Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when...?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.' Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ... Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

"When I need motivation, my one solution is my queen 'cause she stay strong. She is always in my corner, right there when I want her. All these other girls are tempting, but I'm empty when you're gone and they say, ‘Do you need me? Do you think I'm pretty? Do I make you feel like cheating?’ And I'm like no, not really 'cause I think that I've found myself a cheerleader. She is always right there when I need her.”   

In OMI's song "Cheerleader," the man in the song is quite happy with the presence of a girlfriend, using the word "cheerleader" to describe her. In the romantic context of the song, it is a sign of solid commitment, at least from the man's point of view. It carries with it the idea that he thinks of the other person only in the highest terms because in his mind, she has said to him that she will always be "right there." In fact, studying his commitment to her, one could say that he is a "cheerleader" for her as well.  

When one takes the song out of the romantic context, applying it in general to human living, one has crossed into the realm of what Jesus wants for all of his followers. He describes it in terms of giving to Him, Jesus. Whenever a person gives to another in the different areas of giving--food, drink, clothing and so forth, such a person not only takes care of the other out of love, but in Jesus' mind, actually is giving to Him. "You did it for me," he says.

In terms of the song, we become "cheerleaders" for each other, parents to children, children to parents, friends to friends, in fact, everyone to everyone else. In Jesus' mind, we must become people who will be "right there" for another when the need is there. It certainly applies to couples who are romantically involved with one another, but it applies to people who are in close relationships with us, and even people whom we do not know at all and, as Jesus says, the least of our relationships.

Can you imagine such a world! Everyone would consider everyone else to be their "cheerleader," which makes us "cheerleaders" to everyone that we meet. Because we are followers of Jesus Christ, we would be "right there" to people in need. We would be their motivation to live, we would be with them every step of the way. It would lead to a perfect world, exactly what Jesus wanted!

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, the secret to a happy world lies in our relationships to one another. Help us be a true Christian to everyone we meet, remembering that as Your Son is to us, so we must be to one another. Be with us, we pray. 

Questions, comments? Let me know. Email Fr. Mike

©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America