Bible Verse
The Sheep and the Goats
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Christian Commentary - Early Christianity
for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; – Matthew 25:35
Then, in order that you may see in another way also the justice of the sentence, he first praises those who have done right: “Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry, and you gave me food,” and all that follows. Note that the judgment is in effect made by their fellow servants. This has happened before, when the virgins are judged by the virgins and in the case of the drunken and gluttonous servant who was judged by the faithful servant. It happened once again in the case of the man who buried his talent, [who was judged] by the actions of those who produced more. … This is said to bring them to the point of answering, “When did we see you hungry?” The Gospel of Matthew, Homily
– John Chrysostom, Year 407 AD
Catena Bible .com
Buddhist Commentary (Buddhist thoughts which mirror or reflect idea of text)
Words of the Buddha
233 “Having directed speech and mind rightly, Doing no evil deeds with the body, Dwelling at home with ample food and drink, Faithful, gentle, generous, amiable: When one stands on these four things, Standing firmly on the Dhamma, One need not fear the other world.”134
Bodhi, Bhikkhu. The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya (The Teachings of the Buddha) . Wisdom Publications. Kindle Edition.
Buddhist Commentary
The teachings of the great Buddhist masters are not random recipes. They are real guides that spring from the living experience of experts in the spiritual path, who possess extraordinary knowledge and understand clearly the mechanisms that produce happiness and suffering. Once we have explored these four themes, we will discuss the concept of “taking refuge.” This does not mean invoking the protection of occult and mysterious powers but relying on the teachings that lead to enlightenment, which means true knowledge of mind and the nature of reality. It is that knowledge that can free us from suffering. At first, it is essential to rely on beings that already have that wisdom and illustrate it by their actions. Their perfect representative is the Buddha. Then come the teachings on altruism and compassion, which are the heart of the path. What is the point of freeing yourself from suffering when those around you continue to suffer? Such a limited approach would be doomed to failure because our joys and sorrows are inevitably linked to those of others. In other words, we all have to cross “the ocean of suffering” together.
Ricard, Matthieu. On the Path to Enlightenment: Heart Advice from the Great Tibetan Masters (pp. 3-4). Shambhala. Kindle Edition.
Personal Reflections
While I genuinely believe the Bible, the idea of eternity being a true surprise seems surprising and unfair. At some level it would make sense that “bad” people know they are being bad. Even when people deceived and lie to themselves, when they are taken into the “principles office” they generally confess that at some level they knew they were doing wrong. Therefore the idea that people are ‘judged’ or evaluated by ‘God’ or by Dharma or by some universal Taoist Spiritual Cosmic law and that the result is truly a surprise to them at the deepest level and that they really did not expect this result in their heart of hearts seems troubling. (However, whether it is “fair” or not might depend on my current level of understanding as to what that ‘God’ or Dharma or univeral Taoist Spiritual Law is. For me, I don’t completely understand Nuclear Physics or Quantum Theory so it would be hubris of me to pretend to be safisticated enough to judge the Eternal Taoist Spiritual Laws or to be the one to judge God.
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