Today's Gospel

The Goodness Challenge

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant. Today's reading is from the Gospel of Matthew 25: 31-46. Jesus said to His disciples, "When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at his left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from 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 welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me.' And then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the king will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me.' Then he will say to those at his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for you and the devil and his angels, for I was hungry and you gave me no food. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister you?' Then he will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me, and they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.'"

So it's a long reading today. What is it that is it that jumps out at you? Is it a word? Is it a phrase or an idea? Two things jumped out at me. The first was this phrase, which has always struck me as just beautiful. King will say to those on his right hand, "Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." "Come, O blessed of my Father." How beautiful is that? But what really struck me today was the idea that the righteous, which interestingly is a word we don't use, and when we do use it in our culture, usually in a negative connotation, accusing someone of being self-righteous rather than the virtue, the character, the integrity, the authenticity of righteousness in a religious, in a spiritual sense. But the righteous say to the King, "King, you're sending us off this great reward, but when did we see you hungry and feed you or naked and clothe you?" So the goodness, the virtue was so ingrained in them, they were not even aware of the good they were doing. They were not even conscious of the good they were doing. It was just so part of who they were, an expression of who they were rather than acts that they did. And I've never thought of that before. But reading it today, that's one of the things that struck me. And that's why we do this. And that's why we do the word, the phrase, the idea because it does allow us to learn new things, get new perspectives, hear the same reading hundreds of times, and allow God to speak to us through that. And so when the righteous say to the king, "We didn't feed you," or, "We didn't give you clothes. We didn't give you water. We didn't visit you in prison." And then the King says, "No, you did." Anytime that you did these things, even for the least among you, especially for the least among you, you did it for me.

And so in that, I see a challenge, I see a call, I hear a call, that our goodness becomes so much a part of who we are that it isn't, "Oh, I'm going to go and do this good thing," that that isn't required. The goodness just brings forth from God dwelling within us. It's just part of who we are. And the other option isn't even an option because we become so committed to the right path. Have a great day. Remember, don't just be yourself; be all that God created you to be. The-very-best-version-of-yourself.

I hope you're enjoying the Daily Gospel Reflections. It's one of the things I love doing, spending this time with you each day. Recently, I released a book called 33 Days to Divine Mercy. If you haven't had a chance to check that out yet, I encourage you to do that today.