Suggested Emphasis
“As for you, my sheep, says the Lord God, I will judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats.”
Salesian Perspective
Judgment Day, Part 2.
Still has a sense of finality to it, doesn’t it?
It should.
St. Francis de Sales wrote: “Consider that last sentence passed on to the wicked: ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his companions.’ Weigh well these heavy words. Depart, he says. It is a word of eternal abandonment that God utters to those unhappy souls and by it he banishes them forever from his face. He calls them cursed…Consider the contrary sentence passed on the good. Come, says the Judge. Ah, this is the sweet word of salvation by which God draws us to himself and receives us into the bosom of his goodness…O welcome blessing, which includes all blessings!” (Introduction to the Devout Life, Part I, Chapter 14)
The parable in today's Gospel is noticeably clear: there will be a final judgment. What is also clear is that both the good and the evil failed to recognize how the seeds of this last judgment were planted in their everyday interactions with others. Re-read the text: both groups asked the question, “When did we see you…when did we welcome you…when did we visit you…when did we give you…?” Right up until the last day, both groups failed to grasp the intimate relationship between God’s judgment of us and our relationships to one another. Both groups failed to recognize the connection between the love of God and performing simple, ordinary acts of love for others.
This parable challenges us to recognize that the final judgment is not a one-time event: in the eyes of God – in the eyes of the God who judges justly - this judgment is an ongoing, daily event. God is extremely interested in judging how we use each moment of our lives, not simply the last one.
But while this parable speaks volumes about God's judgment, it also has a lot to say about our own judgment. In the end, the final judgment is heavily impacted by the kind of judgment we use in relating to one another, day in, day out, in the most unique, as well as the most ordinary, of life's events, circumstances, responsibilities and demands.
What do our affections, attitudes and actions toward others every day say about the final disposition of our souls? What does the way we live our lives on earth say about our lives in the hereafter?
You be the judge.
