***
Gospel: Matthew 25: 31-46
Jesus said to his disciples:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory,
and all the angels with him,
he will sit upon his glorious throne,
and all the nations will be assembled before him.
And he will separate them one from another,
as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Then the king will say to those on his right,
‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father.
Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me drink,
a stranger and you welcomed me,
naked and you clothed me,
ill and you cared for me,
in prison and you visited me.’
Then the righteous will answer him and say,
‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,
or thirsty and give you drink?
When did we see you a stranger and welcome you,
or naked and clothe you?
When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’
And the king will say to them in reply,
‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did
for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.’
Then he will say to those on his left,
‘Depart from me, you accursed,
into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
For I was hungry and you gave me no food,
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
a stranger and you gave me no welcome,
naked and you gave me no clothing,
ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’
Then they will answer and say,
‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty
or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison,
and not minister to your needs?’
He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you,
what you did not do for one of these least ones,
you did not do for me.’
And these will go off to eternal punishment,
but the righteous to eternal life.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
***
***
Growing up, I absolutely hated math. I still do. Numbers and equations don’t flow logically from my mind the way words do. But there was one subject that made a little more sense to me than others: geometry.
Geometry deals with shapes and sizes. For example, in geometry, you learn how a square becomes a cube. How a circle becomes a sphere. How a triangle becomes a pyramid. It’s all about adding a third-dimension.
Little did I ever imagine these ideas would also provide an analogy for divine judgment and eternal life.
***
Consider eternal life the “third dimension,” where we become the perfect version of ourselves. Whatever you were in life, you are in death.
For example, if you were a circle in life, then you become a sphere in eternity.
If you were a square, then you become a cube.
A triangle, a pyramid.
If you are God’s imperfect friend in life, then you become God’s perfect friend in eternity.
Heaven is the “third dimension.”
What, then, is the criterion for the final judgment? How can we determine what we’ll become?
Part of the answer is revealed in today’s Gospel.
***
This is Jesus’ final sermon. Here he makes the standard clear: whatever we do to one another, we do to God himself.
Perhaps no one understood this better in the 20th century than Mother Teresa. Once in an interview, she was asked, “Mother Teresa, you freely choose to live among the poorest of the poor. You’re surrounded by constant hunger, thirst, and death. Why?”
She reached out, grabbed one of the reporter’s hands and on each of his five fingers repeated a word of Jesus:
You. Did. It. To. Me.
“We are not social workers,” she said. “Every day, we touch the body of Christ.”
***
Saint Paul learned the same lesson.
Prior to his conversion, Paul persecuted Christians. He dragged them out of their homes, beat them, imprisoned them, and even killed them.
One day while he was riding along the road to Damascus, the Lord appeared to him in a flash of light. Blinded by the brightness, Paul hears a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
Paul was not only mistreating other human beings; mysteriously, he was doing it to the Lord himself. Overcome by such a radical truth, Paul was forever changed.
As he would later write, “Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.”
Consider how this applies to our own lives – and to our world – today. Think about the way we treat one another at home, at school, at work. Or the many conflicts raging around the world.
Whatever we do to one another – good, bad, or indifferent – mysteriously, we are doing to the Lord himself, setting the stage for our future.
As Paul reminds us elsewhere, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil.”
***
Is there anything this Gospel passage excludes from the final judgment?
Aristotle defined wisdom as, “attention to the whole.” Meaning, we cannot read a single bible passage – even Christ’s final sermon, “The Judgment of the Nations” – and consider it as speaking for the whole; we must consider all things the Lord has said.
While charity is paramount, other things are also important, including: communal worship, private prayer, the study of scripture, self-discipline, and living a moral life.
Yes, we care for others. But we also care for our own soul.
Is there any aspect of the Christian life that I’m neglecting – not just in terms of charity, but also in terms of prayer, study, or worship?
***
I was never much of a mathematician. But I did learn something in geometry. The perfection of a square is a cube. The perfection of a circle is a sphere.
The perfection of a Christian is becoming God’s friend for eternity. What we do now lays the foundation for our future.
What does that mean for me this week?
***
***
Image credits: (1) First Baptist Church (2) Geeks for Geeks (3) Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef