Nov 25 2008
Matthew 25
“This most delightful portion of Scripture”[1] is the climax of the eschatological discourse: the judgement. Though containing parable-like elements, for example in the imagery of the sheep and goats, this is not a parable – it is presented as a future event. As Chrysostom puts it, previously Jesus said ‘the Kingdom is like’ but now he says ‘when the Son of Man shall come in his glory’ (LXXIX:1). There are no direct parallels in the other gospels to Matthew’s account of this teaching of Jesus, though the other synoptic gospels and John all have references both to Christ’s coming in glory and to a judgement by works (e.g. Mk 8:38 paralleled by Lk 9:26; Jn 5:29).
Matthew emphasises the ‘glory’ here. In a notable contrast to 16:27, where he has “in the glory of his Father”, here (25:31) “the son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him” indicating the significance of what Matthew means by ‘Son of God’. Chrysostom notes that the closer he comes to the cross, the more he speaks of ‘glory’.
The gathering before Jesus to hear his judgement is universal, ‘παντα τα εθνη’ (all the nations, or according to Chrysostom “the whole race of men”). Against those who wish this judgement to be only against pagans, Mt 16:27 and 7:21-23 argue for the inclusion of Christians and Jews also. Green argues (p263) that ‘τα εθνη’ must be “primarily” pagans – those who have never heard the good news. But even this is not so clear, given Jesus’s instruction to his disciples to “make disciples of all the nations”– the same ‘παντα τα εθνη’ (Mt 28:19).
Matthew identifies the ‘sheep’ as “οι δικαιοι” – the righteous. We have seen what Jesus’s definition of ‘righteous’ is in Matthew from the Sermon on the Mount onwards, and it is by living this life of righteousness that judgement will come (the OSB subtitle for the pericope is ‘The Judgement of Works’). Green has already made plain his avoidance of any hint of ‘works righteousness’ and he thus has some difficulty with this passage (p263). While he is right that everything takes place here in the context of a Kingdom life and relation with Christ, it is impossible to take away the fact that Jesus makes the judgement itself explicitly based on works of mercy done for him in the person of “the least of these my brethren” (25:40 etc.). Moreover, the multiple repetition of these desirous acts emphasises them strongly in the narrative and would fix them firmly in the memory of the hearers.
Who are “οι αδελφοι μου οι ελαχιστοι” – “the least of these my brethren”? Green wants these to be “Jewish or Christian” brothers, but a close parallel in Matthew is probably “οι μικροι” – the little ones of 18:6,10,14. The context of this expression closely identifies Christ with his disciples, a much closer identity than a messenger representing his master, since here those in contact with “οι αδελφοι μου οι ελαχιστοι” do not know whom they represent until it is too late. Chrysostom identifies these as the poor, the lowly and the outcast, in fact “every believer… for baptism renders a man a brother, and the divine mysteries” (LXXIX:1).
Judgement sends the ‘sheep’ into the kingdom “prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (25:34) but the ‘goats’ into the eternal fire “prepared for the devil and his angels” – Chrysostom points out the implication that those goats are going to a place that was not prepared for them, but a place that by their own conduct they have chosen (LXXIX:2). And as for the timing of the judgement, Green notes (p264) that in this pericope there is no ‘judgement’ as such, or at least no trial, just a sentence. Instead, as he implies, the judgement itself – the discernment of who is going to be among the sheep, and who among the goats – takes place in the time between Christ’s incarnation and his second coming, when he judges us each time we meet him in one of “the least of these my brethren”.
[1] The opening of John Chrysostom’s Homily LXXIX.
