Matthew 25:31-46:
31 (Jesus said), “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.”
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What is going on in this parable? Aren’t we saved by faith in Jesus, and not by our good works? But here, in this parable of the Last Judgment, Jesus separates the sheep and the goats on the basis of who has and has not been doing good works. What?
For that reason this parable troubled me for a long time. Then I realized I was looking at the parable from the wrong perspective, so I was missing what Jesus is saying. The message of the parable is that we should serve others, because in so doing, we serve Jesus. What’s more, we ought to serve with no thought of ourselves. The sheep did not even realize they were doing all those good works, and, that they would be blessed for it. The whole point is to get the focus off of ourselves and onto freely serving our neighbors for Jesus’ sake, and, for the sake of the one served.
I had missed all that and was reading it only to find out: “How do I get to be a sheep and not a goat; how do I make sure I get on the good side of this deal?” But that selfish approach misses the whole point and purpose.
So yes, keep your eyes on Jesus. Salvation is by what he has done, and not by your good works. And the more you do keep your eyes on Jesus, the more you will want to serve others; and you’ll be all right. Jesus will take care of you. You do not have to try to earn salvation. That’s been taken care of on the cross. So now, without having to worry about that, you are free to obey Jesus and take care of any of his children who are in your path and need your help. (continued…)
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Grant us, we beseech thee, O Lord, grace to follow thee wheresoever thou goest.
In little daily duties to which thou callest us, bow down our wills to simple obedience, patience under pain or provocation, strict truthfulness in word or manner, humility, and kindness.
In great acts of duty, if thou shouldst call us to them, uplift us to sacrifice and heroic courage; that in all things, both small and great, we may be imitators of thy dear Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
–Christian Rossetti (1830-1894)
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