March 16

Matthew 25:31-46 (Click to see scripture)

Bible in One Year Passages:

Journal Entry

Scripture

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory... 32 ...he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father... 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink..." 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?" [Omit.] 40 And the King will answer them..."as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,you did it to me."

Observation

The way the righteous answered/asked the King stuck out for me. Why not just express their thanks to the King for placing them on his right? Why bother to have the King elaborate? Maybe all of their good deeds that the King appreciated were simply part of their life style that they couldn't quite understand how the King separated them from the others? I dunno. But if I fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, so as to be called "righteous", with an ultimate reward at the end, my natural reaction might/could/would be, "Oh, yeah, I made it to the right side!", or something like that. Maybe they wanted to ensure that they indeed deserved the judgment the King gave and that there was no mistake about it by the King. The righteous were righteous even after being separated from the others. I dunno, but I'm just impressed.

By the way,there apparently is an ongoing debate on whether Jesus was referring to, by "one of the least of these my brothers" (v.40), the hungry, the thirsty, and the imprisoned, etc. (the traditional interpretation) OR his disciples (another insight); and I shall defer this issue to our pastors for our enlightenment.

Application

Gee...the righteous...just to be one of them would be a life-long struggle and journey for me (Before any "Discipleship training", I'm going to need to take a "the Righteous training" course. :o) Whether the Judgment day takes place in my life time, or standing at the gate for the ultimate judgment at the end of my life journey, I hope to be able to ask the way the righteous would (prayerfully hoping that I will be placed on the right). Practical application-wise, frankly, I am still thinking about it...this passage is quite loaded...even "the righteous" is quite loaded...

Prayer

Dear God, help me live my life as a righteous child as you would approve of; let the motives and deeds of "the righteous" be deeply embedded in my life, so that I shall be caught off-guard, wondering what I have done in my life for such a favorable judgment, as you place me on your right (as I dare to hope) at the end. In Jesus name...amen.

--Julius Bhang