The Recyclable and the Trash

Matthew 25:31-46

When the Emperor of God descends from heaven displaying his power, having all the angels of heaven surrounding him, then he will rule from his throne and every person on earth will be collected and will stand before His throne. He will judge them all and will divide them up as a rag picker will separate the useful from the trash. And the recyclable he will stand at his right, and the trash he will stand at his left.

The King will proclaim to the right, “I welcome you, those whom my Father speaks well of. You may now possess the Kingdom—my Kingdom—which has been made ready for you, the righteous of humanity, from the creation of the world. You are worthy of this, because of your assistance to me. I was hungry in your neighborhood, and you gave me food. I was parched, passing by your dwelling, and you offered me some water. I was an immigrant and outcast and you let me in your house for the night. I was walking around freezing, and you give me your coat. I was sick and you nursed me to health. I was in prison and you came and met my needs. You listened to me when I was lonely. You kept me safe when I was fearful. You gave me work when I was in need and paid me at the end of the day.” These righteous will answer the Emperor thus, “Our Lord, we thank you. But are you sure you are speaking of us? Did we really see you hungry and feed you? Did we see you needing a drink and gave you something? When did we see you—you of all people-- an outcast and bring you into our house? When were you freezing and we gave you clothes or a blanket? And when, my Lord, when were you in prison and we had opportunity to visit you?”

And the Emperor will answer them, “Listen carefully—whatever you did it to these disciples of mine—even these lowly ones— you did the same to me.”

Then the Emperor will turn to his other side. “You will leave me, you whom the Father curses with his every breath. You will be cast into the punishment which was created for Satan and his messengers. Because I came to your town, hungry, and you told me to get a job. I came to your street, parched with thirst, and you wouldn’t talk to me. I was an immigrant, a homeless person, a mentally ill person on the street, a traveler and you refused me entrance at your doorstep. I was shivering in the cold and you passed by me, although you had closets full of coats, shelves full of extra blankets you weren’t using. I became bed-ridden and disabled and you were too busy with your own life to assist me, or even check in on me. I was in prison, through no fault of my own, and in a locked mental health facility and in the state hospital and you didn’t even write to me, let alone visit me. You cannot live with me in my kingdom, since you did not share your life with me when I was with you.”

They will respond, “But Great Lord, I’m sure you weren’t hungry or thirsty! And you couldn’t have been an outcast or freezing. You were never in our neighborhood—I would remember! And you, being sick—I don’t think so. And you would never have been in prison or a mental health hospital. And if you were, we would have been there for you, serving you, Lord!” The Emperor answers, “Listen carefully, inasmuch as you did not serve these lowly ones, you did not serve me. I was there, through my disciples, as crazy as they seemed, as insignificant as they seemed, and you didn’t let them in your life. Even so, I don’t want you in mine.” And they will leave the Lord and go to eternal punishment. But those who acted with justice lived with the Lord eternally.

A Parable or the Real Thing?

Some think of this passage as a parable. But other parables don’t take place all in future tense, nor give such a clear, plain description of judgment day. Yes, it uses the simile of the sheep and the goats for a single verse, but the text quickly forgets it and gets back to the stark, though spiritual, reality. The reality is this: Jesus is coming back to earth to establish a world-wide takeover. When he is emperor of the world, then he will put every person in front of him, and they will all be judged. There are many references to Jesus’ judging the world (John 5, II Corinthians 5, I Corinthians 3, to name a few), but this is the most detailed description.

Service and Salvation

Like all passages about judgment, it has a clear message of what one must do to be saved on this day. And if we don’t get it the first time, then we can hear it again. And again. Four times in all. What do we do to be saved on the final day? We must serve the poor. Anyone in need, we work for them. It is interesting that it doesn’t talk about giving them money. Rather it talks about using what small resources we have and directly providing their needs. So the saved one, when he sees someone hungry, he feeds them. She will see someone homeless and house them. They know of someone sick and they nurse them to health. It is interesting about the section about those in prison. Those in prison in the ancient world are not granted food or other care. It is expected that their family and friends would do that. So the one who really assists the other is the one who feeds them, cares for them when no one else would.
Even as Jesus before focused on giving to the poor or repenting or being persecuted, now he shows that the one item that is significant on the judgment day is service. And this isn’t service in general. Rather it is free provision to those in need, directly to their area of need, without expecting anything in return.

Faithfulness to the absent king

But haven’t we always learned that salvation is based on faith, not works? Doesn’t this passage teach just the opposite. Actually, this passage teaches what the whole New Testament affirms—that we obtain our salvation by acting on our faith in Jesus. If, this passage teaches, you believe in Jesus, then you will help out those who are disciples of Jesus when they are in need. Because if we help out the disciples of Jesus in need, then we are, by proxy, helping Jesus himself.
The message of the Sheep and the Goats is that the King is absent for right now, and how we treat his servants is how we will be treated. If we don’t invite the people of Jesus in our lives by feeding, clothing, housing and caring for them, then Jesus will not want us in His life, in the kingdom of God. But if we welcome the people of Jesus in need, then we will be welcomed by Jesus into his kingdom.
Some might say, “Is this passage only talking about the church? Isn’t Jesus talking about all the poor?” The passage says specifically of the people Jesus calls his “brothers”. In Matthew, Jesus’ “brothers” are specifically those who are his disciples who do God’s will (Matthew 12:48-50). So it is especially for the church. And it is in agreement with Matthew 10:40-42 which says that those who offer hospitality, “even a cup of cold water” to Jesus’ prophets, righteous people and disciples “because he is a disciple” then they will obtain their reward from God—that is, entrance in the kingdom. This does not mean that helping the homeless and needy in general isn’t a benefit. But it may or may not be an act of faith. Helping Jesus’ disciples specifically is an act of faith.

The Big Test

This passage certainly tells us to help the poor, which many in the church want to do anyway. But it has a special challenge to the church today. Often the church sees itself as being specifically middle class. Yes, they say, there are certainly Christians who are persecuted all throughout the world. But the church often assumes that the “crazy man” pretending to pray on the corner isn’t a “real” Christian. The homeless man who used to be a drug addict and can’t get off of the street can’t be a Christian. Those who have to beg for their food aren’t real believers. So when we help the homeless or the mentally ill, we assume that these are people who need to be saved. As a contrast, Jesus himself says that these believers on the street, rather than only being a marginal Christian are the center of the faith. We will be judged on our every response to these folks, more than any other act. Every act we do is important, but how we respond to the cold, the poor, the helpless, the mentally ill, is how we will be treated by Jesus on the final day.

Universal Determination

There is one last shock in this passage. Everyone goes through this judgment. Not just believers, not just non-believers. Everyone. Without exception. And Jesus isn’t having everyone show their faith statements they signed before they enter the judgment hall. Or their church affiliation. Rather, he is ONLY looking at people’s response to the helpless disciple. Thus, we will all be surprised as to who will be on the one side or the other on Judgment Day. There will be some pretty immoral folks on the side the Father speaks well of. And there will be some people we thought of as “living saints” on the rejected side with the demons. All of it based on whether one is helping the helpless disciple. Our whole eternal life could be based on one time of us either saying “no” or “yes” to a Christian in need, depending on how many opportunities we receive.

How we treat the lowly disciple is how we will be treated by God

source: http://www.nowheretolayhishead.org/therecyclableandthetrash.html