Matthew 25:31-46

Matthew 25:31-46 in the final judgment, Jesus asks if you responded to those in need

What is this passage about?

Note that this story is not a parable.  He is not saying the kingdom of heaven is “like” this.  He is saying that this is what is going to happen.  The only part of it that is like a parable is the use of the terms sheep and goats to picture Jesus separating people the way a shepherd would separate different creatures.  The rest is a direct description of what Jesus says about how the final judgment will go.

In verse 31, where is the Son of Man?

Jesus has described himself as the “Son of Man” throughout Matthew’s Gospel.  Here, for the first time, he takes to himself the title “king” (v. 34).  The first title has messianic overtones but emphasizes his humanity.  The second title offers a different perspective.  What does his use of these two titles – Son of Man and king – tell us about Jesus and his relationship with the human race?

Who is gathered before him (v. 32)?

All the nations.

Who do the sheep and the goats represent? Who is it that gets separated?

He is not simply separating the nations for judgment; the language used makes it clear that this is a judgment of individual people – see the footnote below: Are individuals or nations judged?

Note that the “sheep” and “goats” are used mainly as an illustration.  Jesus isn’t asking us to draw conclusions here based on what we know about sheep and goats.  In our day, he might have said: As a veterinarian separates the dogs from the cats.  He used  the image of separating sheep from goats because that was an image his audience was familiar with, an then he applied it to separating different types of people.

In verse 34, what is the blessing given to those on his right hand – the sheep?

What do you think it means to “inherit the kingdom”?

In verses 35-36, what is it that they did, that led to this blessing?

Do they understand what they did, or are they surprised by what he says?  Explain.

What is the king’s explanation of how they did these things to him?

He says that when you did it to/for them, you did it to/for him.  Different translations use “to” or “for” because in the Greek, the dative case used here indicates who receives the benefit of an action but does not specify a preposition.  The point is that when we do these things, Jesus is the recipient of our actions: You did it to me.

How do you think this passage applies to us today?

How literally do you think we should take it?

Do you think there are people who might be surprised to learn that when they were helping people in need, they were also doing those good things to/for Jesus?  Explain.

What does their surprise tell you about people who do good things, about God, and/or about our final judgment?

It is probably unrealistic for any one person to do all these things with any frequency, so how do you think Jesus would want us to respond to this story?

Those among us who like to-do lists (myself included) need to hear this caution: Jesus has not presented himself as the kind of person who would want us to turn this into a checklist and think that if you do each one of these things at least once we have earned salvation.  That’s not what this is about.  It is probably better to think about it as a way of life: responding to needs habitually and generously whenever needs present themselves.

Now let’s look at the “goats.”

In verses 41 and 45, what is the ultimate destination of the “goats”?

What does the king say they failed to do, that has led to this outcome?

Do they understand why they are receiving these consequences, or are they surprised?  Explain.

How does the king explain what he means by their failing to do these things to him?

Note that these are what are called “sins of omission,” not “sins of commission.”  It isn’t that they did something bad; it is that they failed to do something good that they could have done and should have done.

Do you think there are people who might be surprised to learn that they are failing the test of the final judgment?  If so, do you think it would be a situation where they should have known because they knew what Jesus taught in the Bible, and they willfully ignored what they should have known?  Or do you think it would be a situation where, once it was pointed out to them, they would be able to say, “Yeah, you’re right; I should have known that and I failed”?  Or do you think it would be a situation where they would be legitimately baffled to learn that this was Jesus’s criteria for judgment?  Explain.

What does their surprise tell you about people who fail to help others in need, about God, and/or about our final judgment?

In verse 40, the king tells the first group that they did it to one of the “least” of these brothers of mine, and in verse 45 he tells the second group that they did not do it to one of the “least” of these.  Who are these “least” ones?

What do you think this passage says to us?

As you read this, is there someone or some group of people that you think the Lord might be nudging you to do more for, or some action you feel he is calling you to take?  What is this passage saying to you personally?

Throughout Matthew’s Gospel, we have seen Jesus’s constant “downside-up” approach.  Why do you think this is the perspective he has chosen to take: to place such an emphasis on our action to help the “least” among us?

Do you count yourself among these “least”?  If so, how does this passage make you feel?  If you don’t, how do you feel about the fact that Jesus identifies himself with the “least”?

Verse 34 is the first time in the Gospels that Jesus is explicitly referred to as a “king.”  Why does our King care so much about what happens to the “least” among us?

For the most part, people aren’t naked and in need of clothing in our day.  But there might be some other needs that would not have made sense to mention in Jesus’s day but that he might have mentioned if he were speaking now.  What are some other basic needs that Jesus might add to his list if he were making this point to our society today?

There are many possibilities; for example: I was homeless and you helped me find shelter; I was pregnant and you gave me baby clothes and diapers; I was a victim of human trafficking and you rescued me; I was an immigrant and you welcomed me – oh, that one already is on his list when he says: I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.

In our more complicated world, some social and economic problems can be addressed by the people collectively in far better ways than we can do individually – for example, helping the homeless, pregnant women, victims of trafficking, people with mental illnesses, etc.  Sometimes, Christians and other people of good will take action collectively through nonprofit organizations or governments.  Is working to help people through social organizations and governments a reasonable way of trying to respond to what Jesus is calling us to do in this passage?  Explain.

For people who live in democracies, is it reasonable to try to hold governments accountable to address the needs of the hungry, the sick, etc.?

None of us can do it all.  But we can work to live our lives with a mindset that the least among us need to be central to our focus.  How can you do that better?

Take a step back and consider this:

Jesus clearly wants us to place a high priority on meeting the needs of the poor, the hungry, the stranger, the sick, and others who are the “least” among us.  This concern meant so much to him that he equated himself with them when he said: “What you did it to them, you did to me.”

How easy is it for you to see Jesus in those who are suffering on the fringes of our society?

What can a Christian do to internalize this perspective?  How do we grow in our ability to see Jesus in the least among us?

If we take this passage seriously, it could lead us to worry about our salvation.  Are we doing “enough” to join Jesus in heaven?  He clearly wants us to feel challenged.  But he does not want us to be afraid of him or to think that we can only make him care for us if we do the right things.  He is not creating a new works-based legalism after having spent so much time trying to overcome the legalism of the Pharisees.  He also is not offering “works” as an alternative to “faith.”  We are saved by him, not by our fulfillment of a specific list of requirements, but our faith should be manifested in actions to help the least among us.  See Is Jesus suggesting that we can earn our way to salvation by our works? for more on this how this passage relates to faith.

Since we are sinners saved by grace and called to be conformed to Christ, it might be worth thinking about it this way: Can we be comfortable living with Jesus’s priorities and serving him whenever we encounter a person in need around us?  That is our challenge.

How comfortable are you with Jesus’s “downside-up” view of the world – his close identification with those who have the least?

What can you do to become more comfortable with Jesus’s worldview?

Mother Teresa of Calcutta said that “the poorest of the poor are . . . Christ under the guise of human suffering” (Mother Teresa: In My Own Words, p. 24), and that she sought to “comfort Jesus in the distressing disguise of the poor” (Mother Teresa: Where There is Love, There is God, p. 15).

If we can find joy in looking to serve Jesus in the least among us, we are on the right path of adopting the priorities and worldview of Jesus.  The question is not whether we have fulfilled Matthew 25 perfectly.  The question is whether we have embraced Jesus’s worldview.  He wants our hearts.  If we embrace his priorities, he is both willing and able to mold us into the people he wants us to be, through the power of the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.  If we allow the Holy Spirit to work his worldview ever more deeply into the fabric of our lives, we will become ever more like Jesus – our character following the mold of his character, our concerns reflecting his concerns, our actions manifesting his love to the world and responding to needs wherever he can be found.

Am I willing to let the Holy Spirit mold me so that I take on the heart of Jesus and allow him to work his priorities into my actions?  Am I willing to show forth his love to the poorest of the poor?  If I’m willing, he is able.  May it be so!

Notes regarding 2 issues people find in this passage:

Are individuals or nations judged?

Some theologians claim that the final judgment story is talking about God’s judgment of nations, not individual people.  They argue that in Matthew, “the nations” usually refers to nations other than Israel, and “brothers” usually means Christians, so they claim that Jesus is saying that the Gentile nations will be judged by how they treat Christians (see, for example, Father Daniel Harrington, p. 101). 

Both Catholic and Protestant theologians have rejected this argument.  Father Benedict Viviano, O. P., points out (The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, par. 145, p. 669) that in Matthew 24:9 and 14, and in Matthew 28:19, Jesus uses the term “all nations” in a way that includes Israel, not just the Gentile nations.  Furthermore, Matthew often uses the word “brothers” to include all humans, not just Christians – for example, in the Sermon on the Mount.  As a result, the idea that this is only a judgment about nations is not well supported.

H. L. Ellison uses the grammar of the passage to show that argues that Jesus is talking about individual people, not just nations (Ellison, p. 1148).  When Jesus says that the king separates “them” (Matt. 25:32), the Greek word for “them” is masculine, which indicates people.  If he was referring to the nations, the neuter form of the word “them” would have been required.  So this is an individual judgment, applying to each person.

Myron Augsburger adds that, although Jesus uses the word “brothers” in verse 40, he does not use that word in verse 45.  There, Jesus says the goats did not help the “least” ones – i.e., the needy in general, not specifically Christians (pp. 283-284).  Jesus is warning us about how all individuals should treat all individuals who are in need.

Is Jesus suggesting that we can earn our way to salvation by our works?

Some people struggle with how to fit this passage into a “faith versus works” framework.  Jesus never separated faith from helping others.  We can’t save ourselves, but he made it very clear that he expects us to help the hungry, the stranger, the sick, those in prison, etc.

If there is a “faith vs. works” contradiction between what Jesus says here and what modern-day preachers preach, we would have to choose Jesus’s own words over modern re-interpretations of the gospel, since Jesus is our Lord and God.  However, there is no contradiction.  Faith and service to those in need are both central teachings of Christ.  See Faith Versus Works: What Does the Gospel of Matthew Say for a discussion of how faith and works come together rather than being in opposition to each other.

Regarding this specific passage and the concern that it undermines a commitment to faith, evangelical scholar H. L. Ellison says that this passage “is intended to be a warning to us.  Since from His brothers, He [Jesus] will expect more, not less, this can serve as a check on the reality of our profession” (Ellison, p. 1148).  In other words, we can test the genuineness of our profession of faith by how we respond to the plain words of Jesus in this passage.

On the other end of the spectrum, some people use this passage to argue that faith in Christ is not necessary – that how we treat the poor is all that matters.  Catholic scholar Benedict T. Viviano, O.P., responds that the passage “is addressed to Christian disciples, and discipleship is understood, in a very bold way, as identical with care of the needy.  This is not a denial of faith; it is of the essence of faith” (The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, par. 145, p. 669).  Jesus is not here rejecting his consistent call to faith; he is showing us one element of what faith looks like in action.

If our understanding of the Christian faith does not include an understanding both of the centrality of service to those in need and of the centrality of faith in Christ, we do not understand Jesus as presented to us in the Scriptures upon which our faith is based.

This passage presents the Word of God to us.  What do you think Jesus would say to those who think the passage contradicts the gospel message about how we are “saved”?