The Day of Judgment Cometh—Reign of Christ Sunday, Year A (Matthew 25)
Matthew 25:31-46 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
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 who 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 brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.’ 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You who 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.”
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The
Liturgical Calendar for Year A began with a reading from Matthew 24. The word
we heard that first Sunday of Advent called on us to be watchful for no one
knows when the Lord is coming. Jesus informs us that the moment will come like
a thief in the night. “Therefore you also must be ready, for
the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Mt. 24:36-44). We end
the year on Reign of Christ Sunday with a third parable from Matthew 25. Each
of the two prior parables has issued warnings. The first parable, the parable
of the ten bridesmaids reminded us to be always ready, while the parable of the
talents tells us that we should invest wisely the resources God provides. Both
include words of judgment. Now, as we reach the final Sunday of the liturgical
year, Matthew offers us a look at what judgment day might entail. When read in
its Matthean context, this parable, or as one commentator suggests,
“word-picture,” again falls within Holy Week. Thus, Jesus will soon face
judgment. That judge will be Pontius Pilate (Matt. 27:1-2).
Parables that speak of divine
judgment can be troubling. The idea that God might cast people into utter
darkness or send them off to experience eternal punishment is unsettling. We
find it difficult to keep together the biblical message of divine love with one
of divine wrath. Yet both are present. Interestingly, many progressive
Christians find the parable of the sheep and goats, which brings this
liturgical year to a close, compelling. That’s because it speaks of God’s
commitment to the welfare of the “least of these.” Many a sermon gets preached
from the parable, though often the word about casting the goats into the
eternal fire is omitted. Nevertheless, this is part of the story.
The apocalyptic nature of this
parable is revealed in the first sentence where Jesus tells us that “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” (Mt. 25:31). The reference to the Son of Man here
draws on the apocalyptic language we find in the Book of Daniel.
As I watched in the night
visions,
I saw one like a human being
coming with the clouds of heaven.
And he came to the Ancient One
and was presented before him.
14 To him was given dominion
and glory and kingship,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that shall not pass away,
and his kingship is one
that shall never be destroyed. (Daniel
7:13-14)
It is this Son of Man (the NRSVUE uses “human being” rather
than Son of Man, but for our purposes, I prefer Son of Man because it carries
the apocalyptic sense of the passage better) whom Daniel speaks of who comes to
sit on the throne and judge the nations of the world. This message of judgment,
which includes both blessing and cursing, stands in continuity with the promise
God made to Abraham to bless the nations through Abraham’s descendants (Gen.12:1-4).
In this
vision of the day of judgment, all the nations (panta to ethnē),
that is, the Gentile nations, are gathered. The judge, the Son of Man, now
called the king, will separate the sheep from the goats, placing the sheep on
the right and the goats on the left. With this sorting of the two species, the
judge invites the sheep to come forward, for they are blessed and will inherit
the kingdom that had been prepared for them since the beginning of creation.
The
king not only invites the sheep forward to inherit the realm, but he lays out
the criteria on which they were selected. The king tells the sheep that they
had passed the test by giving him food when hungry, offering him a drink when
he was thirsty, welcoming him when a stranger, clothing him when naked, caring
for him when sick, and visiting him when in prison. The sheep answered with a
bit of surprise, wondering when and how they had done all of this for the
king. The king tells them that they have
done all of this when they did it to the least of the members of the king’s
family. Now here is where this gets tricky. Some interpreters believe that
Jesus had in mind his messengers. Those persons, including Gentiles, who
treated them well would be blessed. Others interpret this more broadly to
include all marginalized people. There are good reasons behind each choice. I
prefer the broader interpretation but understand why the former might be
chosen.
When we take the first
interpretation, with the least of these being Jesus’ messengers, then the
nations (Gentiles) are judged on how they responded to these missionaries. This
fits with an earlier discussion found in Matthew 10, where Jesus tells his disciples,
when sending them out, that they would be mistreated. So, when this happens,
just shake the dirt off their feet as a sign of judgment. Here is the key
passage: “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever
welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in
the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a
righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of
the righteous, and whoever gives even a cup of
cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell
you, none of these will lose their reward” (Mt. 10:40-42). Note the reference
to the “little ones,” who in this case are Jesus’ disciples. Although I’ve
resisted this interpretation, if read in light of the rest of Matthew, it is
the one that makes sense. Nevertheless, is it not possible to embrace both the
narrower and the broader interpretations?
If the broader interpretation is chosen, it fits with a sense of calling
on the part of many in the church to care for all who might be hungry, thirsty,
a stranger (immigrant?), lacking clothes, sick, or in prison. For many of us,
the more universalized interpretation also fits with how we perceive Jesus.
That’s the good news, but it’s not the only news. We still have the goats to
contend with.
Whether the reference is to
missionaries or the marginalized in general, the sheep have done the right
thing. To them belongs God’s realm. But then there are the goats. They face the
same criteria as the sheep, and like the sheep, they are surprised by the
judgment. They wanted to know when they had seen the judge/king in any of these
situations and didn’t do the right thing. Of course, it is because they hadn’t
taken care of the “least of these,” that the judge says to them “You are
accursed.” Not only that, but the judge
also tells them: “Depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil
and his angels.” This is the part that makes us uncomfortable. This word about
casting the goats into the eternal fire, which essentially means that the judge
is telling them to “go to hell,” causes many of us heartburn. I need to be
upfront that I reject the premise of hell (see my essay “The History of Hell
and Back” in the book Deconstructing Hell), but if we’re going to
embrace word as a foundation for social justice we do need to hear this word of
judgment on those who failed to feed the hungry, give a drink to the thirsty,
and the rest, who failed to care for the king by caring for the least of the
king’s family members (whether missionaries or the marginalized).
The message is related to the
previous parables, which speak to how we live as followers of Jesus during this
interregnum between advents. As Anna Case-Winters points out the message of
this parable/word-picture is: “To be among the ‘righteous’ is to live out the
loved of the neighbor, demonstrating justice through acts of mercy for the most
vulnerable. To live this way is to be always ready for the judgment and not in
the position of saying, ‘I really was not expecting you—not here and not now—and
certainly not in the “distressing disguise” of this person in need’” [Matthew: Belief, p. 281]. This is the primary
message, though we can’t ignore the word about eternal fire. We may need to
think in more metaphorical terms, such as purgation, such that we can still be
redeemed. Nevertheless, words about judgment, like Case-Winters reminds us,
“Judgment is finally about setting things right: establishing justice. The
coming of a just judge is something to be received with gladness—especially by
those who have been oppressed or excluded by injustices” [Matthew, p.
282]. As we ponder this passage, recognizing that the message of judgment is
challenging, to say the least, as for those of us who claim to be followers of
Jesus, might we agree that the way love God is through the way we love our
neighbors?
The liturgical year ends by celebrating
the reign of God on earth as in heaven. Having been warned to stay ready for
the coming of the Son of Man, this parable tells us what happens when the Son
of Man arrives, taking up his place on the throne and beginning the work of
setting things right. So, we sing in celebration of the Reign of Christ:
Jesus shall reign where’er
the sun does its successive journeys run;
His love shall spread from shore
to shore till moons shall wax no more.
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