Matthew 25:31-46
Today's New International Version (TNIV)
The Sheep and the Goats
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Given that we cannot possibly comprehend how such a judgment could take place, why did Jesus choose to give this illustration, and why did Matthew see fit to preserve the story for us? It must be because he wants us to have some insight into how God judges nations, namely by how the nations treat those who are hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick and in prison. In my opinion that's a fairly comprehensive definition of what it means to be poor.
Can you believe the Bible says this about the Left?
ReplyDeleteThen he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
Seriously, this is exactly it. How in the world can this be seen as a judgejent on nations rather than individuals? Perhaps people who fear a personal judgement? The passage says it will clearly separate the PEOPLE when the nations gather, NOT separate by nations.
Lori
I was hoping someone else would wade in. But let me respond.
ReplyDeleteI think both interpretations are valid, although I would note that King James and Young both leave off the "people" altogether, saying simply that he will judge "them". (Various translations are easily checked at Bible Gateway).
Of course the bible is concerned about good and evil, but to say that is to beg the question of what is good and what is evil. It is exactly this question that this passage is addressing. However you interpret the "nations" question, what Jesus is saying is the good will be on his right, the evil on his left. But we all knew that.
I think Jesus' main point is that good and bad is not determined by what you say, but rather by what you do. The second point is that the measure of whether a person, institution, culture, nation aligns with his will is how that person, institution, culture or nation treat those on the margins -- the poor.
Exactly! Salavation is an individual matter and individuals will most certainly be judged on how they treat those on the margins. Nations on the other hand are artificial constructs that will be swept away, being worthy of neither judgement nor adulation of any kind. just #poof# gone!
ReplyDeleteThat is from the Bible according to the Lori commentary. I think this will be my last biblical comment on this blog.
-Lori
That is interesting how one can have an disagreement about such a beautiful and troubling simple message of how we are to treat those less fortunate than ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lori on the people and nations so won't repeat what she said, except I don't agree with her last point about her last biblical comment on this blog.
If I take it a step further more literally it otherwise would not even make sense for on judgement day, the nations won't be the same as they were throughout history, for nations change, but we the people ( that make up the nations) remain who we are, with judgement before God.
This passage is what Menno Simons uses for his True evangelical faith, which I believe Menno Simons meant for us as individuals.
on Bible study, I did not find a good online Bible Study by CS Lewis, but wondered if we should read his The Abolition of Man, which I think is online, even if Lewis is very deep thinking for me.
I have not read this book, so don't really know if it is appropriate or not, but think it might be for it suggests to me it is a discussion on morals and behaviour. I would not be surprised if some of you already have read it, so let me know if you think helpful or not. Other suggestions?
In my opinion it is not appropriate or right to say of biblical interpretation, "my interpretation is right." Our goal is to know God better, and I share my interpretation because it helps me to see God better. If it helps you, great, otherwise discard it. I read yours in a similar way.
ReplyDeleteSo maybe this passage is not preserved for us so we could know more about the end time. After all, judgement can take many forms. There is, of course, the end times judgement. That is one thing. But there are also the judgments we make or need to make all the time. The judgement is whether something is good or bad, is not a judgement that determines any eternal destiny. "How do you judge that car?" or "How do you judge that person?" or "How do you judge that company?" or "How do you judge that government?"
I think the case could be made that, just as all people were created by God, so also all institutions were created by God. In biblical language they may well be called principalities and powers. These can be powers for good as in Romans 13, or powers for evil as in Revelation 13.
So the question for me is: What criteria does God use as he judges whether any person or institution is good or bad. Based on this Matt. passage, the criteria is the treatment of those on the margins, the poor.
That was my point when I started, such a meaningful passsage and it was too bad the discussion was around it being the nations or the individuals. Then I got caught up in it, not to be right or wrong, sorry, but to point out that since that wasn't how I interpretated the verse it did not make sense to have a discussion on your agenda of judgement on nations and the history scenarios if I believed that is not where the focus of the passage should be.
ReplyDeleteI don't mean to be argumentative but I don't think all institutions are created by God. I could argue the good ones set up by Christians or believers are but what about the others? In my opinion institutions are made my free choosing people believers and non-believers and God will judge the people, the institutions are just instruments of their intent and works. So sorry for that reason I cannot contribute to that discussion.
and YES, the whole point and focus should be that based on this passage one way that God judges us is how we treat those in need, I don't think anyone disputes that. Obviously this isn't going where you would like it to and I apologize for that.
I suggested it but I am not sure if I could actually commit to reading The abolition of man, as much as I would like to.
I starting a reading blog and am not even making progress on the books I listed even though I thought it would make me more focused. Frankly I feel my energy is pulling me elsewhere and November 1st tomorrow, my October to do list isn't nearly complete. I like to enjoy the preparation before and during Adventzeit. If I could limit the reading or Bible Study to an hour or two a week, I would certainly do it and try.
How was your big meeting on the 27th, good turnout? I was going to leave a comment on your last article on rethinking lifestyle blog but did not know if I should comment there or not. I totally agree with your assessment on government and individual borrowing and yes I too fear, IF that continues and governments do not get spending under control, there will come a time not out of choice but need due to rising food prices that people will have to return to growing their own.
In this blog we express opinions about bankers, banks, banking systems; about Merkel and Obama, about the Greek government and the US government, about capitalism and communism. My point is, if we are going to say any one of these is good or bad, by what criteria are we going to say they are good or bad. And I am saying, what guidance does scripture give us in that regard.
ReplyDeleteThere are those who say scripture does not speak to institutions. I say it does.
Romans 13 at least says that governments are created by God. It does not speak to other institutions. So is there no basis for judging whether an institution is good or evil [or maybe somewhere in between]? After all, whether it is government or some other institution, they all seem to acquire a life of their own.
Regarding our meeting on the 27th, I am always disappointed in the turnout. I think these are topics of vital concern and everyone should be interested. The speaker was OK. I had hoped for better. Nevertheless, I think people went home satisfied that they now better understood some of the issues we are facing.
The discussion of how we might order our lives if we assume that perpetual growth is impossible interests me much more than the discussion of whether perpetual growth is possible, which is where we seem to be bogged down on this blog.
As you will have noted, people are not commenting on our "Lifestyle" blog. It does not happen. Whether this is a reflection of the number of people who read it, or whether there is another reason, I do not know. But feel free to comment.
Just a thought..... We tend(should) to judge the fruit, or at least we should, and not the person, as we know not the motive behind their actions. If we are going to judge at all. I do think God allows our institutions, but His direction will be to the individuals He puts in positions of authority/influence.
ReplyDeleteKK
Thank you, KK always well said, where I ramble on, I think I will be quiet from now on.
ReplyDeleteIch hab was vergessen, I was going to say that I am sorry to hear about your turnout on the 27th and too bad about the speaker. Yes that's how it goes when one is passionate about something. As long as those that were there benefitted that is the main thing, it's a beginning.
ReplyDelete