Rohan Wickramaratne
“I keep six honest serving men
(They taught me all I know):
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who”
…wrote Rudyard Kipling, and I would like to put these honest men to use in a well-known (but in my opinion, undervalued) understanding of a passage that reveals a real incident related by Jesus himself in the Gospel of St. Matthew.
Matthew 25:31-46 offers a challenge to all who would desire to examine the principles of understanding any book in the world, including the Bible.
The Bible is a book (containing many different books of various genres), and when we study it, we need to use similar principles to that which we use to understand any other piece of writing. In the pages of the Bible, we learn about God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We come to know Him and become heirs of His Kingdom. The way we live our lives here on earth, is not to earn our place in His Kingdom (because we become His heirs the day we acknowledge his ‘Father-ship’ and accept the salvation offered to us), but the way we live out our lives is to show the character of this Creator, Saviour God.
Longfellow puts it like this: “If you once understand an author’s character, the comprehension of his writing becomes easy.” I believe the main mover and the author of the Bible is God Himself, and I have no hesitation in trying to comprehend it using all resources. We get to know God’s character in many ways, especially in His greatest gift to me/ us – giving His Son. It is good to keep this in mind.
When studying the Bible and seeking to apply it in our day to day lives, we need to understand that the headings of the passages in the Bible are not inspired. They have been put in later by Man. Sometimes they mislead us and take us away from actually listening to what God is saying through a particular passage. In Matthew 25 too this might happen. The New Jerusalem Bible titles it as The Last Judgment, perhaps making us not see that we need to look at it more carefully – to examine whose judgment is written about.
The three basic principles of study are 1. Observation 2. Interpretation and 3. Application.
Under Observation, we need to answer the questions, Who? What? When? Where? Why? and So?
Who is mentioned here? What is the main happening? What time period was involved? Where did the event occur? Why does it have to be so? So, what happens in the end? Sometimes there may not be answers to all of these questions, but only to some of them.
By the way, you need to ‘train’ yourself to observe. Simply reading the passage will not do. Training yourself is a gradual, long term activity, which requires patience. So, the more time you spend in looking, your eyes will observe better, and you might see things that you have never ever observed before.
Coming back to the passage – ‘The Son of Man’ (as Jesus always referred to Himself – and not as the Son of God) comes to judge in all His Glory; not as a babe in Bethlehem, nor as an avenger. He will sit as the judge before all nations. ALL NATIONS; Who are these? Firstly, observe the term ALL NATIONS after reading the whole of Matthew, maybe underlining the term whenever you find it, and see how the writer, Matthew, uses this term throughout his book. (He uses the term All Nations in three other places viz. 24:9, 24:14 and 28:19).
When you read the contexts in which the term is used, you would see that they do not refer to ALL peoples on earth, but to people who are not Christians; those who side against him or rebel against him or all those who do not know him.
Therefore, in 25:32 the nations would be such people – people of this nature. The Judge of the world is exercising His judgement here in Matthew 25, for the people who have not accepted Him and His salvation, and He divides them up into two categories: the sheep and the goats.
He says to the sheep, “Well done, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared by my Father since the foundation of the world.” They are dumbstruck and ask “We did not do anything for you so how come?” Then the Judge replies, “…. In so far as you did this to one of the least of (wait for it!!!) these brothers of mine, you did it for me!!!”
Maybe, you could draw this description on a piece of paper.
How is it that God says to the divided people, “In so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it for me”?
If All Nations had been divided into two groups, and they are the ones who are not Christians, surely it cannot be that the label these brothers of mine are for the goats? The goats are condemned but not the sheep! So, it is logical that there is another – Oh yes!!- another group who is assembled with All Nations! Did you realize that?
The Divine Judge of the Universe judges All Nations according to the responses they have made to the least brother/sister who bears His Name in this transitory world. These brothers/sisters as mentioned in the verses are ones who would suffer hunger, thirst, be strangers, naked, imprisoned, have faced beheading, torture, rape, been cast aside in society, been refugees, etc. Judgment on All Nations is based on what has been done for them!! Christ dwells in them – apparent when the King of Glory comes with His Angels and Archangels, and with all the company of Heaven!!
So take heart, brothers and sisters, especially, when you are a “Nobody” in this world. The Nations will be judged by their response to you and me. You and I will see our true selves when The King of Glory comes in Judgement. Laugh at them when they persecute you, cheat you, take you to courts unfairly, leave you in hunger and in a state of nakedness, and when you go unnoticed by the passers-by, for they know not the final judgement. WE are the measurement for His criterion for judgement!!
This does not mean we are not called to do all these actions ourselves. Our love for people that is shown in our actions must be over and above what is expected of All Nations; feeding the hungry, giving a drink to alleviate someone’s thirst, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, healing the sick, and visiting the imprisoned – we can never forget that these must be an integral part of living as Christians. Unfortunately, the usual interpretation of this passage, hermeneutically, does not refer to our part in living Christian lives.
All Nations will be judged according to their response to us, and therefore it is our responsibility to live lives that would reflect the true nature and character of the Triune God or face His Judgment for not having done so.