Almost every Caribbean household has one. A folding cot tucked behind a bedroom door, or a thin foam mattress rolled up on top of the wardrobe. Nobody bought it for themselves. It is there for the cousin who comes up from the country for a hospital appointment, the church sister between rentals, the schoolfriend of your son who “just needs a place for a few weeks”. Ask the owner of that cot how many people have slept on it and they will probably have to stop and count.
That forgetting is the point of one of Jesus’ most searching stories.
The surprised sheep
In Matthew 25 the King returns in glory and gathers the nations before him. Like a shepherd, he separates them, sheep on his right and goats on his left. To those on his right he says, “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). Then he tells them why: “I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in” (Matthew 25:35). He goes on to mention clothing, visiting the sick and coming to those in prison.
The remarkable thing is their reply. They have no idea what he is talking about. When did we see you hungry? When did we take you in? They were not keeping a record. The kindness had become so woven into ordinary life that they had stopped noticing it. And the King answers that whatever they did for one of the least of his brothers and sisters, they did for him (Matthew 25:40).
The other group is surprised too, but in the opposite direction. They are sure they would have helped if only they had recognised him. Jesus is not fooled by people who call him Lord while their gates stay shut.
Hospitality that lives in the house
Notice how domestic this list is. Food, water, a bed, clothes, a visit. These are the things a home is made of. The parable does not ask us to build an institution; it asks what our kitchens, spare mattresses and front steps are being used for.
Picture a woman in her sixties with a two-bedroom house in Spanish Town. She has never thought of herself as generous. But over the years her dining table has fed a neighbour’s children on the evenings their mother worked late. Her back room has held a nephew who came out of a hard patch, and later a young teacher posted to the local school who knew no one. Her washing line has carried other people’s uniforms. If you told her she had been serving Christ, she would laugh and say she was only doing what anybody would do.
That is exactly the posture of the sheep. Not heroic, not calculated, just a house whose door has learned to open.
Where the goats go wrong
It is worth being honest about how easily a home closes. We put up grilles for good reasons. We finally get a room of our own after years of sharing, and we do not want to give it up. The mortgage is heavy and every spare dollar is spoken for. None of that is wicked. Wisdom sometimes says no, and not every request is one we can meet.
The danger is subtler: a slow drift until the house exists only for the people who own it. The goats in the story were not monsters. They simply never saw the need, because they were not looking. Their homes were comfortable and full, and there was no space in them for anyone who could not return the favour.
Grace first, then the open door
This parable is not a checklist for earning the kingdom. The sheep are called “blessed of My Father” before a single deed is mentioned, and the inheritance was prepared for them long before they did anything. Their kindness is the fruit of belonging to the King, not the price of it. When the Spirit of Christ lives in a person, doing good gradually stops being an effort and becomes second nature.
That is good news for anyone who feels they have not done enough. The answer is not to panic and sign up for everything. It is to ask God to make our homes more like his heart, and then to pay attention to the people he places near our gate.
Some small ways a household might begin:
- Cook one extra portion on Sundays with a particular person in mind.
- Keep a clean set of sheets and a towel ready, so saying yes is easier.
- Put the name of a sick or housebound neighbour on the fridge and visit this month.
- Talk as a family about who you could welcome, and agree on sensible limits together.
For reflection
- Who has slept, eaten or sheltered under your roof in the last year who could not repay you?
- Is there a part of your home you have quietly closed off to everyone but yourself?
A prayer
Lord Jesus, you came to us when we were strangers and made room for us in your Father’s house. Open our eyes to see you in the hungry, the lonely and the one with nowhere to stay. Make our home a place where kindness is so ordinary that we forget to count it, and let everything we do be done for you. Amen.
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