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Edited on Sat Sep-11-10 12:21 PM by Joe Chi Minh
description of the Last Judgment, the only one to be found in the whole of Christian scripture:
Matthew 25:31–46
31"But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34Then the King will tell those on his right hand, 'Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. 36I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.'
37"Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you; or thirsty, and give you a drink? 38When did we see you as a stranger, and take you in; or naked, and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?'
40"The King will answer them, 'Most certainly I tell you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' 41Then he will say also to those on the left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels; 42for I was hungry, and you didn't give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; 43I was a stranger, and you didn't take me in; naked, and you didn't clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn't visit me.'
44"Then they will also answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn't help you?'
45"Then he will answer them, saying, 'Most certainly I tell you, inasmuch as you didn't do it to one of the least of these, you didn't do it to me.' 46These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
It is no small matter, and, of course, one that will loom larger and larger, as we approach our ultimate meeting with our Maker.
Abraham's words in that parable to the effect that Lazarus received bad things in this life, and he, the rich man, good things, and that it was only right that this situation sould be reversed in the next, seems, on the face of it, an astonishing over-simplification, since we know that there are and have been many rich virtuous people;.
However, it is clear that Christ (via Abraham's words) was alluding to the majority of the rich, who are and ever were, heedless of the plight of the poor, and indeed exploit(ed) them all the more mercilessly. By his couching the matter in these ostensibly simplistic terms, however, Christ seems to be mocking them, as blind animals who could not envisage any of their economic peers having a conscience, that where our treasure is, there our heart, that it is on the basis of our hearts that we shall be judged, or that their actions will have the direst eternal consequences for themselves.
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