Sickness could easily become a death sentence. Physicians were limited in their knowledge, and they were usually reserved for the wealthy or prominent. There were no hospitals, no emergency clinics, nor even benevolent societies interested in caring for the afflicted. If the condition was leprosy, tuberculosis, blindness, paralysis, or any of a host of other diseases it was common to see the needy turned out or ignored. It was felt they were suffering in the flesh because of some great sin, perhaps even the sins of their fathers. A popular belief of the time was that sickness was one form of judgment upon the transgressor, and you are best served by keeping your distance lest you also become sick or be judged.

Prisoners were a miserable lot. Not only could someone be locked away for violent and intentional criminal acts, it was perfectly legal to put someone in a cold dark dungeon who was unable to pay a bill or meet some demand placed on them by another citizen. Discrimination and racism were widespread and enough to be the motive behind some arrests, and a prisoner of war could remain as such for the rest of his life. No parole, no kindness, and no mercy.

I say that I imagine Jesus thinking of us as He spoke, because the numbers of the same sort of hurting people that surround us are almost unfathomable. Though we may choose to avoid contact or treat the troubled as lepers were treated in the day of Jesus, the fact remains that every single day we are confronted by "the least of these" who seem unable to find comfort for their pain.

Not all hungry and thirsty souls that cross your path are that way by choice or laziness. Some are tender young children who have been forgotten. We may not see naked people living in cemeteries, but how many souls do we drive past in a given week that are too poor to properly clothe themselves and their families?

Many sick suffer alone in their pain. They may not know how to call out for help or more likely, we aren't attuned to hearing their cries. And the prisoner is with us now more than ever. There are more than 2.1 million prisoners held in federal, state, and local prisons and jails with an estimated 488 inmates per 100,000 residents, and the number is growing. Jesus offers the only true and lasting solution to captive hearts, but unless someone goes, how will they hear?

The stranger in the Bible refers to someone from another culture or tribe. He could have been a traveler passing through on a journey to another place or someone that had recently settled in a new land. Because of strict religious laws or attitudes fearful of foreigners and different customs, the stranger was frequently left to find his own way in a strange land. We should carefully consider how we respond to the strangers with whom we come into contact.

"'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'"