Should we be afraid of the Last Judgment?

Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire....” And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life (Matthew 25:41,46).

We hear the word judgment, and we quake and cower asking, “Will I pass or fail? Will I be counted with the sheep or with the goats? Will I go to heaven or to hell?” But judgment is not just about our fate. Judgment is actually more about God.

Shapat, the Hebrew word translated as “to judge” is more properly rendered “to rule, to reign, to rectify.” Judgment is not just about what happens to us; judgment is more about what God does. And what does God do? God intervenes and corrects — rectifies — the situation. This is what happened in the Book of Judges. God called up judges Gideon, Deborah, Samson, and others like them to rescue Israel from her enemies, bring peace, and return Israel to God. Sadly, peace did not last because after each and every time Israel was saved, she would soon turn away from God.

But when the Final Judgment comes, God’s Kingdom – his reign – will flower in fullness. The plan God has been intending and has been unfolding will be fulfilled, and he will show us how he governs. And what will be the signs of God’s rule? The lost will be found, the strayed will be brought back, the wounds of the injured will be bound, and the sick will be healed as we heard in our first reading today. So should we be afraid of the Final Judgment?

If, when the Final Judgment comes, everything will be set aright, should we then in the meantime just sit back, scratch our bellies, and wait? Our Gospel today is often heard as a threat or a warning, but it is better received as an invitation. God pays us a great compliment by calling us to work with him. He can shepherd his people himself, but he wants us to join him and share his joy as he labors. In times past, he singled out Gideon, Deborah, Samson, and the other judges, but now he desires that all of us become judges and right what is wrong — with him. God invites us to feed the hungry, quench the thirsty, welcome the stranger, and clothe the naked — with him.

Should we be afraid of the Final Judgment? In our Gospel last week, we heard how the third servant justified why he did not invest the talent given to him: “Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground” (Matthew 25:24). But was the Master indeed this unreasonable? Did not the Master provide the servant with one talent? We might protest and say, “But it was just one talent!” Talent here is not to be understood as a talent in playing the piano or dancing or painting. Talent here is a unit of money, and scholars estimate that one talent during Jesus’ time was worth 33 kilograms of gold. One talent then is almost P30 million today! The Master was definitely not one who harvested where he did not plant or gather where he did not scatter. He was a generous and trusting Lord. Nevertheless, because the third servant saw his Lord only as a demanding taskmaster, the third servant acted as he did. How we see God affects how we respond to him.

How is Jesus presented in our Gospel today? “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” (Matthew 25:31-32a). Yes, Jesus can be seen as a powerful judge, but remember again what judge in Hebrew means. And while his task will be to separate the nations, this will be done “as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats” (Matthew 25:32b). Jesus, as the Gospel of John proclaims, is the Good Shepherd who gives his life for his sheep.

While Jesus is a King seated on a glorious throne (and today, we celebrate the feast of this Christ who is King), Jesus is no stranger to weakness. Does he not say to those who ministered to the last and lost in society, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40). Jesus is in the hungry, the thirsty, the estranged, the sick, and the imprisoned. He embraces and takes on their weakness. My faith tells me that when I stray and stumble because of my sin and because of my failure to love, Jesus will be there with me somehow and take on my weakness, too. Jesus understands what it means to be human – this is one way to understand the title “Son of Man.” He is one like us. So should we be afraid of the Final Judgment?

One final point: Let us not think that the scales are balanced between the way to heaven and the road to hell. Let us not think that the chances of our being counted with the sheep or with the goats are 50-50. No. With the words of our Gospel today, God is already pointing us to the right path. God wants us to be saved. What did the Master in the parable of talents say to the first two servants? “Come, share your Master’s joy!” In the same way, Jesus came “that we may have life and have it to the full” (John 10:10). Then he sent us his Spirit that in our hearts we may be able to cry out to God, “Abba!” This Father has plans for our welfare and not for woe; our God wants to give us a future of hope (Jeremiah 29:11). The scales are tipped in our favor.

So what is your answer? Should we be afraid of the Final Judgment?