The prince was astonished by what he found in the slums. Going from alley to alley, his unescorted party of friends discovered entire families, each living in a single unfurnished room. A gaunt, shivering woman lay on a heap of rags with three nearly naked children too dazed by cold and hunger to make any response to the prince and his friends.1
The prince returned to his palace enraged. Four days later he was still angry enough to make a speech in the House of Lords. He was amazed and alarmed. He had read no Dickens. For decades Charles Dickens had described the conditions of the poor in books that were read in the homes of the rich. In A Christmas Carol he had caricatured a hard, selfish man of business who needed to be told "Mankind is your business!"
The prince of Wales lost interest within a month or two and returned to the arms of the amazing number of women who populated his life. When he discovered that he, among others, owned the freehold of some of the slum districts he had visited, he discovered that he had never been interested at all. . . . So much for all the righteous anger he had worked up.
What About Our Righteous Anger?
"Mankind is your business" is quite a mission statement. How do we relate to it? You take in the images on television and become seriously concerned. But what do you do with your concern? At heart we know that mankind is our business, but the images fade, the comfort zone beckons, and our vested interests conflict. We desperately search for some wriggle room--just in case we might have to spend some of our money, our time, or ourselves on mankind's business.
"I saw the Ethiopian famine images on television," said a man, "and I decided on the DIY approach: Don't Involve Yourself. Get it?" I got it, but I didn't want it. Thankfully, millions of others who saw the same images on television did involve themselves. People as diverse as the very wealthy and the attendees of the Live Aid pop concert, they all decided that mankind was their business, and everyone was astonished by their self-sacrifice.
Dickens did not originate the concept "Mankind is your business." It is a foundation stone of Christianity. Do these words ring any bells? "I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. . . . I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me" (Matt. 25:35-40, NIV).
The words of Jesus are chilling when they are expressed in the negative. "Depart from me. . . . For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat. . . . Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me" (Matt. 25:41-45, NIV). Up close and personal, aren't they? Do you remember the context of these words of Jesus? He had been talking about the signs of His coming in Matthew 24 (Adventists like that part). Then in Matthew 25 Jesus tells three stories that illustrate what constitutes readiness for His coming.2
Jesus' final call for readiness is in the story of the sheep and the goats. His second coming is at the beginning of the story, and the setting is the last judgment. The point of the story, in part, is to demonstrate that "the union between Christ and his people is the most tender and endearing of all connections. . . . He considers favours shown to his people as shown to himself."3 The point of the story is in part that the criterion of judgment is how we relate to these little ones, the least of these, the brothers and sisters of Jesus: the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned. And that is the point over which some people get alarmed. They are at home with theology and prophetic scenarios, but pained by the idea that to make theology real, you have to translate it into life.
There is something slightly indecent about the glee with which we rub our hands over the signs of the Second Coming. Why? Because many of the signs of the end concern the frequency and scale of disasters that impact negatively upon the lives of millions. Could that be the reason Jesus called upon His people to demonstrate their readiness for His return by serving these little ones, the least of these, His brothers and sisters--victims of disaster and displacement?
God-talk and God-acts
"Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything?" asks the apostle James. "Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? . . . Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?" (James 2:14-17, Message)
Questions for Reflection
or for Use in Your Small Group
1. How are we any different in our response to "the worst and the poorest" than was Prince Albert Edward?
2. Who constitutes "the worst and the poorest" in our lives?
3. How can we translate "Mankind is our business" into our daily lives?
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When Jesus said, "Then the righteous will answer [the Judge upon His throne], 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you?'" (Matt. 25:37, NIV), the word translated "righteous" denotes both character (behavior) and the fact that the person has been acquitted, has received a favorable verdict from the judge.4 In short, "the righteous"--those who serve the person of Jesus in the least of these, His brothers and sisters--are those who have been saved by grace through faith and who have demonstrated that faith through service.
The best way to delight a parent's heart is to help his or her child. That's how it is with Jesus and "the least of these."
Francis was highborn, high-spirited, and rich. But he was not happy. His life was incomplete. Then one day he met a lame and loathsome leper. Something moved Francis to dismount and fling his arms around the sufferer. As he did so, the face of the leper changed into the face of Christ.
One and the Same
The statements "Jesus is my business" and "Mankind is my business" are not two; they are one and the same. When we grasp that, the impetus to serve will not weaken as the images of suffering fade from our memories. It will fade only if the image of Jesus fades from our hearts.
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1 Stanley Weintraub, The Importance of Being Edward (London: John Murray, 2000), pp. 285-289, 377.
2 R. T. France, New Testament Commentaries: Matthew (Tyndale), p. 354.
3 Albert Barnes, A Popular Family Commentary on the New Testament: Matthew and Mark (Gresham, 1832), vol. 1, p. 271.
4 France, p. 357.
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David N. Marshall is the editor of Stanborough Press in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England.
ARELY HAS A MAN TAKEN HIS marriage vows as lightly as Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. When his mother, Queen Victoria, was in extreme old age, one of his friends made a serious attempt to focus his mind on something other than the carnal. He took the prince to "the worst and poorest" slums in Clerkenwell and St. Pancras.
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