compassion

Matthew 25:37

"Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?"

Today’s verse is the sheep's response to the King's declaration in verse 36. They ask a genuine, bewildered question, not a challenge or a rhetorical rebuke, but real surprise.

Genuine astonishment. They never recognized they were serving Christ. They were feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, ordinary acts of compassion toward suffering people. The idea that those acts were somehow to Christ is news to them. As one commentary puts it, they "acted from what seemed merely human affection towards merely human objects."

Humble tone. They address Him as "Lord" and don't dispute or defend. They don't say, "But we were good people!" They simply can't place when this happened. This humility signals that they had no confidence in their own works, they didn't think of themselves as "serving Christ" when they helped.

The surprise is the point. The fact that they didn't know they were serving Christ is what makes their compassion genuine rather than performative. They weren't keeping score, seeking reward, or trying to curry favor. Their love was unselfconscious, it flowed naturally from a transformed heart. 

Which is what we all want to do. We cannot repay Jesus for what He has done. And, we are not earning our salvation. The good works that we are able to do are out of gratitude to our good and gracious God.