There is the well known story, supposedly true, about the queen of France who during the French Revolution, when told about the poor people having no bread to eat replied, ”Let them eat cake.” It is hard to believe that she was so naive, but there are people living today who are completely oblivious to the needs of others.

Jesus, Paul, James and John all have taught us that we must be conscious of the needs of others and more than that, we must do our best to fill those needs when we know about them. John asks us a searching question when he says, ”Whoso hath this world’s goods, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?” John’s point is that if we have material blessings and our brother is in need, we must help fill that need; otherwise how can we say that we love God? He goes on to say, ”My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” It’s no use talking about our love if we don’t do something for others, says John.

James has a comment that ties in with what John has said. He tells us, ”If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?” James like John is saying, talk is cheap... we must DO. In fact James says these very words earlier in his epistle, ”Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only.”

After Jesus’ resurrection he fed his disciples breakfast along the shore of the lake. In the early morning conversation that followed breakfast, Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved him. Twice Jesus used the strongest word known for love and the last time he changed it to phileo, the word that Peter used each time in answering his Lord. Jesus’ response after Peter’s answer was always the same, ”Feed my lambs, feed my sheep, feed my sheep.”

We think of ourselves as the sheep and rightly so, but Jesus is telling us that we each have a responsibility to also be feeders of the sheep. To feed Jesus’ flock costs us something. It takes our time, our effort and sometimes our money. If we really love Jesus, then we will do it. That was the point Jesus was making with Peter. Bo you love me? The only way we can show that we love Jesus is by feeding his sheep. He said that inasmuch as we do these things unto one of the least of his brethren we do it unto him.

We should take this both literally and figuratively. We should always be looking for ways to serve our brethren and sisters with material things. Just a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name will be remembered. It may mean getting up in the night to help someone who is ill. It may mean foregoing something we wanted to do in order to help another.

When Jesus sat on the well in Samaria his disciples went into town to get food and when they returned they pleaded with him to eat but he told them that he had meat to eat that they knew not of. They misunderstood him thinking he was talking about literal food but he explained that it was his meat to do the will of God. So it is with us. If we eat, breathe and sleep the truth then we will be filled with meat that the world knows not of and we must feed his sheep with this same meat.

We don’t need to be smart or clever or rich, we simply need to be filled with love for others so that we are constantly thinking, ”What can I do to help?” It may be food and drink, but it may also be a kind word, a phone call, a letter. Some of Christ’s noblest shepherds never delivered an exhortation or even prayed in public, yet they constantly did for others and their names are written in the book of remembrance.

Our love for God and our love for Jesus will cause us to do kind things for one another. ”And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.”