Monday, May 20, 2024

Excerpts from John Paul Heil, “Final Parables in the Eschatological Discourse in Matthew 24-25"

  

The reason (γαρ, v 35) the sheep are blessed with the reign is that they served Jesus himself in accord with the way that Jesus not only served those in need but taught and empowered his disciples to serve those in need:

 

1) That “I was hungry and you gave (εκωκατε) me to eat (φαγειν)” (v 35) means the sheep have done for Jesus what Jesus himself commanded his disciples to do for the hungry crowds when he commanded them, “You give (δοτε) them to eat (φαγειν)” (14:16). After he miraculously increased an insufficient amount of food twice (14:17; 15:34), he empowered his disciples to feed those who were hungry as he gave (εδωκεν in 14:19; εδιδου in 15:36) the food to his disciples who in turn gave it to the crowds.

 

2) That the sheep received the reward of the reign because “I was thirsty and you gave me drink (εποτισατε) (v 35) accords with Jesus’ teaching the disciples that “whoever receives you receives me” (10:40) and whoever gives a drink (ποτιση) of cold water to one of these little ones simply because he is a disciple will surely not lose his reward (10:42), the eschatological reward of the reign.

 

3) That “I was a stranger and you welcomed me” (v 35) means the sheep have imitated Jesus, who welcomed strangers with mercy (9:13) when he shared the hospitality of table fellowship with estranged public sinners (9:9-13; 11:19) and when he healed foreigners (8:5-13; 15:21-28). Jesus’ teaching of love of enemies (5:43-48) embraces the hospitable welcoming of strangers.

 

4) That “I was naked (γυμνος) and you clothed (περιεβαλετε) me” (v 36) means the sheep have served Jesus by emulating his compassion (9:36; 14:14; 15:32; 20:34) in accord with his teaching to love one’s neighbor as oneself (22:39; Lev 19:18), especially as it is expressed in Isa 58:7 (LXX): “Share your bread with one who is hungry and bring the unsheltered poor into your home; if you see someone naked (γυμνος), clothed (περιβαλε) him, and do not disdain your blood relatives.”

 

5) That “I was sick (ησθενησα) and you took care of me” (v 36) means the sheep have ministered to Jesus in accord with his authoritative command and empowerment for the disciple to heal the sick (ασθενουντας) (10:8). They thus share in and extend the compassionate healing ministry of Jesus himself, who “took on our sickness (ασθενειας) and bore our diseases” (8:17; Isa 53:4).

 

6) That “I was in prison (φυλακη) and you came to me” (v 36) means the sheep assisted Jesus not only as one in critical need but in the way that, as the audience knows from the previous narrative, disciples should assist their master. The disciples of John the Baptist assisted him after he was handed over (4:12) and put in prison (φυλακη) (14:3, 10). They served intermediaries between John and Jesus (9:14; 11:2) and after John was beheaded in prison (14:100, they took away his body and buried it (14:12). (John Paul Heil, “Final Parables in the Eschatological Discourse in Matthew 24-25,” in Warren Carter and John Paul Heil, Matthew’s Parables: Audience Oriented Perspectives [The Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series 30; The Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1998; repr., Eugene, Oreg.: Pickwick Publications, 2023], 202-4)

 

 

In the explanation of the parable of the weeds (13:36-43) the disciples and the implied audience were invited to see themselves as the righteous (δικαιοι) who will shine like the sun in the reign of their Father (13:43) in contrast to those disciples who do lawlessness (13:41) and are excluded from the reign (13:42). The righteous are those who do the righteousness (δικαιοσυνην) (5:20; 6:1, 33), the will of Jesus’ Father, that enables them to enter the reign of the heavens (5:20; 7:21). According to the parable of the fish net (13:47-50) the angels will separate the evil ones, the rotten fish/people (13:48) that Jesus and his disciples will collect as “fishers” of people, from the midst of the righteous (δικαιοι) (13:49), the disciples themselves as well as the righteous people, the good “fish” (13:48), they will gather in their ministry (4:19). Now the disciples and the audience are invited to see themselves as the sheep, the righteous (δικαιοι), who have served the Jesus they now address as “Lord” (Κυριε) (v 37), just as they were to identify themselves in the preceding parables as the fruitful and wise servant of their absent Lord (κυριος, 2:45, 46, 48, 50), as the wise maidens of the bridegroom addressed as “Lord, Lord” (Κυριε κυριε, 25:11), and as the servants who doubled the talents of the one they address as “Lord” (Κυριε, 25:20, 22).

 

But the righteous sheep are surprised that it was Jesus himself whom they had served. Their three questions addressed to the “Lord,” each introduced with the same words of incredulous astonishment that it was “you,” repeat the compassionate conduct that gained them the reign: “When did you see you (ποτε σε ειδομεν hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you (ποτε δε σε ειδεμεν) a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and clothed you? And when did we see you (ποτε δε σε ειδομεν) or in prison and come to you?” (vv 37-39).

 

Jesus as the king adds to the surprise not only by identifying himself with the needy whom the righteous have helped but by designating the needy as members of his new family: “Amen I say to you, inasmuch as you did it for one of these least brothers of mine, you did it for me” (v 40). Not only are the disciples who do the will of the Father in heaven the mother and sisters and brothers (αδελφοι) of Jesus (12:49-50), but now even the lowliest among the needy belong to the family of Jesus’ brothers (αδελφων) (v 40). Not only is each disciple, “one of these little ones” (εωα των μικρων τουτων, 10:42; 18:6, 10, 14), who humbles himself like a child and believes in Jesus as member of Jesus’ family, but now each “one of these least brothers of mine” (εωι τουτων των αδελφων μου των ελαχιστων, v 40), each needy one, is likewise a member of Jesus’ family. Jesus has thus expanded his family to embrace not only the “little ones” (μικρων) but even the “least ones” (ελαχιστων).

 

This surprising designation of the needy “least ones” as members of Jesus’ family opens the comparison to an additional level of meaning. Now the disciples and implied audience are to see themselves not only in the righteous sheep who take care of the needy but also in the needy “least ones” themselves, since both the disciples as “little ones” are the needy as “least ones” are part of Jesus’s family. Just as Jesus identified himself with “these least brothers of mine” so that whatever is done to them is done to him (v 40), so Jesus identified himself with his disciples when he sent them out on their mission with the words, “whoever receives you receives me” (10:40) (Ibid., 204-5)