In today's Gospel (Matthew 25:31-46), Christ reminds us that all nations and all people will one day stand in judgment before Him, and he will render a royal judgment on the eternal fate of all people. He does not tell us that he will ask us if we have "been saved," he will not ask if we come to know him or not-He knows the end of from the beginning, and He says that He will know by our works whether we know him or not. Indeed, whether we accept him or not is the first step on our journey of faith-acceptance does not guarantee our salvation, but obedience does-our willingness to live according to the ways of Christ and to follow his example:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’
Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’
And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
There is little question that what the Lord is asking of us in this passage is a very tall order indeed. It seems simple enough-feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for those in prison, welcome the stranger, care for and heal the sick (and by extension, bury the dead). We may read this passage and say "oh, Jesus is telling us that we must be benevolent." Benevolence is good, and through personal, corporate, and ecclesiastical benevolence, we can accomplish wonderful things on behalf of those who otherwise cannot do for themselves-and that is important. However, Jesus is taking us to another place aside from benevolence in His description of the Last Judgment. Jesus is asking us to act in ways that are directly contrary to human nature.
We are prone to place blame upon the criminal for their crime, even the poor for their poverty or the sick for their illness, especially in our relatively wealthy and well-provided society. It is even fair to say, if we are completely honest with ourselves, that in our minds much of that blame is justified. After all, there are many poor who wish not to work or earn their keep. Despite the discussion about innocent people in prison or on death row, most people are incarcerated or waiting for the needle or the chair are in that position because they have committed crimes-often horrible-to put them in that position. Even the sick or ill are sometimes blamed-probably with some truth-because it may be said that they would not be ill if they did not take better care of themselves.
Jesus is asking something very radical of us, because He is asking us not to be concerned with whether the poor, or the sick, or the prisoner is to blame for their lot or not-in fact, He mentions nothing about how the people He mentions got to the state they were in. Jesus merely tells us that when we look at the poor, the hungry, the naked, the sick, the prisoner, we are looking at Him, and that when we minister to the needs of the poor, the hungry, the sick, the naked, the prisoner, et cetera, we are ministering to Christ. Jesus Christ is telling us that we must see Him in the poor, and that failure to do that could mean dire eternal consequences for us.
Many people remember the poor at this time of year, as we approach Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas. That is a good thing, especially for the children who truly have no control over their life situation. However, Christ does not ask us to remember the poor during one season of the year, but to consistently look to the poor and the unloved in order to see the face of Christ in our world. Further, He tells us that our willingness to see Him in the "least of these" will be the criteria upon which we are judged when we stand before Him in all His majestic splendor.
All of us-myself included-would do well to reflect on how well we would do at the great Divine Test
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