“Come you, who are blessed by my Father…”
--Matthew 25:34
Such a familiar parable, this story of the final judgment, this judgment of the king. It comes near the end of Matthew’s gospel and is that wonderful story of the goats and the sheep being separated to the left and right because of how they behaved toward the poor, the sick, the naked, the hungry, the prisoner and the outcast; basically, those in want. It is a wonderful allegory of identity and ignorance, of revelation and reward, of charity and compassion and the sorrowful lack thereof.
I have too often focused on the idea of the reward in this story. The fact that the king invites the sheep into His kingdom because they were charitable, and sends the goats away with a curse because they failed to be charitable; that has always stuck with me. As if it were a warning: be on the lookout! You never know when the king is coming; and He might be in disguise! And I think that is one of the ways it is commonly read. As a kind of instructional warning directed at those of us who struggle with selfishness, to be ever vigilant if we want to get invited into God’s kingdom. And I can see that this is a reasonable reading of this parable.
And yet, I hear something echo in that word “blessing,” that speaks to me on another level. I looked up the word this morning. It is translated from the Greek eulogemenoi which literally means “being blessed” or “to be spoken well of; to praise” and is sometimes used to mean the conferral of something beneficial; i.e. praise or good words or a blessing! But in this passage from Matthew the invitation to come or go is directed at those who “are blessed.” Which sounds like it could also mean that they have already received their reward. They ARE already blessed. And as I contemplated that phrase I wondered something else. I wondered about the kind of fable like premise of this parable.
The parable implies that the king has been met and served (or not served) by these people in the guise of a prisoner or a beggar, an outcast or a sickly person. And who is that “king,” but Jesus (God). And so what is the reward that the sheep receive for their kindness to Him? They get to be in His kingdom, His presence forever. And what is the punishment that the goats receive (or earn), but simply to be out of His presence forever (and to burn with hunger for it—I imagine). And if that is the reward then what about that moment when they fed the hungry? Clothed the naked? Sat with the sick and comforted them, or visited the prisoner, welcomed the outcast? In those actions, in those moments, when they did these things “for the least of [His] brothers,” isn’t the lesson that they [we] were doing them for Him. And so, in those moments of charity and kindness, where we serve Christ, aren’t we already in His presence? Aren’t we already in His kingdom? And if so, aren’t we already blessed?
As St. Catherine of Siena famously said: All the way to Heaven is Heaven.
To be with Christ isn’t just a reward, it’s also a way of life. Every time someone asks us for help, every time someone reaches out to us for consolation or even just a moment’s kindness, we are being invited to receive a blessing. We are being invited into the Kingdom of God. Let us open our eyes to the glory of that invitation, and let us see in every face the grace of the one who is inviting us to come and meet Him not someday—but right here. Right now. In this moment. In this place. In this person. And that, my friends, is truly a blessing.
Everytime I read my Bible, I am amazed by what I discover about God’s love. Open your Bible my friends and take a moment to read. I promise you, you will be blessed by what you find there.
Here is a short prayer you might pray before you begin to read.
Lord, open my eyes,
that I might read your word more clearly.
Lord, open my ears,
that I might hear your message more fully.
and Lord, open my heart,
that I will be filled with the Love that is found there.
