The Least of These

Everything changes one night for a group of people in a diner.

Not many churches run services at three in the morning. Not many churches have balloons and streamers as their usual decorations. Not many churches meet in down-at-the-heel fast-food joints. Not many churches serve birthday cake for prostitutes. Maybe they should.
The least of these brings a story told by Baptist sociologist Tony Campolo to life in a new way for a new generation. As a young man Tony finds himself in a seedy diner in Honolulu at three in the morning. He sits there overhearing the conversations of those around him. A prostitute is telling those she is with that it’s her birthday tomorrow and that she’d never had a birthday party in her life. The other girls she’s with are more interested in teasing her than offering sympathy, but Tony has an idea.
He finds out from the owner that she and her friends come in around that time every night, so Tony organises with him to decorate the place with balloons and streamers. They decorate a birthday cake and by three the next morning the diner is filled with prostitutes. When the girl and her friends come into the diner everyone yells “Happy birthday!” and she is presented with the cake.
She is changed forever. And not only her. The owner of the diner is impressed by this young man’s vision of a different kind of church—“the kind of church that throws birthday parties for whores at three in the morning.”
This short film asks some important and challenging questions. Has the church lost touch with its real reason for existence? Do we see those around us in need of help? What should I be doing to help? Am I too self-centred to care?
The least of these is a cinematic parable in the style of Jesus’ own stories about the realities of the kingdom of heaven. At the centre of Jesus’ stories—and his interactions with people—is a deep passion for the powerless, the voiceless, the oppressed and the poor. He upsets the church in-group by hanging out with the “bad” people. He touches the diseased, the untouchables. He risks his reputation. He offers hope, healing, love.
Jesus models a sensitivity toward the “least,” which we are compelled to follow. “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these . . . you did for me.” In any classroom, workplace, playground, or church, in every town and every country there are the “least.” It’s these “least” that we must make a special effort to include in the kingdom of heaven. And the “least” is not necessarily the obvious. The person Jesus asks us to love is often the person we like the “least”’ The least of these is a great way to get inspired. It would also be a good starting point for a discussion about what it means to be a Christian and what the church thing is meant to be about.

The DVD includes comments by the film’s makers and an interview with Tony Campolo. It’s available from Adventist Book Centres for $A29.95 or $NZ35.95. More information at www.tonycampolo.org or www.oldfashionedpictures.com/the_least_of_these.html.

Text- Matthew 25:40