34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ [Matthew 25:34-36, NRSV]
Last Judgement by Hans Memling, 1467–1471.
In an unjust world, what is needed is simply justice.
The Christian Scriptures insist that ultimately, where human justice fails, the Lord of creation will step in to pronounce eternal judgment through His Son. The time is set at the Second Coming of Christ, when great adjustments will be made to put things right both for those who have suffered unjustly and to those who have been unjust to others.
The Gospel of Matthew ends the discourses of Jesus with a discourse about this eternal, Last Judgment (Matthew 25:31-46). It conveys a great vision of divine justice. At that end-time scene, all nations will be summoned before the Christ-Judge. Those who have helped the least of their fellows will be judged righteous, and shall “inherit the kingdom prepared for them before the foundation of the world.” They shall, in other words, enjoy eternal bliss.
Questions abound from all quarters concerning this last judgment and even the plausibility of a just Divinity dividing humanity into two sections identified as “sheep” and “goats”. Call it myth if you will, but it is a myth Christians have grown accustomed to and love.
John Rawls (1921-2002), an American moral, legal and political philosopher in the liberal tradition, has argued that a society in which the most fortunate help the least fortunate is not only a moral society but a logical one. He constructed another myth for teaching his principle of justice. This time, the story takes place at primal time, before the creation of this world. If we were all present, how would we design such a world that must be accepted by all and yet no one knew who would get the role of the rich or the poor? How will we sketch out a just world, that is, a world in which the fortunes of life and the good things of the earth are justly distributed? Everyone must reckon with the possibility of being given the role of ‘the least of all human beings’. What is decisive for this sketch of a just world is not knowing the future distribution of destinies. Where a ‘veil of ignorance’ is decisive, and the criterion for this justice is the fate of the least, those who have come off worst, then Gerd Theissen says the decisive question to us is: Would we affirm the destiny of these least as our own destiny? [Gerd Theissen, Traces of Light (London: SCM, 1996), pp.110-126.]
Theissen believes that a principle of justice and equal sharing will prevail. It will be like the sharing of a cake. For everyone to get a fair share, it is best to have the cake cut by someone who must be the last to choose a piece. That person will then take into account that if everyone chooses the biggest piece available, he will be left with the smallest piece. He is more likely than not to have a real motive in dividing the cake equally and fairly.
Life of course is not a piece of cake that can be divided into equal pieces. In all spheres of value – wealth and poverty, health and sickness, education and possessions, power and positions are all unfairly distributed. In this regard, the end-time judgment told in Matthew’s Gospel contains a truth about justice. In it, we may discover more than a universal principle of justice. It is a justice which is to stand before God, the ultimate authority in the universe. A lesson awaits us, according to Theissen, if we reflect on what it means to speak of God as Judge.
Firstly, the universal Judge emphatically summons not only the “nations”, but “all nations”, including Israel. No one is exempted from having to face the Supreme Judge for eternal judgment. Then, Jesus speaks of his “brothers”. These are all those insignificant people and those in need of help, regardless of nationality or creed.
Secondly, facing judgment, we have lots of questions concerning why good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people in this world. If we think this does not seem just, then recall that as a sign of God’s goodness and generosity, God makes the sun to rise on both the good and the bad, and be challenged then to love even our enemies as God loves them. If we have complaints against a just God who seemingly allows some people to be successful and others not, we recall the parable of the labourers in the vineyard. If we quibble over God giving so many second chances to rogues, recall the parable of the unmerciful servant. And, you may still ask, “But what am I to say to those who have failed to get their due in this world?” Then, you are invited by Matthew to read the discourse on the Last Judgment on the world.
There, you will meet people who have come off worst- strangers, the sick and those in prison, people who do not have enough to eat, to drink, to wear, and those who are caught short of cash and without a job in the COVID-19 economic downturn, and then know that Jesus says, you are meeting him. He himself is taking up the role of those hungry, thirsty, sick and naked, and sitting in prison. Jesus does not in any way present the world as just. He presents it as filled with people who are in need. Their need is God’s call to you to share. God expects great things of each one of us; God wants us not to be overwhelmed and paralysed by the injustice we see in the world. God wants to use this injustice to provoke us to do good and thereby, to show our humanity. It is beyond argument that we did not choose this life or this world; the reality is we have this life and we are in this world, a life that is not always “fair” and a world that is filled with injustice. The thing to do is not to wallow in sadness and fill our days with endless complaints, but to live this life as best and as positively as we can, especially conscious of our duty to help the poor and those in need. If we decline to help, we are turning away from God himself, and we eclipse our own humanity.
Copyright © Dr. Jeffrey & Angie Goh, December 2022. All rights reserved.
You are most welcome to respond to this post. Email your comments to jeffangiegoh@gmail.com. You can also be dialogue partners in this Ephphatha Coffee-Corner Ministry by sending us questions for discussion.
