The Universal Judgment

"When the Son of Man comes in HIS glory with all HIS angels, HE will sit on the throne of HIS glory.  All the nations will be brought before HIM; and, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, so will HE do with them, placing the sheep on HIS right hand and the goats on HIS left.

The KING will say to those on HIS right, 'Come, blessed of MY FATHER!  Take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world.  For I was hungry, and you fed ME.  I was thirsty, and you gave ME something to drink.  I was a stranger, and you welcomed ME into your home.  I was naked, and you clothed ME.  I was sick, and you visited ME.  I was in prison, and you came to see ME.'

Then the righteous will ask HIM, 'LORD, when did we see YOU hungry, and give YOU food; thirsty, and give YOU something to drink; or a stranger, and welcome YOU; or naked, and clothe YOU?  When did we see YOU sick, or in prison, and go to see YOU?'  The king will answer, 'Truly I say to you: just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of MINE, you did it to ME.'

The HE will say to those on HIS left, 'Go, cursed people, out of MY sight, into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels!  For I was hungry, and you did not give ME anything to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave ME nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not welcome ME into your house; I was naked, and you did not clothe ME; I was sick, and in prison, and you did not visit ME.'

They, too, will ask, 'LORD, when did we see YOU hungry, thirsty, naked or a stranger, sick or in prison, and di not help YOU?  The king will answer them, 'Truly I say to you: just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it for ME.'

And these will go into eternal punishment; but the just, to eternal life.' " - Matthew 25:31-46

(We know that Christians are a minority in the world.  As we do now, the Jews wondered about the majority of nations in the world, who were not among the Chosen People and did not know about GOD or HIS promises.  The Jews envisioned a huge multitude, ready to "devour them," a restless world where GOD should one day impose HIS law.  They used to call them the nations.

JESUS goes beyond these narrow perspectives and shows us how HE will judge everyone, making no distinctions based on origins when HE comes as KING of all nations.  All those who, without knowing CHRIST, have shared in the common destiny of humankind, will be judged by HIM.  In fact, HE never abandoned them but placed at their side "those little ones who are HIS brothers and sisters," as HIS representatives.

See, CHRIST reveals the innumerable human deeds that have built what is best in our civilization, and people brought before HIM look with amazement at the GOD whom they loved or despised in the person of their neighbor.  Although the majority of them never thought of the afterlife, the kingdom of GOD is presented to them with its only law: Love.

There is no neutral place.  The fire means the torment of those who condemned themselves by closing and freezing their hearts so that they became incapable of love: now the splendor of GOD, who is love, burns and pains them.

Whenever you did this to one of these little ones, my brothers and sisters.  JESUS speaks of looking after our neighbor, be he friend or foe, not of serving the community, or a class, or a nation in general, because using these words, we often exclude a group of our brothers and sisters, who do not belong to our nation or to our class.  On the other hand, one who really loves, acknowledges his sisters and brothers without giving to much importance to any labels: it is the person who exists and lives for GOD.)

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The Israelite Proclaims His Faith

"Then the priest shall take the large basket from your hands and place it before the altar of YAHWEH, your GOD, and you shall say these words before YAHWEH, 'My father was a wandering Aramean.  He went down to Egypt to find refuge there, while still few in number; but in that country, he became a great and powerful nation.

The Egyptians maltreated us, oppressed us and subjected us to harsh slavery.  So we called to YAHWEH, the GOD of our fathers, and YAHWEH listened to us.  HE saw our humiliation, our hard labor and the oppression to which we were subjected.  HE brought us out of Egypt with a firm hand, manifesting HIS power with signs and awesome wonders.  And HE brought us here to give us this land flowing with milk and honey.  So now I bring and offer the first fruits of the land which YOU, YAHWEH, have given me." - Deuteronomy 26:4-10 

The Promised Land

(My father was a wandering Aramean.  This paragraph is like a profession of faith for the Israelites. They know they were chosen from among pagan Arameans and that GOD, after liberating them, had given them the prosperity they were enjoying.  Likewise, the various formulations of the "creed" which the Church now uses, place at the very center the liberating work that GOD, FATHER, SON and HOLY SPIRIT, realizes for our benefit.)  

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Call Of Levi

"After this, JESUS went out, and noticing a tax collector named Levi, sitting in the tax-office, HE said to him, 'Follow ME!'  So Levi, leaving everything, got up and followed JESUS.

Levi gave a great feast for JESUS, and many tax collectors came to his house, and took their places at the table with the other people.  Then the Pharisees and their followers complained to JESUS' disciples, 'How is it, that you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?'  But JESUS spoke up, 'Healthy people don't need a doctor, but sick people do.  I have not come to call the just, but sinners, to a change of heart.'" - Luke 5:27-32  

(The events related in this chapter show how JESUS situates HIMSELF in society and with what people HE relates: with a small group of fishermen who will be in charge of HIS new movement, with lepers and sick people who seek HIM.  HE calls people who, like Levi, belong to a despised group.)

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The Kind Of Fast That Pleases ME

"Cry out aloud for all you are worth;

raise your voice like a trumpet blast;

tell MY people of their offenses,

Jacob's family of their sins.

Is it true that they seek ME

day after day, longing to know MY ways,

as a people that does what is right

and has not forsaken the word of its GOD?

They want to know the just laws

and not to drift away from their GOD.

'Why are we fasting,' they complain,

'and YOU do not even see it?

We are doing penance, and YOU never notice it.'

Look, on your fast days you push your trade

and you oppress your laborers.

Yes, you fast but end up quarreling,

striking each other with wicked blows.

Fasting as you do

will not make your voice heard on high.

Is that the kind of fast that pleases ME,

just a day for a man to humble himself?

Is fasting merely bowing down one's head,

and making use of sackcloth and ashes?

Would you call that fasting

a day acceptable to YAHWEH?

See the fast that pleases ME:

breaking the fetters of injustice

and unfastening the thongs of the yoke,

setting the oppressed free

and breaking every yoke.

Fast by sharing your food with the hungry,

bring to your house the homeless,

clothe the man you see naked

and do not turn away from your own kin.

Then will your light break forth as the dawn

and your healing come in a flash.

Your righteousness will be your vanguard,

the Glory of YAHWEH your rearguard.

Then you will call, and YAHWEH will answer,

you will cry and HE will say, I AM here."
- Isaiah 58:1-9

(Is it true that they seek ME... as a people that does what is right?  In spite of having a clear conscience, they are concerned because of GOD's silence.  They may have committed some sin without knowing it?  Perhaps GOD likes to see humiliated people ask for favors?  So, they lie in sackcloth and ashes.  They resemble many Christians who are satisfied with being "practicing" Christians without understanding that the kind of practice that GOD seeks is to give peace to all HIS people.

Why are we fasting and YOU do not even see it.  The people of Judah fast so that GOD will hear their petitions.  These could be public prayers to ask for rain.

Is it perhaps only a matter of bowing the head?  GOD neither wants the death of the sinner nor the humiliation of HIS creature.  GOD loves people, but HE loves them all and not only the little landowners of Judah fearful for their crops; HE also loves the laborers and the slaves of these little landholders.  GOD's demands are clear: do away with unjust chains and share with the rest.

Unfastening the thongs of the yoke.  Here we have a glimpse of the tremendous effort demanded of all in order to do away with every form of slavery: from the small privileges that working companions compete for, to the laws that keep entire groups marginated.  It includes breaking the yoke of husbands' domination over their wives and the disputes between neighbors when no one dares to take the first step.

It is not enough to be converted to GOD "from the heart," for conversion comes about by changing both persons and structures.  These make us share in the injustices and sins of the society in which we live.  An incredible number of sins - corruption, prostitution, violence - are linked to colonialism and the economic and cultural dependence that go with it.

Sharing your food with the hungry: and that on a world scale for humankind is one, the only Adam of whom CHRIST is the head.

Your light will break forth as the dawn.  We see the leaders of the nations come together, discuss and study in order to solve the urgent problems of humanity.  No light breaks forth.  It is a known fact that the research of a scientist does not bring him directly to great discoveries.  Rather, he often finds the solution suddenly where he did not expect it.  In the same way, human problems resist theoretical solutions, but unexpected ways will be found when every nation and every segment of society willingly shares and no longer oppresses others.)   

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Let Me Seek Not So Much To Be Consoled As To Console, To Be Understood As To Understand, To Be Loved As To Love.

"And HE added, 'The Son of Man must suffer many things.  HE will be rejected by the elders and chief priests and teachers of the law and be put to death.  Then after three days HE will be raised to life.'

JESUS also said to all the people, 'If you wish to be a follower of MINE, deny yourself and take up your cross each day, and follow ME!  For if you choose to save your life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for MY sake, you will save it.  What does it profit you to gain the whole world, if you destroy or damage yourself?'" - Luke 9:22-25 

(Why did JESUS ask HIS apostles the questions we have just read?  The Gospel answers clearly: because the time had come for JESUS to announce HIS passion to them.  JESUS had not only come to teach people but to open for them the door leading to the Resurrection.  Since HIS apostles now know HIM to be the Savior promised to Israel, they must learn that there is no salvation if death is not conquered [1 Corinthians 15:25].  JESUS will obtain this victory when HE freely chooses the way of the cross: the Son of Man has to suffer much and be rejected by the authorities.

Immediately after that, JESUS adds that we must all share in HIS victory over death: You must deny yourself: this is the fundamental orientation of our life.  We must choose between serving and being served, sacrificing ourselves for others or taking advantage of them.  Or, as a well-known prayer puts it: Let me seek not so much to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.

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Doing Good For GOD Alone

"Be careful not to make a show of your good deeds before people.  If you do so, you do not gain anything from your FATHER in heaven.  When you give something to the poor, do not have it trumpeted before you, as do those who want to be noticed in the synagogues and in the streets, in order to be praised by people.  I assure you; they have their reward.

If you give something to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your gift remains really secret.  Your FATHER, who sees what is kept secret, will reward you.

When you pray, do not be like those who want to be noticed.  They love to stand and pray in the synagogues or on street corners, in order to be seen by everyone.  When you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your FATHER who is with you in secret; and your FATHER who sees what is kept secret will reward you." - Matthew 6:1-6  

(After the six opposites ["but I say to you"], Matthew gives us three examples of another secret without which we shall not see GOD: work for HIM alone without wanting anyone to know, and in such a way that we ourselves will have immediately forgotten what we have done.

Those who make a show.  The expression appears three times with reference to good deeds, prayer and fasting.  JESUS uses a word often translated as "being hypocrites," which refers in a general way to those who make a show, or who are shallow, and make fun of the things of GOD.

It is perhaps difficult not to want to be seen by others, but it is far more difficult to do good without looking at oneself and being satisfied because: "I am good."  It is, nevertheless, the way of enabling us to enter into the secrets of GOD.)

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The Reward For Those Who Follow JESUS

"Peter spoke up and said, 'We have given up everything to follow YOU.  JESUS answered, 'Truly, there is no one who has left house, or brothers or sisters, or father or mother, or children, or lands, for MY sake, and for the gospel, who will not receive his reward.  I say to you: even in the midst of persecution, he will receive a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and lands in the present time; and, in the world to come, eternal life.  Do pay attention: many who now are the first will be last, and the last, first.'" - Mark 10:28-31  

(There is no one who has left house... These words of JESUS that we find again in Mathew 19:29 and Luke 18:29 have been given here a notable addition: with persecution.  Once the Gospel had been preached the Church began to suffer persecution: From the year 34, then again in 41 and 62 in Jerusalem, in 64 in Rome with the great persecution ordered by the emperor Nero.  During these persecutions Christians experienced the bonds that united them, often stronger than family relationships.  Hunted, obliged to hide, they found hundreds of brothers and sisters ready with houses to give them refuge.  JESUS does not only speak of reward in the next life.  Already in this world, in the midst of persecution, those who sacrifice themselves for the kingdom will find friendship, joy an human fulfillment far greater than anything they could have hoped for.)

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JESUS And The Rich Man

"Just as JESUS was setting out on HIS journey again, a man ran up, knelt before HIM and asked, 'Good Master, what must I do to have eternal life?'

JESUS answered, 'Why do you call ME good?  No one is good but GOD alone.  You know the commandments: Do not kill; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; do not cheat; honor your father and your mother.'  The man replied, 'I have obeyed all these commandments since my childhood.'

Then JESUS looked steadily at him and loved him; and HE said, 'For you, one thing is lacking.  Go, sell what you have, and give the money to the poor; and you will have riches in heaven.  Then, come, and follow ME.'  On hearing these words, his face fell, and he went away sorrowful, for he was a man of great wealth." - Mark 10:17-22 

(He who comes to JESUS is a young man, according to Matthew [19:16].  Luke calls him an important man [18:18].

With deliberation JESUS asks him: Why do you call ME good?  As if JESUS is saying: "Do you not see that you are thirsty for GOD and that you will find HIM if you live with ME?"  

This man asks JESUS the way that leads to eternal life; but JESUS does not have any new commandment to teach.  In the Old Testament everything had already been said about what a person should do to win eternal life: by observing the commandments of justice and compassion.  Now JESUS proposes to him a new way and a new experience of liberty, through becoming HIS follower and imitator.

Sell what you have.  Happiness does not consist in leaving all one has, but in being free of it all in order to submit oneself to CHRIST.)

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No Healthy Tree Bears Bad Fruit, No Poor Tree Bears Good Fruit.

"No healthy tree bears bad fruit, no poor tree bears good fruit.  And each tree is known by the fruit it bears: you don't gather figs from thorns, or grapes from brambles.  Similarly, the good person draws good things from the good stored in his heart, and an evil person draws evil things from the evil stored in his heart.  For the mouth speaks from the fullness of the heart." - Luke 6:43-45  

(These sayings were already mentioned in Matthew 7:15. Here, however, Luke gives them a different meaning by referring to a pure conscience.  We must purify our mind and our spirit to become the tree that produces good fruits.)

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Let The Children Come To ME

"People were bringing their little children to HIM to have HIM touch them, and the disciples rebuked them for this.

When JESUS noticed it, HE was very angry and said, 'Let the children come to me and don't stop them, for the kingdom of GOD belongs to such as these.  Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of GOD like a child will not enter it.'  Then HE took the children in HIS arms and laying HIS hands on them, blessed them." - Mark 10:13-16  

(JESUS, despite having no children of HIS own, opens to everyone the richness of HIS heart.  HE marvels at the mystery of life that begins full of hope and discovers the likeness of the FATHER in every unknown child.  How could JESUS, who asks us to have hope, forget that the children are also our hope?

Whoever does not receive the kingdom of GOD like a child.  We must be like children in order to enter the kingdom of GOD.  We must forget our wisdom and self-sufficiency, and the bitterness of past experience in order to receive GOD's gifts and words in wonder and simplicity.)

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