I was walking home from the L the other night, and I started to think about Matthew 25. Yes, this is why I'm doing a doctorate in New Testament. Anyways, I started to think about the climax of the chapter, and really of the whole gospel (apart from the Passion narrative), in 25:31-46 - the division sheep and the goats.
I started thinking about what it says - "whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done also to me," Jesus tells us. By the same token, those divided out as "goats" in the text have the tables turned - because they didn't clothe, feed, visit, etc. the "least of these," they're disowned by Jesus.
I wondered to myself - what if we took seriously the notion that some things that we DO choose to do might put us in the "goat" category? After all, here the goats are defined by what they have not done. What about the things we do?
When we disown our child because of who he or she is, have we done that to Jesus? If we use a racial slur, have we just said that about Jesus? If we beat a homeless man to death for the thrill of it, was it Jesus that we were kicking in the alley? If we sell drugs on a street corner, are we pushing dope to Jesus? If we bomb helpless civilians, have we just obliterated Jesus and his neighborhood? If we deny poor people access to healthcare, are we forcing Jesus to decide between groceries or prescription drugs?
Food for thought.
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