God’s Estimate of a Man’s Religion

‘“‘ He judged the cause of the poor and needy. Was not this to know Me? saith the Lord. — Jznr. xxii. 16.

HIS is to my mind one of the finest passages in the whole Bible. I have often seen people exercised as to what inscription they should put on the tomb of one who lived the life but did not accept the full creed. For such a man I can imagine no grander epitaph than this, “He judged the cause of the poor and needy — was not this to know Me!” The beauty of such an epitaph is that it is professedly God’s epitaph. It is the Divine finger that is pictured writing the inscription. I think the prophet has in his mind something like this: A man has died in Judea whose orthodoxy has long been doubted. His memory is greeted with general obloquy. His funeral is sparsely attended. No Jewish rites of mourning are performed for him; he is spoken of as one who knew not the Lord. But, on the morning after the funeral, some of his friends visit the grave and are startled. There, on the stone which had been left without one human note or comment, there are inscribed letters of flaming gold conveying the striking tribute, “He judged the cause of the poor and needy — was not this to know Me!” O Thou who knowest our heart and readest our lives, we should like our inscription to be written by Thee. Often Thy inscription reverses ours. We with bated breath often speak of one departed — as if his fate were a subject not to dwell upon. And at that very moment heaven’s arches may be ringing with halleluiahs, and Thy lips may be saying, “Good and faithful servant, well done!” The men of our world sign their confessions of faith by their words; but the men of Thy world sign their confessions of faith by their deeds. Often have I thought of that company at Thy right hand who received the mandate, “Enter ye into the joy of your Lord!” How surprised they were when they received it! Doubtless they had been counted among the goats. Doubtless a plebiscite of earth would have excluded them from Thy heaven. They had not “prophesied in Thy name”; perhaps they had refused to take any religious name; they never knew that theirs was a service of Thee. They would have called their work secular, “When saw we Thee hungry and gave Thee meat!” — “‘ We only gave it to poor human beings of the gutter.” But the last judgment reversed the first judgment; Thou saidst, “Inasmuch as ye did it unto the least, ye have done it unto Me.” Many sheep Thou hast, O Christ, which are not of our fold, yea, which are not of any fold. The cup of cold water may be only given in a disciple’s name and not in Thine; yet Thou receivest it as Thy communion cup. Thou abidest with many at evening time when the day is far spent — when the faith is dim and the hope is low and there is nothing bright but love. Thou abidest with love when love alone is left. When I cannot praise and am powerless to pray, I can still break the bread to the hungry; and I am known to Thee by that breaking of bread. In the dearth of prayer, in the paralysis of praise, in the defiles of doubt, in the valley of despondency, there can still remain one light unwavering — the light of love to man; and if I keep that radiance undimmed, Thou shalt write upon my grave the imperishable epitaph, “He helped the poor and needy — was not this to know Me!”