31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ 41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ 44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ 46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Continuing the theme of the Last Judgment, Jesus gives us a picture of the Last Judgment. The first two verses set the scene and the resurrection of the dead is presupposed. Note that all the nations, all of humanity is judged which suggests that Matthew believes in salvation for those outside the Church. Reproducing the image from the first reading, Jesus describes a flock of sheep and goats that were herded together during the day but separated at night. The sheep, which were more valuable, represent the righteous in opposition to the goats. The Son of Man can immediately tell the good from the bad with no need for scales or books. His omniscience seems clear.
In verse 34 we discover that, like David (and as in today’s psalm, the king is a shepherd. The king says that the sheep are blessed by the Father and that the kingdom has been prepared since creation. God’s purpose does not change: it is the same at the beginning as at the end. In verse 35, Jesus gives us a list of ordinary deeds of mercy. In particular, we should notice that the list does not include miracles. The sick and the imprisoned are not healed or set free. They are simply visited, and any one of us can do this. The just are surprised, but the point is that service to Jesus is service to others.
In verse 41, Jesus turns to the goats. Note that sins of omission – not commission – lead to exclusion. A true Christian cares for his or her brother or sister. Christians prepare for the Last Judgment by loving their neighbor. True faith is shown by what we do. We should remember always that Christ identifies here with the naked and the prisoner, with the hungry and the thirsty, with the weak and the despised – and he suffered all these things during his life on earth.
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