Tag / Matthew 25: 31-46
On Christians voting for Donald Trump–David Bentley Hart
The failure to see the face of Christ in the poor and infirm and refugees and prisoners is the soul’s condemnation. For instance if impoverished and terrified refugees say should arrive by the thousands and our southern borders bearing their children with them driven from their homes in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras by monstrous violence and hopeless poverty, much of it the long unfolding consequence of our own barbaric policies in Central America. And then our degenerate dropsical orange goblin of a president and the little hoard of oleaginous fascists who slid out of the spiritual sewer by his side, react by imprisoning the adult asylum seekers and abducting and caging their children, subjecting all of them to the most abominable psychological torture degradation and despair, in order to terrify other refugees who might also come seeking shelter; here we need not doubt for a moment that according to the words of Christ these persons have revealed themselves as damned at this moment. Of course the exact number of refugees still imprisoned at inadequate facilities near the southern border right now is impossible to determine, but they number still in the thousands. Worse the number of children stolen by the current administration from their parents many of whom will never be reunited with their families, not only also numbers in the thousands, but is apparently still growing despite false reports to the contrary. Which would seem to mean that we as a nation, we Christians, in America at least, but all of us more generally, are living in a moment of absolute immediate judgment as a people almost perfectly corresponding to the scene laid out for us by Jesus in Matthew 25. And yet curiously enough, there are a good number of American Christians who have already chosen and will choose once again, to associate themselves with the oppressors rather than the oppressed. A good number of us Christian citizens, many quite aware of these atrocities will continue to lend our support to these men even at the ballot box. Christ has assured us that to do so is to become children of the devil.
What would you do (WWYD) for Jesus? On the parable of the sheep and goats (Matthew 25:31–46) | David Cramer
Nearly 125 years ago, the social gospel minister Charles Sheldon provided another thought experiment with his novel In His Steps, one of the best-selling books of all time.In the novel, Sheldon imagines the residents of a fictional town of Raymond asking themselves “What would Jesus do?” as they make decisions for their town. As the novel progresses, this guiding question, “What would Jesus do?” spreads to the much larger city of Chicago, and individual’s lives and society at large are transformed by following in the steps of Jesus.
Martin of Tours AD 316-397
Martin of Tours..was a Roman soldier and a Christian. One cold winter day, as he was entering a city, a beggar stopped him and asked for alms. Martin had no money; but the beggar was blue and shivering with cold, and Martin gave what he had. He took off his soldier’s coat, worn and frayed as it was; he cut it in two and gave half of it to the beggar man. That night he had a dream. In it he saw the heavenly places and all the angels and Jesus among them; and Jesus was wearing half of a Roman soldier’s cloak. One of the angels said to him: ‘Master, why are you wearing that battered old cloak? Who gave it to you?’ And Jesus answered softly: ‘My servant Martin gave it to me.’ William Barclay
“I was a stranger, and you gathered me in”–Jesus on Immigration
GOD’S STANDARD OF JUDGMENT–William Barclay
‘When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the angels with him
Matthew 25:31–46 ‘When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will take his seat upon the throne of his glory, and all nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate them from each other, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right hand: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, enter into possession of the kingdom which has been prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you gathered me in; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you came to visit me; in prison, and you came to me.” Then the righteous will answer him: “Lord, when did we see you hungry, and nourish you? Or thirsty, and gave you to drink? When did we see you a stranger, and gather you to us? Or naked, and clothed you? When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?” And the King will answer them: “This is the truth I tell you – insomuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” Then he will say to those on the left: “Go from me, you cursed ones, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and angels. For I was hungry, and you did not give me to eat; I was thirsty, and you did not give me to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not gather me to you; naked, and you did not clothe me; sick and in prison, and you did not come to visit me.” Then these too will answer: “Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not render service to you?” Then he will answer them: “This is the truth I tell you – in so far as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” And these will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous will go away to eternal life.’
Barclay’s translation of
Matthew 25:31–46
THIS is one of the most vivid parables Jesus ever spoke, and the lesson is crystal clear – that God will judge us in accordance with our reaction to human need. His judgment does not depend on the knowledge we have amassed, or the fame that we have acquired, or the fortune that we have gained, but on the help that we have given. And there are certain things which this parable teaches us about the help which we must give.
(1) It must be help in simple things. The things which Jesus picks out – giving a hungry person a meal, or a thirsty person a drink, welcoming a stranger, cheering the sick, visiting the prisoner – are things which anyone can do. It is not a question of giving away huge sums of money, or of writing our names in the annals of history; it is a case of giving simple help to the people we meet every day. There never was a parable which so opened the way to glory to us all.
(2) It must be help which is uncalculating. Those who helped did not think that they were helping Christ and thus piling up eternal merit; they helped because they could not stop themselves. It was the natural, instinctive, quite un-calculating reaction of the loving heart. Whereas, on the other hand, the attitude of those who failed to help was: ‘If we had known it was you we would gladly have helped; but we thought it was only some insignificant person who was not worth helping.’ It is still true that there are those who will help if they are given praise and thanks and publicity; but to help like that is not to help, it is to pander to self-esteem. Such help is not generosity; it is disguised selfishness. The help which wins the approval of God is that which is given for nothing but the sake of helping.
(3) Jesus confronts us with the wonderful truth that all such help given is given to himself; in contrast, all such help withheld is withheld from himself. How can that be? If we really wish to bring delight to those who are parents, if we really wish to move them to gratitude, the best way to do it is to help their children. God is the great Father; and the way to delight the heart of God is to help his children, our fellow men and women.
There were two men who found this parable blessedly true. The one was Francis of Assisi; he was wealthy and high-born and high-spirited. But he was not happy. He felt that life was incomplete. Then one day he was out riding and met a leper, loathsome and repulsive in the ugliness of his disease. Something moved Francis to dismount and fling his arms around this wretched sufferer; and in his arms the face of the leper changed to the face of Christ.
The other was Martin of Tours. He was a Roman soldier and a Christian. One cold winter day, as he was entering a city, a beggar stopped him and asked for alms. Martin had no money; but the beggar was blue and shivering with cold, and Martin gave what he had. He took off his soldier’s coat, worn and frayed as it was; he cut it in two and gave half of it to the beggar man. That night he had a dream. In it he saw the heavenly places and all the angels and Jesus among them; and Jesus was wearing half of a Roman soldier’s cloak. One of the angels said to him: ‘Master, why are you wearing that battered old cloak? Who gave it to you?’ And Jesus answered softly: ‘My servant Martin gave it to me.’
When we learn the generosity which without calculation helps others in the simplest things, we too will know the joy of helping Jesus Christ himself.
Barclay; William. The Gospel of Matthew, Volume Two: 2 Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.
Parable of the Sheep and Goats–William Barclay
Matthew 25:31-46
“When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and an the angels with him, then he will take his seat upon the throne of his glory, and all nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate them from each other, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right hand, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, enter into possession of the Kingdom which has been prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you gathered me in; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you came to visit me; in prison, and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we gee you hungry, and nourish you? Or thirsty, and gave you to drink? When did we see you a stranger, and gather you to us? Or naked, and clothed you? When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘This is the truth I tell you—insomuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ then he will say to those on the left, ‘Go from me, you cursed ones, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you did not give me to eat; I was thirsty, and you did not give me to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not gather me to you; naked, and you did not clothe me; sick and in prison, and you did not come to visit me.’ Then these too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not render service to you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘This is the truth I tell you—in so far as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous will go away to eternal life.”
God’s Standard of Judgment
This is one of the most vivid parables Jesus ever spoke, and the lesson is crystal clear—that God will judge us in accordance with our reaction to human need. His judgment does not depend on the knowledge we have amassed, or the fame that we have acquired, or the fortune that we have gained, but on the help that we have given. And there are certain things which this parable teaches us about the help which we must give.
(i) It must be help in simple things. The things which Jesus picks out—giving a hungry man a meal, or a thirsty man a drink, welcoming a stranger, cheering the sick, visiting the prisoner—are things which anyone can do. It is not a question of giving away thousands of pounds, or of writing our names in the annals of history; it is a case of giving simple help to the people we meet every day. There never was a parable which so opened the way to glory to the simplest people.
(ii) It must be help which is uncalculating. Those who helped did not think that they were helping Christ and thus piling up eternal merit; they helped because they could not stop themselves. It was the natural, instinctive, quite uncalculating reaction of the loving heart. Whereas, on the other hand, the attitude of those who failed to help was; “If we had known it was you we would gladly have helped; but we thought it was only some common man who was not worth helping.” It is still true that there are those who will help if they are given praise and thanks and publicity; but to help like that is not to help, it is to pander to self-esteem. Such help is not generosity; it is disguised selfishness. The help which wins the approval of God is that which is given for nothing but the sake of helping.
(iii) Jesus confronts us with the wonderful truth that all such help given is given to himself, and all such help withheld is withheld from himself. How can that be? If we really wish to delight a parent’s heart, if we really wish to move him to gratitude the best way to do it is to help his child. God is the great Father; and the way to delight the heart of God is to help his children, our fellow-men.
There were two men who found this parable blessedly true. The one was Francis of Asissi; he was wealthy and high-born and high-spirited. But he was not happy. He felt that life was incomplete. Then one day he was out riding and met a leper, loathsome and repulsive in the ugliness of his disease. Something moved Francis to dismount and fling his arms around this wretched sufferer; and in his arms the face of the leper changed to the face of Christ.
The other was Martin of Tours. He was a Roman soldier and a Christian. One cold winter day, as he was entering a city, a beggar stopped him and asked for alms. Martin had no money; but the beggar was blue and shivering with cold, and Martin gave what he had. He took off his soldier’s coat, worn and frayed as it was; he cut it in two and gave half of it to the beggar man. That night he had a dream. In it he saw the heavenly places and all the angels and Jesus in the midst of them; and Jesus was wearing half of a Roman soldier’s cloak. One of the angels said to him, “Master, why are you wearing that battered old cloak? Who gave it to you?” And Jesus answered softly, “My servant Martin gave it to me.”
When we learn the generosity which without calculation helps men in the simplest things, we too will know the joy of helping Jesus Christ himself.
William Barclay 1907-1978–Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism at the University of Glasgow.
Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT).
St. John One: One 