Sunday: Ordinary 34A, Proper 29A. Gospel

Introduction
Having answered the disciples' question concerning the "when" and the "sign" of his "coming and the end of the age", Jesus gives his disciples a visionary description of the day of judgment. In that day the righteous, the blessed ones, will be separated from the unrighteous, the cursed ones. The righteous are blessed because they are compassionate, a compassion that is theirs in Christ.

The passage
v31. Although Jesus doesn't identify the "Son of Man" with himself, there is no other reasonable possibility. This "Son of Man" is Daniel's Son of Man, the one who comes before the Ancient of Days to receive a kingdom and to reign in glory and power, Dan.7, Jol.3:1-12. His coming is a coming to heaven, not a coming to earth - the Son of Man gathers the saints (his "angels") and takes them to glory. Although impossible to understand, in eternal terms he has already done this, Eph.2:6.
v32-33. Just as the farmer separates his sheep and goats at evening time, so the Son of Man will separate all humanity into two groups, with those at his right hand given power and honour.
v34-40. The righteous, the blessed ones, are obviously Jesus' disciples, believers. They now receive the inheritance of the kingdom, an inheritance the Father prepared for them before the beginning of time. The crucial question is, how did they earn this reward? It could be argued that love of the downtrodden, or more particularly brotherly love, is how they earned their salvation, but love of the brotherhood is more rightly a fruit of salvation, a fruit of faith (cf. 2Cor.5:10 - a similar idea). A believer, motivated by the compelling love of the indwelling Spirit of Christ, loves their brother in the Lord, although always imperfectly. So, the "righteous" receive their reward because of their faith in Jesus, not because they are loving.
v41-45. The "cursed" are banished to eternal fire; their end the same as the Devil and his demons. "True disciples will love one another and serve the least brother with compassion; in so doing they unconsciously serve Christ. Those who have little sympathy for the gospel of the kingdom will remain indifferent and in so doing, reject the Messiah King", Donald Carson. The condemnation of the unrighteous proceeds of the ground of their failure to offer compassion to broken humanity. Only in Christ's perfect compassion was there a way for them to escape condemnation, but they chose to ignore Jesus. So, being without faith they must face the consequences.
v46. The final day brings complete separation. The righteous in Christ to eternal life, the cursed to annihilation.

The terrible day
In our passage for study Jesus paints a picture of the day of judgment. It is a day of sorting: sheep to the right, goats to the left; blessed to the right, cursed to the left. One can imagine that many who stand before the Son of Man on that day will assume that the Judge will weigh up their life, the good and bad of it, and as long as the good outweighs the bad they will be granted entry to heaven. Yet, they are going to be shocked because God's judgment is based on an exceedingly great expectation, one which is beyond the norm. Jesus makes it quite clear that a failure to act with total compassion serves as a personal affront to God, an affront that leads to "the eternal fire."
When it comes to the subject of salvation, of finding ourselves on the right side of God and not on the left with the goats, Jesus often uses reverse psychology. Eternal life has always rested on a free acceptance of the mercy of God. The trouble is, people often think that getting to heaven is all about being good. It is this type of flawed thinking that Jesus constantly seeks to expose, and our passage for study is a perfect example of Jesus doing just that. If we honestly take to heart Jesus' words, we have to accept that we stand with the "accursed". But, is that the end of it?
The truth is that the only way a person will get to the right side of God and possess eternal life is if Jesus gets them there. Salvation, getting saved, staying saved, is totally dependent on the mercy of God; it is a gift of God, ours for the asking. Of course, such a person will reflect their standing with Jesus by their love of those who love Jesus, but in the end, it is their faith in Jesus, their trust in his promised mercy, that secures eternal life.
So, take the warning; a person's eternal security depends on God's love, not our own.

Discussion
1. What are the requirements for selection to the right side of the King? How are these requirement met in Jesus?
2. What evidence is there that the blessed and the cursed do not represent two separate components of the Christian community, namely true believers and professing believers?
3. Discuss the issue of eternal damnation. Is it eternal punishment, or eternal loss?

Lectionary Bible Studies and Sermons

Matthew