Lesson Focus:
Those who will find themselves invited into God's eternal
kingdom are those who have properly expressed their love for God through their
love and care for their neighbor, especially “the least of these.”
Catch up on the story:
Over the last few weeks we have
been heading toward some kind of statement from Jesus concerning final
things. The coming of ‘The Son of Man’
has been highlighted in the previous three parables. The theme that runs through each of these
preceding parables is preparedness for when the Messiah fully and finally
comes. Each parable highlighted, in a
different way, what it means for those who belong to the Kingdom to be ready
for the return of the master.
This week’s passage forms the
end of Jesus’ sermon on preparedness for the end of the world. With this passage we also move away from
parables as the dominant literary form.
While this week’s passage has often been referred to as a parable, it is
not. What we have is a depiction of the
last judgment taught by and featuring none other than Jesus himself.
The Text:
Notice the beginning of the
passage. It starts not with a formulaic
saying about comparing the kingdom of heaven to this or to that, but with a
solid and referential, “when.” This
“when” also serves to connect today’s passage with the preceding three parables
about preparedness. When the master
arrives from being away (25:45-51), the groom arrives at the wedding (25:1-13),
and when the master comes to check on what we have done with the money we have
been given to invest (25:14-30), that will be the time when the Son of Man will
come in glory to sit on his throne of glory.
Throughout Matthew, Jesus has
referred to himself as “The Son of Man.”
In fact, Jesus words in 25:31 are almost verbatim of 16:27. The role of the Son of Man in this passage as
well as that of the king (v. 34) and Lord (v. 37) is played by Jesus
himself. The Father will gather all
nations to Jesus for the final judgment.
At this point we cannot forget that Jesus and the Father are one. The glory that Jesus displays is the glory of
the Father. The judgment that Jesus
issues is the judgment of the Father.
Jesus will continue to exercise his role as servant even while the
Father is glorifying him for his obedience (see, Phil. 2:6-1).
All nations will be gathered
together on this last day of judgment.
The resurrection of the dead will not just include those who have
believed, but will include those who, by word or deed done or undone, have
rejected Christ. Absolutely everyone
will be there, an image that defies our imagination as we attempt to visualize
all those who have lived, past and present, standing before Jesus on his
throne.
Sorting and separating the
resurrected will begin immediately.
Jesus, who is sitting on his glorious throne, will place the goats on
his left hand side while the sheep he will place on his right side. The phrase, “all nations” might lead us to
believe that the separation that is taking place is between nations. Certainly, for some in Israel, this might
have been what was expected. Rather, as
the passage unfolds we will see that the separation is more likely individual
in nature.
Jesus tells us that the
resurrected will be separated as a shepherd separates the sheep from the
goats. There are a few reasons why a
shepherd might separate sheep and goats.
First, goats might have been separated from the flock at night because
of their inability to handle colder temperatures. Or, they might have been separated because of
the different nature of hair and wool.
Goat hair can be used to make textiles in the same way as sheep wool
can. The story does not stand on the reason sheep
and goats might be separated, only that they are.
The sheep, Jesus tells us, will
be placed on his right hand side. The
right hand was considered the hand of power and prestige. To sit at one’s right side at a banquet was a
place of honor. Thus, the sheep are
brought to Jesus’ right hand side as a way of indicating their place of honor
and reward at the final judgment. While
normally, the left hand side was still a place of honor, as the story
continues, it will become clear that the left hand side for the goats is worse
than just second best.
As quickly as the imagery of
the sheep and goats appears it is gone.
The Son of Man will no longer be shepherd but judge and king. The king, in verse 34, is one and the same as
Jesus. He will now address those that he
has separated starting with those on his right.
Jesus invites those who are on his right to come and inherit the kingdom
that has been prepared for them from the foundation of the world.
Jesus begins by inviting those
on his right to enter into the kingdom that has been prepared for them since
the beginning of time. Clearly, God has
had a plan for his creation from the very beginning. This is not predestination, as our Calvinist
friends would understand it. God's
intention, even before the fall of humanity, was that his creation would live
with him in unbroken, unmediated fellowship.
It has always been God's plan that all of us end up with God fully and
finally. Those on Jesus' right are
invited into the kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, to take up residence because
they have faithfully prepared themselves.
In short, they have responded rightly.
As the parable of the Wedding Guest (22:1-11) teaches us, we are all
invited, but not all get to stay because of their lack of preparedness.
Jesus then begins to explain to
the resurrected on his right why it is that they get to inherit the
kingdom. They inherit the kingdom
because when Jesus was hungry they gave him food, when he was thirsty they gave
him water, when he was a stranger in a strange place they offered him
hospitality. Additionally, they gave
Jesus clothing when he was naked and visited him when he was sick and in
prison.
The righteous, as Jesus calls
them, are flabbergasted at Jesus' words.
They wonder out loud when it was that they did those things for
Jesus. Jesus responds with a statement
that should give us pause when we take time to consider it fully. In doing these things for the least of Jesus'
brothers or sisters, then those deeds were done for Jesus!
The language, here in chapter
25, is similar to Jesus' discussion of the lost sheep in Matthew 18. In the beginning of that chapter, Jesus is
asked who will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus responds by saying that unless you
become like a child you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. We often assume that this means that we must
have child-like faith. That's not what
Jesus is getting at here. Rather, Jesus
uses the image of a child to illustrate those who are lowly and least in
society. Indeed, children were not
valued in the same way as we value children today. They were little more than property. True greatness, Jesus insists, belongs to the
least of these in society. It is the
call of the shepherd to go after the least of those who wander off from the
flock. We often understand the parable
of the lost sheep to be about salvation in a spiritual sense. And while it should spur us on to evangelize
those who need to hear the good new about Jesus, it has concrete physical forms
of spreading God's good news in mind as well.
Jesus will not change his mind
concerning greatness and the needs of the least of these in his kingdom between
the events of Matthew 18 and the end of the world! In fact, if we look at this week's passage in
the light of the last few parables, our preparedness is measured by how well we
looked after the least of these. Jesus
informs the righteous that as they have loved their neighbor, the least of
these, they have loved God!
The list itself is not
comprehensive, but it is concrete and physical in nature. All of the actions performed by the righteous
deal with a person's sense of wholeness and well-being. Food, clothing, water are essential to our
survival as creatures. So too is our
need to be accepted and cared for within the context of community. We cannot be fully human unless we
participate in a community where there is love and acceptance. It is because of this that Jesus highlights
hospitality for those who are sick and in prison. Sickness, as it does today, placed a person
on the margins of society. Those in
prison also were often in need of physical assistance as well. While the state provided the housing for its
prisoners, it was up to the prisoner's family or friends to provide them with
food and water.[1] Not only was isolation a problem for
prisoners, so was starvation and death.
Another important aspect needs
to be kept in mind. Jesus' social world
was built around a system of reciprocity, honor and shame. One might hold a banquet and invite the
important persons of the town to be a guest in hopes, not only that they would
attend, but also that the invitation might be reciprocated at a later
date. It was an honor to be invited as a
guest to someone's house. In the same
way, it would have brought shame on a house for an invitation to be rejected. To do something for someone who could not
possibly return the favor was unheard of.
Jesus, by highlighting the service done to the least of these is
highlighting the righteous’ disregard for the system of reciprocity. Furthermore, they are shocked when they
receive a reward, an invitation to the kingdom, for the care they have shown
for the least of these. In other words,
the value of the righteous' service did not depend on the value of the ones who
were served.
Jesus then turns from his right
to his left. While he had gracious words
to speak to the righteous resurrected on his right, he has only words of
condemnation for those on his left.
Those on the left, as with those on the right, wonder why it is that
they are being told to depart into eternal punishment. While the righteous resurrected ones did not
realize that their actions had been an expression of their love for God, the
ones on the left have failed to realize that they have not properly shown love
for God. They have failed to care for
the least of these, which is also a failure to care for and love Jesus
himself. In the context of the current
discourse in Mathew we are left to wonder if the ones on left are the religious
leaders in Israel. They had placed their
faith in keeping the exact letter of the law all the while neglecting those who
matter most to God. See Matthew 23:23-24.
Either way, it is not just those who are in religious leadership who
fall into the trap of religious legalism while neglecting the least of
these.
The judgment that Jesus
pronounces on both groups is final. The
reward will be eternal citizenship in the kingdom of heaven. The punishment will be eternal as well. Those who have not exercised their love for
God through love for neighbor will be given eternal citizenship in the place
that had been prepared for the devil and his angels.
So What?
It might be easy, from this
passage and the passages that go before it, to see an emphasis placed on care
for the poor over against strict adherence to Christian belief or
morality. Indeed, some have, in the
history of Christianity, overemphasized care for the poor at the expense of
morality and faith. At the same time,
however, there have been those who have emphasized morality or even faith at
the expense of concrete care for the poor. While Jesus is making a profound
case for what it means to be prepared for the coming of the kingdom of heaven,
Matthew's Jesus is not abandoning morality or belief.
Where we get into trouble is
when we swing too far one way. The
religious leaders in Israel had swung toward strict adherence to the law and so
neglected expressing their love for God through their love for neighbor. Jesus is quite clear that those who do not
express their love for God through their love for their neighbor, especially
their unimportant and helpless neighbor, will not find a place in God's eternal
kingdom, regardless of how pure a life they lived.
Of course, the converse is true
as well. We cannot only exercise care
for the least of these at the expense of acting morally or believing
rightly. In fact, as we live ethically
and morally upright lives, as we affirm proper beliefs, as Jesus and the
Apostle Paul will urge us to do, we are actually being shaped and formed
(hopefully!) into people who will more readily express our love for God through
our love and care for our neighbor.
At the end of the day, we, like
Jesus’ original hearers, like the community that Matthew has written his gospel
for, we are waiting for Christ to return to finally and fully usher in God's
kingdom. The questions that lingered for
those communities linger for us: will we be prepared for his coming? and what
does it look like to be prepared for his coming? Matthew has given us solid answers to those
questions. We will be prepared for the
coming of Christ and his kingdom if we have used well the gifts God has entrusted
us with and if we have expressed our love for God through our love and care for
our neighbor, especially our vulnerable and unimportant neighbors.
This is the final Sunday before
Advent. In Advent we anticipate and wait
for God's coming in the birth of Jesus.
It is, at the same time, a time of anticipating the coming of God's
kingdom in its fullness. We not only
anticipate the beginning of God's kingdom, but the consummation of it as
well. May the lessons we have learned
from our study of Matthew help prepare us as we anticipate the coming of our
King.
Critical Questions:
1.
How
does this text reveal to us the nature and character of God/What is God doing
in this text?
a.
God obviously identifies with those who are the
vulnerable and unimportant people of society. We see this in the incarnation:
God, who was rich, became poor. He
identifies with them so much that our care for the poor and powerless is really
care for Jesus himself. Ultimate
salvation comes for those who have expressed their love for God in the proper
kinds of ways.
b.
This care for the least of these also causes God to act
in judgment. We must never forget that
the God who has been so faithful and so steadfastly loving toward us desires
for us to act in the same way towards our brothers and sisters.
- What does holiness look like in this text?
a.
Holiness looks like caring for the poor and powerless
in tangible and concrete ways. It looks
like expressing our love for God through feeding the hungry, clothing the
naked, giving water to the thirsty and visiting the sick and those in
prison. It may also look like thinking
about and finding ways to address cycles of injustice and oppression that cause
these problems.It also looks like finding ways to change the structures in our
society, which cause all of these problems.
In short, it is a call to work for justice and equity in addition to
showing mercy and compassion.
b.
It also looks like doing these types of things without
a thought to any reward we might receive now or in the hereafter. In the passage, those who were ushered into
the kingdom were surprised by their invitation.
- How does an encounter with this story shape who we are and who we should become?
a.
This passage should shape how we think about the
Christian life and it's ultimate aim.
The ultimate aim of the Christian life is to love God. We love God when we express our love for him
through our love for the least of our neighbors. The programs and ministries of our church
will be thoroughly Christian when they help us to accomplish that goal, either
by helping to shape and form our thoughts and actions (prayer, worship, study
of the scriptures) or by actually providing us with practical exercises in
caring for our neighbor.
Specific Discussion
Questions:
Read the text aloud. Then, read the text to yourself
quietly. Read it slowly, as if you were
very unfamiliar with the story.
1.
The last three parables in Matthew have been preparing
us for his final scene in Jesus' teaching.
Go back and review Matthew 24:45 through 25:30. What are the common themes that run through
these parables? How is it that Jesus
might be preparing us for this final judgment scene?
2.
Who is the one doing the sorting in this passage? What might this say about Jesus' status and
authority in heaven and earth?
3.
Why do you think the righteous are surprised when Jesus
tells them that they have provided him with food, water and clothing when they
had done those things for the least of these?
How does Jesus' list of activities help us see what is important to
Jesus?
4.
In the list of the ‘least of these,’ which category of
people is most neglected in our society? Is there another category that you
would add to the list of the ‘least of these?’
5.
Jesus seems to be saying that we most fully express our
love for him through our love for the least of our neighbors. This is something that our church equips us
to do. Here are some ministries that are intended to care for the least of
these:
a. The
Mercy Fund: a special fund intended to assist people who are in need of
groceries, utility assistance, bus passes, gas, etc.
b. The
Closet
c. The
Laundry Ministry
d. Monthly
Meals at the Motels
e. Safe
Families for Children
f. Prayer
Shawl Ministry
Discuss these among your group and other
possible ways to care for the least of these.
[1] John Nolland, The Gospel
of Matthew (Grand Rapids, Mich. : Bletchley: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Co., 2005), 1030.
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