23rd November 2008 (Christ the King)
Matthew 25:31-46
Jesus’ message in the reading from Matthew is very clear. It is not very easy to hear, however, especially in a culture where fear is stronger than love. Love responds to the needs of Christ’s ‘brothers and sisters’, offering food to the hungry, water to the thirsty, hospitality to the stranger, clothes to the naked, care to the sick and to those in prison. Fear says that in times like these we need to be careful. “Save your resources for yourself, for you do not know what needs you may have in the future. Don’t talk to strangers. Avoid infection. Don’t waste your time. Be suspicious, don’t trust what you cannot prove, don’t take risks, look after yourself.” These days it is much easier to be a ‘goat’ than a ‘sheep’.
There are a number of details in this passage that can easily be overlooked. Judgement is on the basis of what one has done to ‘the least of these my brothers’. Jesus did not call everyone ‘my brother’. In Matthew 12:46-50 he asks who his brothers are, and then points to his disciples and says, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” In this passage we find some of his ‘brothers’ suffering hardship; following Jesus is not the key to ‘success’ in this world. However, it is the key to significance in the eyes of God: whatever happens to the least of us happens to Christ the King, for he is in us and identifies with us completely. We need therefore to be so careful to love one another truly, for in so doing we love Christ.
The inheritance given to the righteous is to those who are ‘blessed by my Father’. In judgement the Father and the Son act together. The righteous are blessed by the reward they receive, and also by the life of love they have lived – it is more blessed to give than to receive. As for the reward, it has been in preparation throughout history; Jesus teaches that actions and events can bring greater or lesser rewards from God (Matthew 5:12, 6:1).
The unrighteous are judged not so much by the evil they did as by the good they did not do to the King, as determined by their treatment of his ‘brothers’. Their sentence is ‘eternal punishment’, ‘the eternal fire’, says Jesus. The picture of hell came from a rubbish dump outside Jerusalem, where refuse was consumed by maggots and fire. Those who reject or ignore Christ the King reject Life. That’s not what God wants for them.
Questions:
What is God saying to us through this passage – as individuals? as a nation? What should we do differently?