Matthew 25:36

Matthew 25:36, in plain English

Jesus continues: 'I needed clothes and you gave them to Me. I was sick and you looked after Me. I was in prison and you came to visit Me.' He identifies with the most forgotten and overlooked people.

Why it's here

Jesus sees Himself in the person no one else notices: the sick, the poor, the imprisoned. Your small acts of kindness to these people are never wasted. Jesus receives every one of them.

Who's speaking

Jesus continues revealing how the most overlooked acts of compassion are actually acts of worship directed at Him.

Where it sits in the story

The naked, the sick, the prisoner — the people society often avoids or ignores. Jesus says when you show up for them, you show up for Him. No act of love is ever invisible.

The scholarly reading

The list continues with three more acts of mercy: clothing the naked (gymnos kai periebalete me), visiting the sick (ēsthenousa kai epeskepsasthe me), and visiting those in prison (en phylakē kai ēlthate pros me). These address the most marginalized and forgotten members of society.

Language and setting

Visiting prisoners was especially countercultural, as imprisonment often meant social shame and contamination. The six acts comprehensively cover physical need (hunger, thirst, nakedness), social exclusion (stranger), illness, and incarceration.

Voice

The King continues listing the acts of compassion that serve as the basis for eschatological judgment.

Significance

The King's list reaches society's margins: the exposed, the sick, the imprisoned. Every person the world forgets, Jesus claims as His own. Mercy to the least is mercy to the King.

34Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

35For 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 took Me in,

36I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.’

37Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink?

38When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?

Read all of Matthew 25 — Ten bridesmaids, three servants, and a flock of sheep and goats. Jesus paints the final judgment in vivid, unsettling detail.