Bart Eherman, in his lecture series on the New Testament,
uses this passage to represent his vision of the historical Jesus. Although this passage is only found in one
source, he says, it is likely to be Jesus because it is so unlike the early
church. While I might disagree as to the
nature of the early church with Professor Eherman, this passage certainly
represents the message and actions of Jesus in the book of Matthew.
And Jesus is not the church of the fourth or twenty-first
centuries. Jesus has a distinct theology
and practice that does not reflect the church (at large) at any point since the
second century. This passage discusses
the unique viewpoint of Jesus, which has challenged the church all these
millenia. This Jesus is not foreign to
us, but as we delve deeper into this passage, we find that this is not the
Jesus we worship or follow.
1. The Son of
Man
Jesus is the Son of Man, the fulfillment of Daniel 7:13,
where “one like a son of man” comes from heaven to rule the earth. This is the culmination of Jesus’ “kingdom of
God”. This is confirmed in Matthew in
Jesus' trial before the Sanhedrin in chapter 26.
2. Heaven is a Place on Earth
It is commonly assumed that the hope of the Christian is in
heaven, but in the NT, the hope is actually a utopia on earth, collecting the
merciful both living and dead, giving them a chance to establish a kingdom of
justice in a way they never had before.
3. Not just
believers or Israelites
The kingdom is open not just to Israel, nor to a group of
believers but to all the “nations” or “gentiles.” This opportunity to enter the kingdom, or
test for those already on the land, is not limited to a certain group, but open
to all people on earth.
4. Population
Divided
Everyone on earth is divided into those who are welcomed
into the kingdom and those who are exiled from the kingdom. This is also reflected in the parable of the
drag net in Matthew 13:47-50 and the parable of the wheat and tares in Matthew
13:24-30. Matthew, John and Revelation
make a clear divide of two distinct groups in the final judgement. This is also implied in Luke’s version of the
beatitudes.
5. Not a
parable
This passage is a final judgment description. Other passages in Matthew describe the
judgment in parables (The following parables: tares, dragnet, good and
faithless servants, ten virgins, talents) , but this final portion of Jesus
fifth and last sermon in Matthew is a straightforward description. There is an
allegory in the midst of this description (sheep and goats divided by a
farmer), but this is a not a full parable, it is intended to be read
straightforwardly.
6. Good and
Bad
There are two actions being determined: who is good or bad,
and who will establish the utopia with the spiritual King.
7. Not faith,
action
The actions judged are not strictly those of faith. There are no indications of belonging to a
certain religion, adherence to a certain doctrine, or obedience to a certain
priestly class. Thus people of any
religion or non-religion are potentially accepted and people of orthodox belief
can (and will) be rejected. Jesus
indicates this in Matthew 8:11-12.
8. Salvation by
Charity
One’s acceptance or rejection to the utopia is indicated by
practical acts of mercy to those in desperate need. Specifically, feeding the hungry, giving
drink to the thirsty, housing the wanderer, visiting those sick and in prison.
These are not a complete list, nor are they always as essential in certain
societies. As Jesus often does, they are
general examples of acts of mercy, all of which would be praiseworthy. Other acts of mercy might be, giving shoes
and socks to those without, giving warmth to the cold, providing cleaning to
the dirty, giving work for pay, etc. The
fact that the list of merciful acts is repeated three times indicates it’s
importance.
9. Who are the
brothers?
“My brothers” is a phrase used only of Jesus’ disciples in
Matthew (Matthew 12:48-49).
Specifically, they are the disciples sent out in Matthew 10. Jesus summarizes this whole pattern at the
end of chapter 10 (40-42), where those who accept his disciples accepts him and
even if all they do is give a cup of water to one of his disciples will not
lose his reward.
A common Catholic teaching of this passage, popularized by
Mother Teresa, claims that Jesus “brothers” are all the poor. I think that more likely anyone of the poor
could be one of the brothers, but aren’t necessarily. Jesus sends out certain people to take on the
role of the stranger, the immigrant, the hopeless in order to test individuals
and cities. Not everyone who is poor is
a brother, but we don’t know who is who until the end.
10. Beggar's
evangelism
This all indicates the nature of the evangelism pattern
Jesus has his disciples go through. They
are to look homeless, like wanderers or immigrants from place to place. They are to give the extra indication that
they represent God by their healings, exorcisms and preaching of the
kingdom. The towns that accepted them
and gave them sustenance indicates the merciful nature of the town, even if
they didn’t believe the message of the kingdom.
Those towns that refused to help the disciples in their helpless state
are judged eternally (Matt 10:15, 11:21).
11. Re-creating
Sodom
The testing of the towns are compared to Sodom and Abraham,
who had strangers sent to them. Abraham
received them with generous hospitality while Sodom intended to harm them
severely, indicating their attitude toward immigrants or the poor. Thus, the consistent NT support for the poor,
helping strangers or immigrants.
(Genesis 18, 19; Hebrews 13, Galatians 1, etc)
12. Nature of the
kingdom
It is easy to consider that the purpose of the judgment is
simply reward and punishment, but given the context of entrance into or exile
out of the final utopia, we also need to consider that the judgment is simply
an immigration exam, indicating what kind of kingdom Jesus is intending to
create. A kingdom is made up of the
people included. If everyone in the
nation are people of mercy and kindness, that forms the identity of the kingdom
at large. In this kingdom there is little
need for a bureaucracy of welfare. Nor
is there an economy based on selfishness.
Rather, it is run almost completely on the generosity of its citizens.
13. Punishment
The punishment of the stingy isn’t just exile from the
kingdom, but entrance into another realm: eternal fire. This fire was prepared at the beginning for
rebellious angels (messengers) and the devil.
It is considered appropriate that the servants of the devil also enter
into this realm of punishment. It is to
be noted that it is the “fire” that is eternal, the realm, not the people
within it. Is the fire a symbol of
torment (like Luke 16?) or a symbol of destruction? In Matt 13 there is the Markan phrase,
“weeping and gnashing of teeth”, which indicates torment. But how long?
Is the torment eternal or just the place?
14. Ignorance of
the judged
Both the sheep and the goats express their ignorance of the
one they call “Lord”. On the one hand,
they are abashed at the fact that the King declares that they have met, when
they clearly haven’t. But a Christian
would recognize that Jesus didn’t mean that they had literally met face to
face. Perhaps they would have considered
that they had met through the Spirit, but the phrase “you fed me” wouldn’t
disturb them. This seems to indicate
that the masses aren’t people who have knowledge of Jesus’ teaching, for the
most part. They are probably assumed to
be pagans or people unfamiliar with the gospel.
Again, this indicates that welcome into the kingdom doesn’t require
knowledge of the gospel, but doing acts of mercy to those in need, whoever they
be.
Summary:
Jesus' final story affirms what has been said throughout
Matthew: that Jesus is looking for those who help people in need to fill his
nation. Evangelism is simply a test to
see who is already on board with this kind of gospel and the final judgment
makes a determination as to who is actively generous and who is stingy. The stingy are aligned with the devil, and so
punished like him. The kingdom of God
is on earth, full of people who create their own economy of charity.
