When Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me," we say, "Amen."We immediately walk away, pretend to understand Jesus' teaching, and say with our lives, "Jesus, you won't mind if I have you work where the working conditions are horrible and the pay is not enough? I wouldn't work like that, but you will for me? It's capitalism. You understand? Right, Jesus?"
"You won't care that I take advantage of you because you are from an economically depressed and underdeveloped country. You understand that? That's just the way the world works. Right, Jesus?"
"As long as I remain sexually pure, study my Bible, go to church, do some good for some people, and pray, you're fine with working like that for me? You're so understanding. I need you to do those things so that I can pay less for my coffee, clothes, gadgets, housing materials, and everything else that I want to consume? I have to look good and be in style when I worship You."
"Jesus, will you still be my savior even though I make you do these horrible things for me? Right, Jesus?"
We hear Jesus whisper through the noise of our culture, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me." We still say, "Amen."
But our actions say something else. We consume and live like kings while Jesus starves to death, dies from bad drinking water, is uneducated because he doesn't have a school nearby, and slaves away to make our consumer goods. At least we still get our cheap prices.
Something is wrong. With me. With our world. It is so hard to live for Jesus in such a fallen world. We need to see Jesus. Help me see Jesus.
