I think they thought they were doing okay.

The ones that Jesus says were cursed. I think they thought they were doing okay. I think that they were going about life, living in whatever way made sense. Somehow, however, the way that made sense ignored whole classes of people. People who were hungry, people who were thirsty, unknown people needing shelter, people who were sick, people who were in prison.

The people that Jesus is condemning are people who completely ignored other people and likely thought that they were doing okay.

Jesus is pretty clear. These people will die forever, away from the King.

1. Blessing is being with the King, punishment is being away from the King.

2. The King draws these lines because people who represented him–the people who can’t do anything for themselves–desperately need someone to help them. And people who are contagious, who are too weak to do anything constructive but breathe, who can make nothing, who can offer no wisdom, who don’t give anything but merely consume your time, those are the people that Jesus decides will be his surrogates.  And people who do things for people without thought of what those people can do back are actually loving. And people who only care about the return, Jesus says, are people who do not care.

Let me be a bit more clear.

Your brother is dying of cancer. I am standing with a cup of ice chips by his bed, crunching on them. He raises a finger, feebly requesting something. He involuntarily licks dry lips. I stand there watching, crunching.

You walk in the room.

You ask why I’m not giving your brother the ice chips.

I say, “If I’d known it was your brother I would have helped. ”

You say, “get out of here.”

Make sense?