But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on His left.

Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come you who are blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For 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; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’

Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’

The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

-Matthew 25: 31-40

I think it’s hard for the clothed to understand the shame of nakedness or for the free to comprehend the confinements of prison. In this passage, Christ makes the point that serving another brother is serving Him. But how can we serve another if we fail to see their desperation? This point has been made repetitively in the Social Work department. A social worker must empathize with the pains, stigmas, and griefs of a client’s life circumstances. But here, Christ goes beyond acknowledging mere bench-warming empathy, but emphasizes again and again the actions of the righteous in meeting a brother’s need. It’s the actions and serving that recognizes the brother’s worth, no matter what their life conditions and trials. Therefore, one does not need to become naked to understand nakedness, but merely value another enough to give them clothing.

But who ever said the clothing was ours to hoard in the first place?

Everything is the Lord’s.

-Everything!-