Denny Burk makes a persuasive case here that "the least of these" in Matthew 25:40, 45 (not 46) specifically refers to Jesus' followers, against the popular, secular misappropriation of the saying which says it refers to the poor. As Burk stresses, this is not a novel or even controversial point.
Now if Burk could only recognize the overwhelming evidence of the Synoptics that the call to discipleship requires personal poverty of Jesus' followers (Luke 14:33), we'd really be getting somewhere.
That's where the misunderstanding arises in the first place. The liquidation of assets by converts in response to the preaching of the gospel is the means by which Jesus imagines both the expansion of his movement and how provision is to be made for the needs of his followers, who are by definition supposed to be missionaries who have no possessions themselves.
Hospitality to missionaries is a sign of acceptance of the message, as Burk says. But the message is also a call to poverty in a world which is soon coming to an end.
