Rev. Michael Piazza in Liberating Word says of Matthew 25 “Matthew clusters many of Jesus’ teachings into the last week of his life. Perhaps it was his way of telling us these were important. In this last chapter, before the telling of the end, Matthew includes three big stories. The first is the parable of the bridesmaids. ..The second parable is about the owner who gives three servants five, two and one talents respectively. ..The last parable of Matthew is also one of Jesus’ more famous. It appears only in this Gospel. Although it is a story about judgment, that isn’t how it is known by most. It is of course the parable in which Jesus concludes, “What you did unto the least, you did unto me.” It is a powerful teaching that, just as God is incarnate in Jesus, God is incarnate in the “least.” Just in case we might miss whom he is talking about, Jesus lists them: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, those without clothes, the sick and the prisoner. How we treat them, Jesus says, is how we treat him; not the pretty hymns and songs we sing, or the prayers we pray, or the statues we erect, or the buildings we build, or the pious reverence we give, but how we treat those in need. …By making it Jesus’ last teaching, Matthew is trying to warn us that this really might be one teaching we should pay attention to.”
Rev. Michael Piazza in Liberating Word says of Matthew 25 “Matthew clusters many of Jesus’ teachings into the last week of his life. Perhaps it was his way of telling us these were important. In this last chapter, before the telling of the end, Matthew includes three big stories. The first is the parable of the bridesmaids. ..The second parable is about the owner who gives three servants five, two and one talents respectively. ..The last parable of Matthew is also one of Jesus’ more famous. It appears only in this Gospel. Although it is a story about judgment, that isn’t how it is known by most. It is of course the parable in which Jesus concludes, “What you did unto the least, you did unto me.” It is a powerful teaching that, just as God is incarnate in Jesus, God is incarnate in the “least.” Just in case we might miss whom he is talking about, Jesus lists them: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, those without clothes, the sick and the prisoner. How we treat them, Jesus says, is how we treat him; not the pretty hymns and songs we sing, or the prayers we pray, or the statues we erect, or the buildings we build, or the pious reverence we give, but how we treat those in need. …By making it Jesus’ last teaching, Matthew is trying to warn us that this really might be one teaching we should pay attention to.”
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