Breaking the Word

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by 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, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?' And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.' Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.' Then they will answer and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?' He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.' And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."  (Mt 25:31-46) 

This story does not need further explanations. Everything is obvious. Jesus speaks about the final judgment. Justice is one of the central themes in the Jewish as well as Christian traditions. It is very difficult to define, explain and the working of justice. God is just. This God wants justice to be done and justice to rule over the land.

Justice does not mean simply punishing the evil doers (though it will also include that); it means bring the whole humanity, the whole world into its original balance. This takes us back to the idea of creation. God created the world and he had his purpose for it. Evil entered into this creation and upset the creation. Now the world will have to be put to rights.

Coming of the kingdom and working of the kingdom is doing this justice in the world. Jesus who is exalted after his suffering and death has been given a position of honour. This story tells us how this just rule will be exercised. One way of exercising justice or bring balance back into humanity is by taking care of the least of the brethren. Every time when one cares for the least of the brethren the he works towards justice.  

  Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry. The tempter approached and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread."  He said in reply, "It is written: 'One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.'" Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: 'He will command his angels concerning you and 'with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'" Jesus answered him, "Again it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.'" Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, and he said to him, "All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me." At this, Jesus said to him, "Get away, Satan! It is written: 'The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.'" Then the devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to him.  (Mt 4:1-11)

Jesus was tempted by the devil. How could this be so? Hebrews 4,16 says: “…one who has been tempted in every way, yet without sin”. He had a great vision at Baptism and then he was confirmed in his vocation and just at this moment there came the devil to distort him from his vocation. His vocation was to be a son of God and to serve the people being truly human.

The tempter tempted him on the very strength of his vocation. (You are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased). The tempter attacked the strength of the person to make him weak at that. The tempter prompted him for satisfaction of the flesh (turn stone into bread); promised him power over the whole world (…will give all these to you…).

Jesus was well aware of the game. He relied on God and the word of God.  He was committed to loving and serving God alone. Jesus overcame these trials at the beginning of his ministry or else he would have faced them later on in the midst of his ministry. Jesus focused his eyes on God and kept the word of God in his heart and moved on with the work of the kingdom of God.