Matthew 25:44

44 "Then will they also answer, "`Lord, when did we see Thee hungry or thirsty or homeless or ill-clad or sick or in prison, and not come to serve Thee?'

Matthew 25:44 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 25:44

Then shall they also answer him
As well as the righteous, being likewise astonished at what he had said, but on a different account;

saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered or athirst, or a
stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister
to thee?
Hence it is clear again, that these men were nominal Christians, who had made a profession of Christ: they own him as Lord; and suggest that they had seen him, and known him, though never in such circumstances; for if they had, such was their love to him, and great respect and veneration for him, as they pretend, they would, to be sure, have ministered unto him; and if ever they had seen him in such a case, which they could not call to mind, they could not believe, but they must have supplied him with all things necessary and convenient.

Matthew 25:44 In-Context

42 For when I was hungry, you gave me nothing to eat; when thirsty, you gave me nothing to drink;

43 when homeless, you gave me no welcome; ill-clad, you clothed me not; sick or in prison, you visited me not.'

44 "Then will they also answer, "`Lord, when did we see Thee hungry or thirsty or homeless or ill-clad or sick or in prison, and not come to serve Thee?'

45 "But he will reply, "`In solemn truth I tell you that in so far as you withheld such services from one of the humblest of these, you withheld them from me.'

46 "And these shall go away into the Punishment of the Ages, but the righteous into the Life of the Ages."