transformed hearts

Matthew 25:38&39

"38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?"

In today’s verses the sheep are expressing surprise and humility. They did not perform acts of mercy with the expectation of recognition or reward; they simply cared for people in need out of love. They have no memory of ever serving Jesus directly in these ways. Their question is sincere: they genuinely don’t understand how their everyday acts of compassion counted as ministry to Christ Himself.

The list narrows from the six categories in verses 35–36 (hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick, in prison) down to four here (stranger, naked, sick, in prison), but the point is the same: they are listing the kinds of needs they served, not keeping an exact score.

The surprise is the theological point. The righteous never “saw” Jesus in these people. They helped the hungry, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, visited the sick and imprisoned, and never realized they were serving Christ. This underscores that their compassion was genuine and selfless, not strategic or performative.

Since you and I understand this point, we can serve others because we want to serve Jesus. Like the sheep in these verses, we don’t want our actions to be performative rather than genuine. Don’t keep score, seek reward, or curry favor. Let our love be unselfconscious and flow naturally from our transformed hearts. We cannot repay Jesus for what He has done, and we are not earning our salvation. The good works we are able to do flow from gratitude to our good and gracious God.