The Judgment of the Nations

Wednesday, July 16, 2008 -- Week of Proper 10

Today's Reading for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 975)
Psalms 38 (morning) 119:45-48 (evening)
Joshua 3:1-13
Romans 11:25-36
Matthew 25:31-46

Today's teaching from Matthew 25 imagines divine judgment hinging upon just one thing -- how did we respond to the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and the imprisoned. Did we serve their physical and relational needs? If so, we are welcomed with divine blessing; if not, we are accursed with divine judgment. What was our response to the least of these?

There's nothing about witnessing to them, converting them, straightening out their belief system or correcting their theology. We are told to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick and visit the prisoner -- no strings attached. That's that.

We are to regard these others -- the least of these -- as Christ himself. "Truly I tell you, just as you did it (or did not do it) to one of the least of these, you did it (or did not do it) to me," speaks Jesus.

This passage is a foundational one for the social gospel. It is a command that we respond with generous compassion to the needs of others. It's pretty straightforward, isn't it? And it is pretty ultimate. "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats on the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.'" It all depends on how you treated the needy.

Note that the address is to "all the nations." It's not just about our individual response to the needy. It's not just a call upon the church. It is also a commandment to the political and economic structures, a commandment to "all the nations." The good nations are those who do the social work that Jesus demands.

For many Christians, Matthew 25 is a great motivation for political action. This commandment of Jesus is underneath Christian support for the War on Poverty that the Johnson administration led in the 1960's which cut U.S. poverty in half. At the time when we abandoned that effort because of the costs of the Vietnam War, poverty rates were decreasing so successfully that many projected its end in the U.S. within a near and foreseeable future.

Christian support for Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare are also based on the compassion that is underneath Matthew 25. Many churches including ours have endorsed a blueprint for the worldwide Millennium Development Goals as an expression of Jesus' command to respond to the needs of the poor, the sick, and the stranger. (www.e4gr.org) Many Christians demand universal access to health care as a direct response to Jesus' teachings. Several of the other "less Christian" nations have found the social heart and political will to extend medical care to everyone.

How might our conversation about immigration be informed by this parable? Can anyone imagine Jesus saying of our undocumented neighbors, "put up a wall; cut them off from medical care; punish any who work or any who hire them; send their parents away and let their children be orphaned"?

What if our system of prisons and rehabilitative justice were motivated by commandment of Jesus? How different might it be?

The message of this parable is that our compassion and care for those who are needy is the single criteria for God's judgment. How different might our nations be if we obeyed?


Lowell

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About Morning Reflections
Morning Reflections is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church
is to explore and celebrate
God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life

We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas