Identifying with the lowly

It is good to be hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, and imprisoned for righteousness' sake, for then Jesus will identify with you as he does in  this Gospel (St. Matthew 25:31ff). And it is not good to be proud, filled, satisfied, and fat, for then, needing nothing, you shall receive nothing from him. Then you will be one who passes by the man beside the road who is half dead, or then you will not notice poor Lazarus laid at your gate, full of sores. Then, you will not like the crucifix, for  there you see Jesus himself in his abject humility. But he did this to redeem us; therefore in humility let us confess our unworthiness. For then we shall be with him in his glory at the end. We shall be on his right hand, the place of highest honor and glory. So now, let us not be offended at his humility, and let us identify with the poor persecuted Christians around the world, and weep with  them, and pray for them, and count ourselves one with  them. And then let us rejoice in the fact that we are heirs of glory, being given this mindset by grace. Then let us begin to rejoice even now in our hope and expectation. Sermon for Trinity XXVI.