Matthew 25 is a well-known scripture, here is part of it from The Message translation by Eugene Peterson:

^34-36 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why:

I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.’

^37-40 “Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’

The story goes on with folk complaining about when they didn’t take care of Jesus and Jesus responds in kind; when we didn’t help your neighbors in need.

It is a well-known story but how well do we follow its teachings? How well does the government, the servants of the people as Jesus was servants to people do?

One way of answering this is by examining a recent report from the Center on Budget and Policies and the TANF benefits distribution.  

The report tells us that this year once again our cast assistance to the nation’s poorest families with children fell again; 20% less than they were in 1996. Now that is now true for all states in our country only 99% (sarcasm dripping in the background.) (Connecticut and Maryland were the exceptions.)

The function of TANF is to provide a safety net for some of our poor families. Between 1970 to 1996 the benefits dropped more than 40% in two thirds of our states. The report tells us that as of July 1^st of this year every states benefits for a family of three with no other cash income were 50% below the poverty line as measured by the Department of Health and Human services. Even when we add SNAP benefits (food stamps) it still leaves them below the poverty line.

Below is a view of how this looks state by state:

Here is another chart showing how family fall below the poverty line.

There are many more charts and a great deal more information from the site mentioned at the beginning of this article. It is worthy checking out.

So, when Jesus asks us the same questions he asked of folk in Matthew’s gospel how do you think we and our government stack up? I’m afraid we are more goat like than sheep like.

I think Jesus was serious in telling this parable and we should take it seriously as well.