PRAY: The psalms are the prayers of the Bible. Use Psalm 23 as your prayer this week.
LISTEN: It's cheesy, I know... but I think You Tube has me addicted!
DO: Ride the bus and watch for “Jesus” to board. How does this change your perceptions of people? OR Invite a neighbor to dinner. Pick someone you’ld like to know better and enjoy the opportunity to talk with your neighbors.
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What does it feel like to be a stranger? Think of a time that you’ve experienced being welcomed (or not welcomed) … perhaps at a conference, new job / school, or even a church. What did it feel like? How does this influence your response to others?
How can we tell the sheep from the goats? Does God want us to be able to tell?
Which characters in Jesus’ parable recognize God?
What does this passage to us about what will happen when Jesus returns? What is its literary function?
In the meantime (before Jesus returns) what does this passage reveal to us?
In the context of this passage, read Matthew 5:43-48 and 23:37-39. How do these passages help to interpret one another?
Apocalyptic Drama
The word “apocalypse” literally means “unveiling” or “revelation.” This is why the last book in the Bible, Revelation is also called the Apocalypse to John. “Apocalypses pull back a curtain to unveil or reveal some deep truth about the world” (Rossing, The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation, p. 82). Like parables, which reveal deeper truths that are unable to be reduced into simple explanations, apocalyptic dramas cannot be reduced into simple explanations or categorical descriptions of how things have to be. Unlike parables, which begin with simple worldly things that help us understand the otherworldly, apocalyptic dramas begin in the otherworldly – with descriptions of Christ’s final coming, or conversations with / visions of God in paradise – in order to help us understand the importance of our actions and lives in this world (Boring & Craddock, The People’s New Testament Commentary, 94).
“The apocalypse is recognized by many scholars as a distinct literary genre expressing itself…in terms of divine disclosure, transcendent reality, and final redemption” and utilizing symbolism and code language to convey their message (Coogan & Metzger, Oxford Guide to the Bible, 35-36). An apocalypse is different from a prophesy most distinctly in that “whereas the prophets see the realization of God’s purpose within the historical process, the apocalyptists see that purpose reaction its culmination not just within history but above and beyond history in that supramundane realm where God dwells” (Metzger & Coogan, 34).
One modern day example of an “apocalyptic drama” is in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. By the end of his revelation, Scrooge “pleads with the Spirit of Christmas Future: Let the visions only show what ‘may be,’ so he can still hope to change his terrifying future” (Rossing, 83). The function of an apocalyptic drama is to show “us terrifying visions precisely because there is still hope for us and for the earth” (Rossing, 85). Other examples of apocalyptic drama in Scripture include, of course, the book of Revelation, as well as Daniel, Ezekiel 38-39, Isaiah 24-27, Zechariah 12-14, and Joel 3. The parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man (Luke 16:19-31) also reflects an apocalyptic character. Unique to Matthew, the drama of the sheep and the goats (25:31-46) “is the only scene in the New Testament with any details picturing the Last Judgment” (Boring & Craddock, 94).
• What’s the purpose of this text? (Why did Jesus reveal it? Why did Matthew write it?)
• What does this text reveal about our actions in this world? What hope does it reveal about life in the world to come?
• According to this text, on the basis of what are we to be judged?
• What other texts in Scripture inform your interpretation of this scene? Why?
Christ the King
Up to this point in Matthew’s Gospel, the disciples have known Jesus as a teacher and miracle worker. In Matthew 16:13-20, Jesus directly questions his disciples about who they think he is. From that point on, Jesus makes preparations to go to Jerusalem, where this final discourse (Matthew 24:32-25:46) takes place. In this final revelation, a number of titles to describe Christ from elsewhere in Matthew’s Gospel converge.
• What titles / images are used to describe Christ?
• What is Jesus’ role in this scene? How would it have been understood by his disciples? By early Christians?
Love Your Neighbor
Jesus teaches that the greatest commandments have to do with love – both for God and for your neighbor (Matthew 7:12; 22:34-40). “The fundamental thrust of this scene is that when people respond to human need or fail to respond, they are in fact responding to Christ or failing to do so” (Boring & Craddock, 94). This is mirrored in Christ’s statement concerning treatment of those sent out to proclaim the Gospel in Matthew 10:40-42.
• To whom is this apocalypse addressed?
• Who would they have understood to be the “little ones”?
“As tracts for the times, [apocalyptic books] were written to encourage those who were oppressed and saw little or no hope in terms of either politics or armed might. Their message was that God himself would intervene and reverse the situation in which they found themselves, delivering the godly from the hands of the wicked and establishing his rule for all to see” (Metzger & Coogan, 36). “The scene [in Matthew 26:31-46] functions to encourage and warn the Christian reader that what will count in the judgment is deeds of love and mercy performed for the needy” (Boring & Craddock, 95).
• In what ways would this apocalyptic drama have provided hope to its original audience?
• In what ways would this apocalyptic drama have functioned to warn / scare its original audience?
• How are we similar / different to the original audience of this text?
• How can / should this apocalyptic drama function for us?
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