Monday’s gospel is my favorite. It is the passage that motivates my life and much of what I believe in as a Franciscan. ““Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me.” Then the virtuous will say to him in reply, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you; or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome; naked and clothe you; sick or in prison and go to see you?” And the King will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me”.
You can give up chocolate, wine or whatever you prize but if you can’t live what is written in Matthew 25 you are wasting your time. Matthew 25 and the Sermon on the Mount are pivotal for me. They animate my life. Peace.
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Lent, Gospel, St. Matthew
“…in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me…”
You don’t think Jesus would apply this to abortion, though?
I think it applies to abortion, war, the poor, the disenfranchised, the gays and any other marginalized people. Jesus didn’t hang out with the rich and powerful. He definitely spent his time with tax collectors, prostitutes, drunkards and the outcasts of his day. The gospel is not about morality. It transcends morality moving to a higher plane.
The Gospel is not about morality?
I agree that the Gospel is transcendant as the Gospel is about Jesus Christ however, I’d argue that Christian morality is something as inherent in the Gospel as immorality is inherent in today’s neo-pagan culture…wouldn’t you agree?
Read John 8. The woman caught in adultery should have been stoned according to the law. The moralists were going to stone her, but Jesus shamed them, “he who is without sin cast the first stone.” The Gospel is about radical mercy and forgiveness not about morality.
Many Christians are indeed moral, but fall short of the Gospel. Gandhi said it best, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians, they are so unlike your Christ.”
In verses 41-46 of Matthew 25 Jesus has the rest of the message. There is an eternal punishment awaiting those who are not merciful. Those who do not demonstrate radical forgivness and mercy are cast into the fire prepared for the devil.
Woe to the abortionist, the war maker, the usurer. That message comes through here too doesn’t it?
….and your point is? Apparently we don’t agree on everything. Judgment is God’s not mine. I don’t know who’s going going to be damned if anyone. Peace be with you. Enough said.