Daily Blast - The Book of Matthew: Chapter 25
Scripture
“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’”
Reflection
Matthew Chapter 25 is a pretty special chapter. This is mostly down to the fact that it contains some of Jesus’ last teachings before He was arrested and eventually hung on the cross. Whilst this in itself is something to hold on to, it is also the actual content of this chapter which makes it highly significant to us…
This chapter focusses on Jesus’ teachings to the disciples and begins with The Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids (v. 1 – 13), which essentially is about the wise versus the foolish. Jesus then goes on to talk about the Parable of the Three Servants (v. 14 – 30), a biblical passage that is probably more familiar to you. This parable is about three servants who were given some of their master’s money whilst he goes away. The first two servants go and take their money and invest in it so that when their master returns, they have something to show for it. They actually manage to double what they were first given, making the master a very happy man when he returns. The third servant, however, buried his money to give back when the master comes back. This makes the master very angry, as the opportunity that he had given his servant had gone to waste.
We then come to the final section of the chapter. This section appears to be completely different to the other two teachings, as it is about The Final Judgement (v. 31 – 46), and how Jesus and God will sort out the righteous from the wicked. This section certainly is a lot heavier to digest and seems very out of place in comparison to the earlier parables. However, these first two parables were actually about being prepared for the day of judgement, whenever that may come for us. In the first parable, we are told that we need to be wise and compassionate in all that we do; we need to have good intentions. The second parable tells us that we also need to take what gifts God has given us and use and develop them, as this will glorify God’s name. Essentially, we need to be living the most fruitful life that we can with our eyes fixed on God – living every day like it is our last. In doing this, we will be prepared for our day of judgement, and ready to enter God’s kingdom of Heaven.
Challenge
So – here’s my challenge for you today – how can you be living a more God-filled life? Do you need to cut out some destructive behaviours? Do you need to be more forgiving or caring? Or do you need more motivation with what to do with your talents? Whatever it is, it isn’t too late to change. We are God’s children and He will love us forever. So go ahead, make the change today