by Pastor Joel Lawler

While listening to Beethoven's 9th, it struck me that he never actually got to hear this piece. He composed it while he was completely deaf. He was never able to enjoy this beautiful piece of music. It had to be unbelievably hard to persevere and compose this piece of music without being able to hear. In my opinion, I understand that this is very subjective, it is one of the most amazing pieces of music ever written.

The Apostle Paul comes across as a guy who loves to talk. When I read accounts of his life, he seemed to really enjoy being in front of people and presenting his beliefs. He spent a good part of his years of ministry in jail. I wonder if he got frustrated with his inability to teach? I wonder if while he was composing the letters to the churches if there were times that he got irritated at the fact that he could not go and deliver these messages in person? Of course if he had we would not have the letters that he left behind that compose a great deal of the New Testament of our Bible.

The following is from the New American Standard Bible and is found in Matthew 25 verses 31-46.

"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 the 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.'

Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.'

Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?'

Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'

These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

One of the points that jump out at me from this parable that Jesus tells is that the Sheep were serving God without even knowing it. They were going about their lives, taking care of those in need completely unaware that they were serving God. They were shocked and surprise that they had been loving God himself when they were loving the less fortunate.

The goats were caught off guard by what they heard. They had no idea that they had neglected God himself by not taking care of those in need around them.

Beethoven and Paul most likely did not know that their work would not only stand the test of time but touch many generations after their deaths. The sheep in the story also did not know that their lives were of great significance and that the simple things that they did would have eternal consequences. Our actions can and do have an impact far past our ability to comprehend what we are doing. 
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