Parallels that aren't.

[corrvin]

After reading soldergrrrl's piece on rescued abused kitties (no pics if you click this link, but includes a link there to a pic) and especially this comment from momwolf, I started thinking.

Her comment, in part: Also, along with the stewardship, didn't The Christian Jesus say that what you do to the "Least" of them, you do to me?...

What I want to talk about is what we're supposed to do, what she's referring to here.

The directions she's talking about are cited in Matthew 25, and I think there's a very important distinction to be made. A lot of times in the Bible there will be things that seem to be parallels, but aren't quite-- and usually the difference is important. What are the things God expects from us in these verses?

Let me quote from the KJV and then break it down:
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

There are six things listed here, but the last two are not like the first four.
1. If someone is hungry, give them food.
2. If someone is thirsty, give them a drink.
3. If someone is without shelter, give them shelter.
4. If someone is without clothing, give them clothing.

In all four cases, the action taken is an immediate fix for the problem, most people would say. Including, of course:

---

(Quoted from Harlan Ellison's The Essential Ellison, page 235:)

Headline from The Oregonian, Monday, July 1, 1974:

More Food Said Not Answer To Feeding World's Multitude

No, maybe not; but it'd sure as shit keep 'em from getting cranky till you did find the answer.

---

Back to the list:
5. If someone is sick, visit them.
6. If someone is in prison, visit them.

But it doesn't say "send a doctor" or "bring medicine" or "a cake with a file in it" or "bribe the guards" or any of that stuff. It says go and visit and be with the person yourself. Why?

If it said "get people out of prison who shouldn't have to be there" then it would only apply to people who were wrongfully imprisoned. But it doesn't, it applies to everyone who might be sick or in prison, and it applies to every one of us no matter what our skills are-- even, or especially, if there's nothing we can do physically to help the person.

The first part of these directions is to help others who are suffering, but the second part is about those who are suffering who we cannot help. If the verses had talked only about the help we can give, it would have left this out-- but instead Jesus directs us into actions where we cannot do anything but watch and be with someone.

I've talked before about working with the folks I do, the hospice nurses and the others; even when there is nothing more you can do, one of the most comforting things for a dying person is to have someone sit with them, and it's also terribly comforting for their family if they are far off, to know that someone who cares for their loved one is there with them in their final moments.

If we focus too much on the temporal work, the first four of the list, then we miss the reason behind it-- that we do this work in order to belong to the Divine, to follow the wishes of the One who made us, to do our best at being what we were created to be.