After talking about the Temple’s destruction and the end of the world (in sometimes puzzling terms), Jesus gave a word picture of the final judgment. His story about the judgment clearly conveyed his Kingdom’s priorities. Kingdom people, he said, care for the hungry and thirsty, the poorly-clothed and strangers, the prisoners and the sick—the people whom Jesus called “the least of these brothers and sisters of mine.”

• There’s a Christian song that begins, “I met Jesus today, and I really must tell you, he didn’t look at all like the pictures … He was a hungry child, a sick friend of mine, a stranger who needed a coat.” In Jesus’ story, both those accepted and the ones who were turned away were surprised. They expected to meet Jesus in “religious” places, with choirs and lights, not in the streets among the needy and poor. But Jesus’ story said we should notice all people in need of help, and treat them as if it were Jesus himself in need. In what ways can you sense God reshaping your attitudes toward “the least of these” in your community and the wider world?