They needed a male volunteer at the homeless shelter for the midnight to 8 a.m. shift so I helped out. Got a couple hours sleep. This scripture was on the wall in the volunteer room. It occurred to me that it would make an excellent prayer to God. I was hungry and you fed me with your grace, O God; I was a stranger and you invited me into your house of love. I had never thought of seeing this text in that way before. Usually it is a list of things we feel guilty about not doing enough. Perhaps it is also a list of what God does for our souls.
….Back then, it was so terribly important for someone to be visited in prison because people who visited – and broght food – was the only way prisoners were able to be fed. The Roman’s tradition of not having an institutional method of feeding prisoners continued into the nineteenth century in England (remember Bartelby the Scribner?). So for someone to visit a prisoner in a Roman prison was more than just a social call….
I think you also must read it in light of Matthew 10:17-18. The original context of the sheep and goats parable is the sending out of gospel missionaries, who were imprisoned for their witness. Taking care of them flowed out of accepting and believing their message.
Your comment adds a further dimension to how that care happened, and why it was so necessary.