Today's Gospel is
disturbingly close to the current immigration debate. It is the "goats
and sheep" Gospel where the select are separated at the last judgment--like God separated light from darkness--on the basis of their behavior toward their fellows:
'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.’
This has been a point of brutal conflict in Christianity. Traditionally Christianity had walked a fine line between faith and good works, a hybrid without distinction. Much of this was from James:
"What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?"
And:
"So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead."
In the Reformation, Luther said that faith, and not good works, was necessary for spiritual salvation. He purged seven Old Testament books and added "alone" to Romans 3:28 so "therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law" became "faith alone."
But today's Gospel looks pretty convincing for the importance of good works and creates a pretty bad alternative if Luther is wrong.
'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.’
This has been a point of brutal conflict in Christianity. Traditionally Christianity had walked a fine line between faith and good works, a hybrid without distinction. Much of this was from James:
"What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?"
And:
"So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead."
In the Reformation, Luther said that faith, and not good works, was necessary for spiritual salvation. He purged seven Old Testament books and added "alone" to Romans 3:28 so "therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law" became "faith alone."
But today's Gospel looks pretty convincing for the importance of good works and creates a pretty bad alternative if Luther is wrong.
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