Matthew 25:36

36 Naked, and you covered me: sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came to me.

Matthew 25:36 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 25:36

Naked, and ye clothed me
For in such a condition sometimes are the dear children of God, and members of Christ; see ( 1 Corinthians 4:11 ) , when others, who, Dorcas like, have made coats and garments for them, and clothed them with them; and which will be shown another day, or taken notice of as the fruits, and so evidences of the grace of God in them.

I was sick, and ye visited me,
or "looked after me", or "over me": or, as the Persic version renders it, ye had the care of me; and which is the true sense and import of the word: for it not only intends visits paid to sick persons in a Christian manner, relieving them with their substance, giving good advice, or speaking comfortable words to them; but attending them, and waiting on them, and doing such things for them which, in their weak state, they are not capable of doing for themselves. Visiting of the sick was reckoned, by the Jews, a very worthy action: they speak great things of it, and as what will be highly rewarded hereafter.

``Six things, (they say ^F8,) a man eats the fruit of them in this world, and there is a stable portion for him in the world to come:''

and the two first of them are, (Nyxrwa tonkh) "the taking in of travellers", or "strangers", which is mentioned in the preceding verse, and (Mylwx rwqyb) , "visiting the sick". One of their Rabbins

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 says,

``he that does not visit the sick, is as if he shed blood: says another, he that visits the sick is the cause of his living; and he that does not visit the sick, is the cause of his death: and, says a third, whoever visits the sick shall be preserved from the damnation of hell.''

I was in prison, and ye came unto me:
which has been often the lot of the saints, as it was frequently of the Apostle Paul, who had this respect shown him by many of the people of God, as by the house of Onesiphorus, and by Epaphroditus, who brought him a present from the Philippians, when in bonds; and which will be remembered another day.

F8 T. Bab. Sabbat, fol, 127.
F9 T. Bab. Nedarim, fol. 40. 1. Vid. Maimon. Hilch. Ebel, c. 14. sect. 4, 5, 6.

Matthew 25:36 In-Context

34 Then shall the king say to them that shall be on his right hand: Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

35 For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink: I was a stranger, and you took me in:

36 Naked, and you covered me: sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came to me.

37 Then shall the just answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry and fed thee: thirsty and gave thee drink?

38 Or when did we see thee a stranger and took thee in? Or naked and covered thee?