Matthew 25: 31 – 46
The Judgment of the Nations
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
What the passage says
V. 31-33 There will be a day we all stand in front of the glory of our Lord, situated in the throne. We will be confronted with the way of our life.
V. 34-40 All who lived according to the mission, to ‘love God and love others’ will be rewarded for what they have done. Jesus King of glory says, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” (v. 40 NRSV).
V. 41-46 On the other hand, all who lived according to their will and did not have the empathy for others will be condemned for their self-centeredness.
What does the passage say to me/us?
This is one of the passages people want to ignore. We don’t like the fact that we are judged. We don’t like the fact that we are asked to live in a certain way, and there is punishment as a result of our disobedience.
The image of judgment is so strong; we tend to misunderstand the real message of the text. God is asking us to love others, as ourselves. We know this as the ‘Greatest Commandment.’ However, as we live in a self-centered world, we are prone to serve others, as if they were Jesus. We instead judge them. We often segregate and distant them.
Isn’t it ironic that we, who tend to avoid this passage because of its language of judgment and distance, are doing the same thing to the least?
Prayer
Lord, we are called to love others, as ourselves. We cannot achieve this task, by ourselves. We need your help, for us to become a down to earth Christians. Be with us today.
In Christ, AMEN.
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