In Matthew's description of the Last Judgment (25:31ff.) 'all the nations' ('panta ta ethne') stand before the King/Judge (= Jesus). Are these corporate entities or individuals? Nation-states were not known in the first centuries of the church, so we can assume it's 'all the world's ethnic groups' (= every human being) here.

And the 'brothers/sisters' are not just Christians, or Christian missionaries. Some Christian leaders (including Luther and Calvin) have tried to suggest they're only poor fellow-Christians in Jesus' mind here. But there are several problems with that view. Note that the poor are 'the least of these' (25:45: there's no qualifier like 'who are members of my family'). Jesus had previously said that 'Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother' - not just the religiously orthodox (Matthew 12:50). Jesus' own ministry was non-discriminatory, including Samaritans, a Syro-Phoenician etc. and he was scathing of those religious teachers like the Pharisees whose behavior was dominated by 'us and them' theology. So 'brothers/sisters' here is not limited to just the members of the Christian community: Jesus' brothers and sisters are all the poor, hurting 'little people': *anyone* in need. Does God have a bias or 'preferential option' for the poor? Yes.

These are 'the least', not 'the greatest'; they come not in limousines and silk, but hungry and thirsty. They are not the power elite or the moral majority, forcing their will on the nations; they are the weak of the earth and are more likely to be found in hospitals and prisons than in palaces. Indeed, the shock of this parable is that no one -- not the goats and not even the sheep -- recognized Christ because they assumed that the majestic, triumphant Lord would surely appear as a powerful presence in history. But this is not God's way in the world.

Why is all this a surprise to both groups - the care-givers, and the selfish?

The merciful had concealed what they were doing. They did good works by a kind of moral reflex action: when they met the poor/hungry they offered spontaneous, unconditional help. In my experience it's the little people who do most of the little acts of kindness (though I would want to encourage high-flyers like Bono in all this too!). And they do it not for a reward, but out of a heart of generous love. These good works are 'God's work' through our lives (Ephesians 2:10): even good deeds done without yet knowing Jesus are 'done in God' (John 3:21).

Note that the 'saved' are surprised they're 'saved'. They didn't know their deeds were in the eternal ledger. They haven't kept score. Their left hand doesn't seem to know what their right hand is doing (Matthew 6:3). So we can always be suspicious of any who might shout at others 'I'm saved and you're not!' (This is not to make a judgment about 'eternal security': but rather that our security is not in our certainty about belief-systems or 'religious' acts - even 'receiving Jesus as one's personal Savior' - but rather in faith issuing in deeds of love).

And these are *little* miracles, not big ones. Chrysostom was the first to point out that Jesus does not say 'I was sick and you healed me' or 'I was in prison and you liberated me.' So the Big-Time healers and revolutionaries are not in mind here. It is in little acts of service that the miracle of the big mystery - eternal life - occurs.

Jeremias (The Parables of Jesus) reminds us that there are Egyptian and rabbinic parallels to the substance of this passage. These similarly lay down the principle that works of mercy will be the decisive factor in the Judgment. But what a difference! Both in the Egyptian Book of the Dead and in the Midrash the dead boast self-confidently of their good deeds....

In daily life we experience little 'surprises'. Someone says to us, 'What you did for me sure helped me a lot,' or 'What you said to me had a powerful influence on my life.' While they are saying this, we are trying to remember what we said or did that was so great.

The selfish are preoccupied with their own life/concerns. They don't hear the cry of human need. They don't want to know: they falsely believe that so long as they (and theirs) are 'saved' that's all that matters... And even at the end they're still blind to the enormity of their offence.

Tomorrow: how are we to think of the idea of 'eternal punishment'?

-- Shalom! Rowland Croucher http://jmm.aaa.net.au/

'We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.' - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man