Rev. King Duncan once told of a story originally reported by a journalist named Tom Junod. It was a true story of a young man afflicted with cerebral palsy. This disease affected not his mind, but his motor skills and his ability to speak. In addition, the young man had been abused by caregivers and so also suffered emotional problems.

One day a children’s foundation set up a meeting between the boy and his hero, Fred Rogers. Upon meeting Mr. Rogers, the boy became so nervous that he started hitting himself, and his mother had to take him to another room to calm him down. When he returned, Mr. Rogers carried on their conversation as if nothing had happened. At the end of the visit, he ended the conversation by asking for a very special favor: would this boy pray for him? The boy was astonished by the request. Would he pray for Mr. Rogers? He had always been the object of someone else’s prayers. But from that day forward, the boy began praying for Fred Rogers.

When Tom Junod complimented Fred Rogers on this idea, Rogers reacted with surprise. He had been sincere in his request for the boy’s prayers. As he said, “I didn’t ask him for his prayers for him, I asked for me. I asked him because I think that anyone who has gone through challenges like that must be very close to God. I asked him because I wanted his intercession.”

It is so true. People who have gone through extremely difficult challenges in life often find they must draw very close to God. For them, it is the only way to survive. 

Psalm 34:18 promises, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted…”

My prayer for you today is that you would stay close to people who are going through tough times. Ask for their intersessions for you, even as you pray for them.

Let us pray: Loving God, today we pray that you would stay near to us, and near to all of those who suffer. Deliver us. Heal us. And use us as instruments of your grace. Amen.

There is a passage in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25 (verses 31-45), where Jesus appears as a King. We don’t talk a lot about kings here in the United States. When we do it often has a negative connotation – like a dictator or tyrant. Someone who has total authority.

But here in Matthew, what we learn is that Christ the King is not some power-hungry tyrant. Instead, we learn Christ the King is among us – as the person we encounter who is hungry, thirsty, alone, alien, naked, sick, or imprisoned. Christ the King is found in all those who are walking embodiments of human frailty and even human failure.

Jesus makes it clear that he himself is there in that person standing in need in front of us.

Over the years, I’ve heard story after story from people who tell about how it is in those moments of serving others, that they have encountered the presence of Christ… I know I’ve had those moments serving in soup lines and clothes closets. But I have also had them in hospital rooms, around kitchen tables, in hospice settings, listening to the story of a stranger who stopped by to ask for help at the church, and even late at night sitting with a young couple who had lost their child – while they wept and there were no words.

There is no doubt that Christ is there in those moments.

But this story tells us there is more to it than that – that there comes a moment of reckoning – a moment of judgment. Interestingly, this passage is the only passage in the New Testament that gives a detailed picture of the last judgment. And what determines our final accountability before the thrown is not how obediently we stand in awe and worship of Christ the King. It is not how much Bible we know. It is not saying the right creed or praying the sinner’s prayer. Our final accountability will be based upon how we treated the most vulnerable: as a church; as a nation; as an individual.

It is a difficult teaching. And no doubt, a challenge for a lifetime!

No doubt, responding to Jesus’ teachings in this passage is a challenge for a lifetime. But my prayer for us today is that we would never lose sight of the King we worship – a king who is found in the poor, the lonely, the brokenhearted, and the powerless. May you and I – who have more power and means than most in this world – continue to find ways to take care of those most in need in our midst – in any and every way we can. And in doing so find that we are truly giving to Jesus, our King!

Let us pray: Lord Jesus Christ, may we see you in the eyes of each and every person we meet. And may our love for them reflect our love for you. Amen.