psalm. The first man was a skilled speaker and he recited the Psalm with great beauty and power:

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want;
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters;
He restores my soul.
He leads me in the path of righteousness
for His name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For thou art with me;
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me...'

When he had finished, the people clapped their hands and asked him to recite it again. Then the second man stood up and recited the same words: "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want..." But when he finished the people were very quiet, and seemed to have a deep spiritual feeling. Then the first man arose and said, "I must confess something to you. There is a big difference in mine and my friend's recitation of the Psalm: I know the Psalm; my friend knows the Shepherd."

Do you, like the second man, know the Shepherd? or are you like the first man who knew only the lesson? Do you know the Bible lessons, but do not really know Jesus? Many people have knowledge of God and of Jesus, but but they do not have a heart for God and Jesus.

In this parable about the Last Judgment Jesus gives us a test so that we can see if we really know Him or not.


Here in the text Jesus says that if we really know Him, we will love and help the hungry, the poor, the stranger, the sick and those in prison. We will love them and help them although they do not deserve our love and help. They perhaps are our enemies.

When we read and hear about feeding the hungry we think chiefly about feeding those who have no food, like the starving millions in Ethiopia and Sudan, Africa. But there are other hungers than hunger for food, bread and meat. Many people near and around us are hungry. They are not hungry for food or water, but they are hungry for love. They are hungry for a friend. They are hungry for a kind word from you and me. They perhaps are hungry for you to forgive them. Those who are hungry for love may be your wife or husband, your son or daughter or the neighbor next door.

Do you know Jesus? Do you feed the hungry? Do you see Jesus in the face of the hungry and the sick? In our text Jesus says, "When you fed the hungry, you fed Me." (v. 40) This is the real test: If you feed the hungry, you know Jesus, and if you refuse to feed the hungry you show that you do not yet really know Jesus and God the Father. Jesus loves the hungry, the stranger and the prisoner. He calls them “His brothers."

During the French Revolutionary War a mother and her two children wandered through the forest very hungry searching for roots and leaves to eat. On the third day the mother heard soldiers coming near and she and her children hid behind some bushes. But the sergeant saw them and commanded them to come out from behind. When he saw that they were starving he quickly got a loaf of bread and gave it to the mother. The mother took it, broke it in two parts and gave one-half to each of the two children. The sergeant said to his soldiers,"She has kept none for herself." One soldier replied, "She is not hungry." But the sergeant said, "She is a mother."

We love and serve those who are hungry for food or love, not merely because we are mothers or fathers or friends and neighbors. Our motive is much deeper. We Christians feed the hungry because in doing that we feed JESUS. We love Him because He first loved us when we were hungry for love and mercy and forgiveness. We know the Good Shepherd and all those hungry ones whom He loves, we love and they shall not want.

Feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, giving clothes to the naked, visiting those who are sick or in prison, inviting the stranger into our home - these are the ways that we can show and prove that we really know Jesus. In doing these deeds of kindness and mercy we show that we know both the Psalm and the Shepherd.

Amen