I'm not a scholar of The Book, but I read it. As I understand, in the 2nd half of Matthew 25 Jesus himself gives us the only picture of what the immediate after life might look like. Possibly judgement day. I don't know.
Six things: Did you feed me? clothe me? something to drink? care for my sickness? invite me in? visit me in prison?
Not: Did you preach to me? convert me? ridicule away my culture? expect me to join your culture? attend meetings? have perfect attendence?...
...just saying.
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12 comments:
good reminder, thanks!
Powerful thoughts. Very subversive. Amen. Preach it, brutha!
Blessings...
you know what the crazy thing about MT 25 is? Jesus is talking about how his disciples are to treat the least of his followers. if we are to show such concern for the least within the body of Christ, how much more concern should we show to those who are without?
I was unaware that Mt 25 was about the least-of-these followers. Please elaborate why this is. Thanks.
i read somewhere that this also implies that jesus is telling us that when we see someone in need, or suffering or what ever we are seeing jesus in his current incarnation.
makes it hard to walk past "bums"
sure agent b. look how Jesus characterizes "the least of these" in this passage. they are:
a. "those who have been blessed by my Father" - we can hear hints of the Abramic blessing of Gen. 12:1-3 here.
b. "take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world" - here we have strong intimations of the election of God, who called both Israel (Ex. 19:5-6) and the church (I Pet. 2:5) to be a Kingdom of Priests and a holy nation.
c. in 25:40b jesus speaks of the least not as strangers or foreigners, but as "these brothers of mine."
it seems pretty clear to me that jesus expected his disciples, who he warned would receive the same measure granted unto Him, to suffer great indignity and persecution. thus, it is not suprising that he speaks of them as "the least of these."
please note: this idea does not originate with me and i have only provided the most basic defense of my assertion. however, i think that interpreting "the least of these" as jesus' disciples and perhaps even the jews makes a lot of exegetical sense.
pax.
Gentry:
I don't understand (a) & (b). Those quotes are addressed to those followers who helped. Not the ones being helped. So it goes.
(c) is understood. But I always thought Jesus loved the poor, widows, orphans, aliens, etc. regardless if they were following him. Thus, the "bros of mine" is how he'd address any poor people.
Gentry (or anyone): In your spare time give me passages or examples for defending, helping, serving the poor regardless if they're believers or not.
I'm not trying to argue. Just creating discussion and I've got some errands to run, so I can't do my own study now...
Thanks.
dude, there are plenty of verses to support God's mercy for the fatherless of any race, nationality, color or creed. if you do a keyword search throughout the old testament on words like "fatherless," "widow," and "orphan," you'll see what i mean.
also, allow me to reiterate that the fact that most scholars and little old me think that Jesus is referring specifically to the disciples in MT 25, does not mean that Jesus does not concern for everyone who has need. like i said, if we are to treat disciples by clothing, feeding, visiting, how much more should we serve those outside or on the margins of our faith who have these needs? while we need to serve those inside, there is even more honor in serving those who are outside (see lk. 14:12-14. the things we do for insiders likely will be "repaid" in due time. however, the things we do for outsiders will most likely only be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous).
Thanks.
I've never been big on "us only". Sure, Gal 6:10 makes a good point to take care of "us" first. But many of our faith denominations only look to help within. And their help within becomes temporary.
Then there's people of other faiths. They rarely help the fatherless unless it's one of there own.
yeah, i'd be really troubled if someone skewed jesus' teaching to deny mercy, compassion and justice to those outside the kingdom. that would be a travesty.
b.
james 1:27, luke 4:17-21, matt 11:28-30, 1 john 3:16-20, luke 16:19-31... these are kinda my run-home-to-mama scriptures on social justice.
great post.
Agent B, I see Matt 25 as part of the overall theme in the new testament calling us to bear fruit. Of course there is evangelistic fruit but there is also other kinds of fruit including those you have highlighted such as serving and caring about those around us. While we all play different roles in the larger sense of the great commission, we all are under obligation to let our light shine, preach the gospel, and to love a lost world. I try to bear multiple kinds of fruit rather than focus on one type.
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