Who are the “least of these” in the Bible?

Seeing Jesus: Who Are “The Least of These” and Why Do They Matter to God?

Imagine standing before God at the end of all things. What is the one question you hope you have the right answer to? In one of his most stunning and sobering teachings, Jesus gives us a glimpse of that final moment. It is a scene of judgment, but the standard for that judgment is not what many might expect. It is not about doctrinal purity, religious observance, or worldly success. Instead, eternity hinges on a single, soul-searching question: How did you treat “the least of these”?

This teaching, found in the Gospel of Matthew, is often called the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats.¹ It is more than a simple story; it is a vision of the final judgment where all of humanity is divided based on a single, shocking criterion: our response to the vulnerable in our midst.² This journey is about discovering who these people are, why they are so central to the heart of Jesus, and what this means for us, here and now.

What is the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats?

To feel the full weight of this story, we must first understand its setting. This is not a casual tale told to a curious crowd. It is the climax of what is known as the Olivet Discourse, Jesus’s final and most extensive teaching delivered to his disciples just before his arrest and crucifixion.³ Its placement at the end of his public ministry underscores its supreme importance. Jesus is unveiling the powerful realities of the end times.⁵

The scene is one of breathtaking majesty. Jesus, the “Son of Man,” returns not as a humble carpenter from Nazareth but as a glorious King. He sits on a throne of judgment, attended by all the holy angels, and before him are gathered “all the nations” (panta ta ethnē).⁴ This vision establishes the universal scope and ultimate authority of his judgment.

Then comes the great separation. The King divides the vast sea of humanity into two groups, “as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats”.² This was a common and easily understood image for his listeners. Goats could be unruly and were often separated from the more docile sheep.⁶ The sheep are placed on the King’s right hand, the side of honor and blessing, Although the goats are placed on his left.

The King then delivers a verdict that echoes into eternity. To the sheep on his right, he says, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world”.⁸ But to the goats on his left, the words are terrifying: “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels”.⁸ The stakes could not be higher: eternal life or eternal punishment.¹

Yet, the most powerful element of the parable is the powerful surprise felt by both groups. When the King tells the righteous sheep they are saved because they fed him when he was hungry, gave him drink when he was thirsty, welcomed him as a stranger, clothed him, and visited him when he was sick or in prison, they are genuinely bewildered. “Lord, when did we see you…?” they ask.¹ Likewise, the goats are equally shocked to learn that their damnation is sealed because they failed to do these things for him. They too ask, “Lord, when did we see you… And did not help you?”.¹

This shared surprise is a crucial key to understanding the parable’s deep truth. The actions being judged were not calculated, self-conscious deeds performed to earn a heavenly reward. The sheep were not following a checklist to get into the kingdom. Instead, their actions flowed naturally from their character. As Jesus taught elsewhere, a good tree simply and naturally bears good fruit.¹ The compassionate acts of the sheep were the outward evidence of an inward transformation. Their service was not a performance to gain God’s favor, but a reflection of God’s heart already dwelling within them. This reframes the parable from a terrifying performance review into a beautiful, urgent call for a genuine heart transformation that overflows into love for others.

Who Are “The Least of These” in This Parable?

The King’s judgment is based entirely on how people treated a group he calls “the least of these my brothers and sisters.” The conditions of this group are painfully clear and represent the most basic forms of human vulnerability. They are:

• The hungry
• The thirsty
• The stranger
• The naked
• The sick
• Those in prison 10

These six categories describe people who are destitute, displaced, and stripped of dignity and resources. Although their conditions are clear, the specific identity of this group has been a source of faithful debate among Christians for centuries. Is Jesus talking about any person suffering in these ways, or is he referring to a more specific group of people?.¹⁰

The entire debate hinges on the full phrase Jesus uses in Matthew 25:40: “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me”.¹¹ How we understand the phrase “my brothers” is the key that unlocks the passage’s primary meaning.

The very existence of this discussion reveals a healthy and important tension within Christian thought. It is the tension between particularity—the special love and responsibility believers have for one another in the household of faith—and universality—the call to love all of humanity as our neighbors. The way a person, or tradition navigates this tension often shapes their entire approach to mission, service, and justice. This is not a simple question of right versus wrong, but a sacred tension that followers of Jesus are called to live within, forcing us to ask powerful questions about our ultimate responsibilities in a hurting world.

Does “My Brothers and Sisters” Mean Only Christians?

The question of who Jesus means by “my brothers and sisters” has led to two primary, heartfelt interpretations. Both views are held by faithful Christians and are rooted in Scripture, and understanding them helps us appreciate the depth of this passage.

The Exclusive View: “The Least of These” are Fellow Christians

Many scholars, both historically and today, argue that in this specific passage, Jesus is referring to his own followers who are in need.¹³ They point to several strong clues within the text and the broader context of Matthew’s Gospel.

The word “brothers” (Greek: adelphos) is used consistently throughout the New Testament to refer to fellow believers, members of the spiritual family of God.¹² Jesus himself redefines his family in Matthew 12:48-50, stretching out his hand toward his disciples and declaring, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother”.¹⁵ The term is almost never used to refer to all of humanity in general.¹¹

The word translated as “least” is the superlative form of the Greek word mikroi, which means “little ones.” In Matthew’s Gospel, this term is a consistent code word for Jesus’s disciples.¹¹ For example, in Matthew 10:42, Jesus promises that anyone who gives “one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple” will not lose their reward.

This leads to the third point: the strong connection between this parable and the mission discourse in Matthew 10. There, Jesus sends his disciples out as traveling missionaries who will be poor, persecuted, and dependent on the hospitality of others. He explicitly states that to welcome them is to welcome him: “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me”.¹¹ In this view, the judgment of the nations in Matthew 25 is based on how they treated Christ’s vulnerable messengers who brought the gospel to them.

The Inclusive View: “The Least of These” are All People in Need

Other Christians argue for a broader, more universal interpretation, suggesting that “the least of these” refers to any person who is suffering, regardless of their faith.

This view points first to the grand scope of the scene. The Son of Man comes to judge “all the nations”.¹⁷ If his authority is universal over all people, it follows that how we treat

any human being under his sovereign rule is a reflection of how we treat the King himself.

This interpretation leans heavily on the element of surprise. If the judgment were only about how people treated identifiable Christians, would both the sheep and the goats be so genuinely shocked by the verdict? The fact that their actions were un-self-conscious suggests a general, ingrained pattern of compassion (or a lack thereof) toward anyone they encountered in need, not just a specific group.¹⁷

Finally, this view aligns with the overwhelming moral arc of the entire Bible, from the prophets’ thunderous calls for justice for the poor and the orphan to Jesus’s own parable of the Good Samaritan, where the hero is the one who shows mercy to a suffering stranger from a rival ethnic group.¹²

So, how do we resolve this? Perhaps we are not meant to. The two views are not necessarily mutually exclusive in our actions. Although the specific textual evidence in Matthew may lean toward fellow believers being the primary reference, the spirit of the passage compels a universal application. Only the Shepherd King can ultimately distinguish his sheep from the goats.¹⁷ Since we cannot see into a person’s heart, the most faithful and loving response is to treat

all who are suffering as if we were serving Christ himself. The debate is less about drawing lines around who we should help and more about understanding the powerful motivation for our help: we serve the vulnerable because in them, we see our King.

What Was It Like to Be Poor in Jesus’ Time?

To truly grasp the radical nature of Jesus’s words, we must step back into the world of first-century Galilee. For a modern reader, the words “hungry” or “homeless” might evoke certain images, but the reality for the poor in Jesus’s day was a state of systemic and inescapable hardship that is difficult for many of us to fathom.

First-century Palestine was a brutal, agrarian society with virtually no middle class. Historians estimate that as many as 90% of the population lived at or perilously close to the subsistence level, meaning they had just enough to survive, with no safety net.¹⁹ Society was starkly divided into two groups: a tiny, wealthy elite who owned the land, and the impoverished masses who worked it.

The economic system was designed to keep people in poverty. Peasants faced a crushing burden of “double taxation”—paying tribute to the Roman Empire and taxes to the local ruler, Herod.¹⁹ On top of this, they owed rent to absentee landlords. A single bad harvest due to drought or disease could be catastrophic, forcing a family into a devastating cycle of debt with staggering interest rates charged by money-lenders.¹⁹ Losing one’s ancestral land—the source of family identity and security—was a common and devastating reality, often leading to a life of day labor or begging.

This historical context breathes life into the six categories of suffering in the parable 19:

• The hungry and thirsty were not just missing a meal; they were in a constant, life-threatening struggle for daily sustenance.
• The stranger was not a tourist. This was often a landless peasant forced into itinerancy, cut off from the village and family ties that formed the only social safety net.
• The naked described someone in utter destitution, lacking the basic clothing needed for protection and social decency.
• The sick and the imprisoned were those whose condition had stripped them of all social standing and resources. In a world without health insurance or a robust justice system, a serious illness or an accusation of debt could instantly cast a person and their family into the lowest rungs of society.¹⁹

When Jesus identifies with these individuals, he is doing something revolutionary. He is not just expressing sympathy for personal misfortune. He is declaring his solidarity with the victims of an oppressive and exploitative social and economic system. This adds a powerful layer of social justice to the parable’s meaning. It challenges his followers not just to offer charity, but to see, stand with, and love those who have been crushed and discarded by the systems of the world.

What Does Jesus Mean by “Whatever You Did… You Did for Me”?

At the absolute heart of this parable is one of the most breathtaking claims Jesus ever made. When the righteous ask when they saw him in need, the King replies, “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me“.²² This is more than a beautiful metaphor; it is a statement of powerful, mystical solidarity. Jesus is so completely united with the suffering and the vulnerable that our actions toward them are, in reality, actions toward him.¹⁶

We see this same stunning principle in the book of Acts. When Saul, a zealous persecutor of the early is knocked to the ground on the road to Damascus, the risen Jesus does not ask, “Saul, why are you persecuting my followers?” He asks, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”.¹⁴ In both instances, Jesus takes the treatment of his people personally. An act of kindness to a struggling believer is an act of kindness to him. An act of persecution against one of his “little ones” is an attack on him.

This is the challenge to see Jesus in what Mother Teresa famously called his “distressing disguise”.²⁴ It is a call to find the presence of the divine King not in palaces or cathedrals, but in homeless shelters, refugee camps, hospital rooms, and prison cells. It is a radical reorientation of where we expect to encounter God.¹⁷

This principle of identification completely transforms our motivation for service. Christian charity is not a duty performed for a distant God or a project to make ourselves feel better. It is an encounter with the present Christ. This truth shatters the typical power dynamic of charity, where “the haves” benevolently give to “the have-nots.” In the economy of God’s kingdom, the one being served is, in a powerful spiritual sense, the King of the Universe. This transforms the simple act of giving a cup of water or a piece of bread from mere charity into an act of worship. The person giving the aid becomes the one who is truly honored by the encounter. In serving “the least,” we are the ones who receive the incredible gift of meeting Jesus. This shifts our entire posture from one of paternalistic giving to one of humble, relational service.

If We Are Saved by Faith, Why Are People Judged by Their Actions Here?

For many Christians, particularly in the Protestant tradition, this parable raises an immediate and important question: “This sounds like we are saved by our good works. But doesn’t the Bible teach that we are saved by grace through faith alone?”.¹ This is a critical tension that must be addressed with care.

The key to resolving this tension is to understand the difference between the root of salvation and the fruit of salvation. The good works described in Matthew 25 are not the root that earns us a place in God’s kingdom; they are the fruit that demonstrates we are already planted in it.³ As Jesus taught, a healthy tree naturally and inevitably produces good fruit; it cannot help itself.¹ In the same way, a person whose heart has been genuinely transformed by God’s grace will naturally begin to love the things God loves and care for the people God cares for—especially the poor, the needy, and the marginalized.

The apostle James makes this point with piercing clarity: “Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead”.²⁵ The actions in Matthew 25 are the vital signs of a living, breathing faith.

Notice the language the King uses: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance“.³ An inheritance is not a wage that is earned; it is a gift received because of one’s relationship to the parent. The sheep are welcomed into the kingdom because they are children of the Father, and their compassionate actions simply prove their family resemblance. Their works do not make them children; their works show that they

are children.

Therefore, this parable does not create a conflict between faith and works; it reveals their inseparable unity. It serves as a powerful diagnostic tool for the challenging any notion of “faith” that remains a purely intellectual or private affair. It confronts a “cheap grace” that desires the blessings of God without embracing the heart of God. This passage teaches that true, saving faith is a transformative power that must and will manifest itself in tangible acts of love, mercy, and justice in the world.

How Does the Catholic Church Teach Believers to Care for “The Least of These”?

In response to the powerful call of Matthew 25, the Catholic Church has developed a rich tradition that formalizes these acts of compassion into a clear and practical framework for Christian living. These are known as the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy.²⁶

The Corporal Works of Mercy are charitable actions that respond to the bodily needs of our neighbors. The first six come directly from the list in Matthew 25, with a “Bury the dead,” added from the ancient and deeply held biblical value of providing a dignified burial for all, as seen in the Book of Tobit.²⁵

The seven Corporal Works of Mercy are:

1. Feed the hungry.
2. Give drink to the thirsty.
3. Clothe the naked.
4. Shelter the homeless.
5. Visit the sick.
6. Visit the imprisoned (sometimes expressed as “Ransom the captive”).
7. Bury the dead.

This framework is not an optional checklist for the exceptionally pious; it is a foundational part of Catholic teaching on Christian life. The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes these works as essential actions “by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities”.²⁶ This tradition provides a concrete way for believers to live out the Gospel command.

This ancient list finds vibrant expression in the modern world through countless acts of service 25:

• Feeding the hungry is lived out by volunteering at a local soup kitchen or donating to a parish food drive.
• Sheltering the homeless takes the form of supporting shelters, helping to resettle refugee families, or building a home with an organization like Habitat for Humanity.
• Visiting the imprisoned is practiced through prison ministry programs that offer companionship and spiritual support to inmates and their families.
• Burying the dead includes attending funerals, comforting grieving families, and praying for those who have passed.

For all Christians, this tradition offers a valuable and time-tested model for discipleship. It prevents the great command of Matthew 25 from remaining an abstract and overwhelming ideal. It breaks down the radical call to love into tangible, teachable, and sustainable actions that can be practiced by individuals, families, and entire church communities. It provides a practical curriculum for growing in compassion and living a life that reflects the merciful heart of Jesus.

Who Are “The Least of These” in Our World Today?

Although the parable was spoken 2,000 years ago, its message is timeless. The specific forms of suffering may change, but the reality of marginalization and vulnerability remains. To be faithful to Jesus’s command, we must learn to see the modern faces of “the least of these.”

This requires us to look at our own society with the eyes of Christ and ask the prophetic questions: Who is being ignored? Who is being vilified? Who is powerless? Who is society trying to make invisible? It is in these very places that Jesus promises we will find him.⁹ Today, “the least of these” may include:

• People experiencing homelessness, who are often treated not as neighbors in crisis but as problems to be criminalized and cleared away.
• Refugees and immigrants, the modern “strangers,” who flee violence and poverty only to be met with suspicion and political rhetoric that paints them as threats.¹⁸
• The incarcerated and their families, a population largely hidden from public view, often denied dignity and struggling to find a path to restoration.
• Those trapped in poverty, struggling with food insecurity and the crushing weight of economic systems that feel rigged against them.
• The sick and the elderly, especially those who lack access to affordable healthcare or who suffer from the deep pain of loneliness and isolation.
• Other marginalized groups, such as LGBTQ+ individuals or religious minorities, who are often scapegoated, misunderstood, and targeted by the very people and institutions that claim to speak for God.¹⁸

The identity of “the least of these” is not a static, historical category. It is a living, breathing reality that shifts with every culture and generation. In Jesus’s time, it was the indebted peasant and the ritually unclean. Today, a person’s immigration status, criminal record, or sexual orientation can render them “least” in the eyes of society. The church’s great and constant challenge is to discern who fills this role in our own time and place. This makes the question “Who are the least of these?” one we cannot simply answer once by reading the Bible; it is a question we must ask continually as we look at the world around us, keeping the parable eternally relevant and deeply challenging.

How Can Our Church Practically Serve “The Least of These”?

Once we begin to see the faces of “the least of these” in our communities, the next question is, “How can we help?” The call of Matthew 25 is not just for individual acts of charity, but for the entire community of faith to engage in ministries of compassion and justice.

Effective ministry moves beyond simple relief. While providing a hot meal or a bag of groceries is a vital first step, a holistic approach seeks to address the deeper, systemic issues that cause and perpetuate poverty.²⁹ This can be seen as a three-stage process:

1. Relief: Meeting immediate, emergency needs like food, clothing, and shelter.³¹ This is the work of food pantries, clothing closets, and emergency shelters.
2. Rehabilitation: Equipping people with the skills and resources they need to build a more stable future. This includes offering job training, financial literacy classes, GED programs, and addiction recovery support.²⁹
3. Development: Restoring dignity, agency, and community. This involves building relationships and empowering people. Instead of just giving a handout, a church might become a temporary employer, paying someone a fair wage for work that needs to be done, which fosters dignity through economic exchange.²⁹ Or it might start a community garden where residents can grow their own food and build relationships with one another.³²

Churches often have a powerful, underutilized asset: their building. By opening its doors during the week, a church can become a community hub, providing a safe place for the homeless to rest during the day, offering computer access for job searches, or providing free space for partner organizations to offer their services.²⁹

Crucially, a church does not have to do this work alone. The most effective ministries are built on partnership. By collaborating with local nonprofits, social service agencies, and other churches, a congregation can avoid duplicating services, leverage the expertise of others, and have a much greater collective impact.³³

Finally, serving the poor also means defending the poor.³¹ This can mean mobilizing church members with legal or professional skills to advocate for those facing injustice, or simply speaking up as a community against unfair local practices that harm the vulnerable. The most transformative church ministries are those that see the people they serve not as “clients” or “projects,” but as fellow image-bearers of God to be befriended and empowered. This requires a fundamental shift from a program-centered model to a relationship-centered one, where the goal is not for “us” to fix “them,” but to create a beloved community where everyone gives, everyone receives, and everyone is restored to the flourishing life God intends.

How Can I Personally Begin to Help “The Least of These”?

The scale of need in the world can feel overwhelming, and it is easy to feel helpless. But the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. The call to serve “the least of these” is not just for churches or organizations; it is a personal invitation to every follower of Jesus.

Ministry begins not with resources, but with presence. It starts with the simple, human act of seeing another person and listening to their story. One volunteer in a prison ministry described the powerful moment of seeing hardened inmates begin to form bonds of trust and love with one another, watching them grow like “beloved daughters”.³⁶ Another ministry simply set up a room in their church where people could gather for a few hours, use a phone for local calls, and have a volunteer who would simply be a friend and listen.³⁰ Your greatest gift is often not what is in your wallet, but what is in your heart: your time, your attention, and your willingness to see the humanity in another.

Service often starts at home, within our own church family. One person recalls how, during a time of deep financial struggle, an elder from their church quietly came up after a service and handed them an envelope with money. It was not a showy act, but a quiet recognition of a need within the family of faith, and it met that need perfectly.³⁷

The power of this personal connection is seen in countless stories of transformation:

• Sheyla was a 12-year-old girl living in a homeless shelter, feeling ashamed and invisible. A volunteer named Javier took the time to play games with her and make her smile. Years later, Sheyla returned to that same shelter as a volunteer herself. She found another 12-year-old girl, angry and ashamed just as she had been, and was able to point to an old photo on the wall and say, “This is me. I used to live here.” In that moment, she completed the circle of grace, offering the same hope she had once received.³⁸
• An inmate, reflecting on his time with the Kairos prison ministry, said, “What I learned at Kairos is that God doesn’t hate me, He just hates my sins; the volunteers taught me that He is a forgiving God—no matter what”.³⁶ The simple presence of loving volunteers broke through a lifetime of shame and communicated the unconditional love of God.
• November was a young refugee from Burma, bullied in her new school for not speaking English. She felt like an outsider until a church Bible study welcomed her in. There, she heard for the first time that Jesus had died for her. “I had a desire to know who Jesus is,” she said. “Why did he welcome me when no one else would welcome me?” Today, November is a baptized believer who helps lead a ministry for other refugee youth, welcoming the stranger just as she was once welcomed.³⁹

These stories reveal the most beautiful secret of this parable: the act of serving “the least of these” is profoundly transformative for the one who serves. A volunteer who went to a refugee camp in Africa expecting to give a “one-way transfer of blessing” was instead humbled and inspired by the radical faith and hospitality of the refugees he met.⁴⁰ In pouring ourselves out for others, we find that we are the ones being filled. God meets us in our service. This final call, then, is not a burden, but an invitation. It is an invitation to find a deeper, more authentic faith. It is an invitation to be transformed. It is an invitation to meet Jesus.

Where Will You Find Jesus?

We have journeyed through one of Jesus’s most challenging teachings. We have seen the shocking nature of his final judgment, where the righteous and the unrighteous are separated based on simple acts of compassion. We have explored the debate over who “the least of these” are and discovered that the most faithful response is to see Christ in all who suffer. We have felt the weight of Jesus’s radical identification with the poor and the prisoner, and we have been reminded that a living faith must always act.

The King is still present in our world. He is still hidden in the distressing disguise of the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned. The question of the parable echoes down through the centuries and lands at our feet today. Where will you go to meet him this week?