When the King Returns

"Then the King will say to the people on his right, 'Come, my Father has given you his blessing. Receive the kingdom God has prepared for you since the world was made…I tell you the truth, anything you did for even the least of my people here, you also did for me.” Matthew 25:34, 40 (The Message)

It has happened once again; a date for Christ’s return (or the rapture, final judgment, the Second coming…whatever name you like) has come and gone. We were all supposed to face Jesus by May 22. Harold Camping, the proponent of the latest prediction, has a long history of foretelling Jesus’ return. Puzzled by his most recent failure, he retreated to an isolated motel room and then came out with a new date; sometime this coming October.

You would think people would finally have enough of the apocalyptic prognosticators. But not so. More and more books are being sold which, if not actually predicting the date, make it fairly clear the author knows it will probably happen before you finish their book.

What I find lacking, and sad, to say the least, is the paucity of material that actually tells us what Jesus said about His return. Jesus describes a group of disciples that are not only surprised when the judgment comes, but are shocked that the King has blessed them for looking after His personal needs. He then explains that anything they did for the least of His people, they did for Him.

What would change if we actually lived this out? Every one of us knows people who are struggling with far more than they can manage. Their lives are full of struggle. It may be as simple as a classmate having a bad day, or as devastating as the death of a loved one. Life’s challenges are rarely evenly spaced over a lifetime or are equally distributed among the population.

While some may go through life seemingly unscathed others seem to encounter one tragedy upon another. No matter our situation, there is always someone right around the corner that needs our help. Even a simple word of encouragement may keep a person going one more day.

Imagine you are in the checkout line at Wal-Mart. In front of you a shopper has their arms filled with packages, far too many to carry. For whatever reason they chose not to use a cart and are now on the verge of dropping much of their precious cargo. They are within arm’s reach of you. What do you do? What is your instinct?

It is rare that any of us would ignore a person in this situation. Our instinct would usually be to reach out and help steady the person’s load. We might even offer to hold some of their packages, or put them in our own cart. Even though we are unacquainted with our fellow-shopper, most of us would respond.

Jesus made it clear that we are coming to His aid every time we help someone who is struggling with life’s burdens. We are not to give them lessons about staying out of trouble, quote the 12 latest ways to believe for your healing, or send the pastor over to visit them. Instead, Jesus says every time we feed, give to drink, invite, give clothing, care for and visit, we are doing it to Him!

What would change if we would drag ourselves away from our “end-time” books and novels and spend and equal time meeting the needs of the people around me? Do we really think Jesus will commend us with how closely we guessed His coming? Is there a pool in heaven, and the one guessing the closest date gets free bowling at Heavenly Lanes for, like…forever?

The ones whom Jesus describes are so unaware of their own works that they are astonished when the King tells them they have been waiting on Him this whole time. Their “good works” had become second nature that they did not even think about them as such. They were simply part of their character now.

They did not ask what might happen if the person with the packages was really a terrorist trying to fool us into carrying bombs around for them. They didn’t worry about some other shopper getting jealous and then not being able to carry everyone’s packages. They never thought about whether they might be training that person to never use a cart and always to rely on “handouts” from caring strangers.

It is time we stop setting dates for Jesus’ return, excusing our lack of compassion with theological discourses about the end-times. Jesus is watching for those who simply see the next need and find a way to meet it. To those He will always say, “Come, my Father has given you his blessing.”