Matthew 25:36Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Notice that His focus here is on love for one’s neighbor, as it is this love that He uses as the basis for rewarding the righteous and punishing the unrighteous. However, this does not imply that He will ignore the other virtuous deeds of the righteous or the wrongdoings of sinners; indeed, He will evaluate all actions, words, and thoughts of each individual, as He frequently taught, and as we learn from various passages in Scripture. He will commend good deeds and chastise evil ones, yet His emphasis here is on loving one’s neighbor, signifying that He prioritizes this commandment, as it is essential for Christians.

The hallmark of every Christian is love: “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35). The essence of this love, as Gregory the Theologian emphasizes, is compassion for the poor and kindness towards others. Nothing honors God as much as acts of mercy, and no one who shows kindness will go unrewarded. He speaks primarily about this crucial virtue, urging us to be merciful, for we will need His mercy ourselves in that hour. The greatest recompense for the unmerciful is a lack of mercy, while the merciful will receive mercy in return. He, being merciful Himself, offers great rewards even for minor acts of kindness. It is evident that He expects humanity from those who are able to give it, and for those who cannot, merely the intention to help is sufficient. He lists various forms of kindness, encouraging us to strive to fulfill as many as we can, or at least to practice those within our reach.

For the Lord does not hunger of Himself; rather, it is in His saints that He experiences hunger; the Lord does not thirst in His being, but through His impoverished. The Lord is not naked in essence, for He wraps everyone in His love, but manifests vulnerability in His servants. Likewise, while the Lord is not sick in His nature—having the authority to heal all ailments and conquer death—it is in His servants that sickness is found. The Lord does not wander in His being—possessing both heaven and earth—but is a sojourner in the experience of His servants. The Lord is not imprisoned in His essence—having the ability to liberate anyone from suffering—but finds Himself in the prisons of His saints. Now, dear ones, recognize that the saints are not merely of themselves: as they endure these trials for the sake of the Lord, so does the Lord share in their sufferings for their sake.

Grace will present before Christ the shepherds of the church, who imparted the everlasting nourishment of God’s Word to their flock, dressed those ensnared by sin in the robes of righteousness, provided spiritual healing to afflicted souls, and offered encouragement to those trapped in doubt or confusion. Grace will also bring forth the humble monastics who have acquired profound and essential wisdom about the indwelling Christ. These individuals have developed a sincere longing for the truth of the Gospel, sought to adorn themselves with holiness, and distanced themselves from the allure of worldly desires, thus achieving the freedom that the Gospel offers.

Furthermore, mercy will be presented to Christ for those who have shown compassion to themselves by introspectively confronting their own shortcomings and liberating themselves from poverty, illness, and the bondage of sin through repentance. Those who can only show mercy to themselves will cultivate this compassion by nurturing their souls with the Word of God, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide them away from the destructive paths of sin and into a life of holiness, evidenced by good works. They will have healed past sins through confession and opposing actions, having transitioned their mindset from carnal thoughts to spiritual ones. Such individuals will be acknowledged by the Lord Jesus Christ for their deeds.

In turn, He will bring all those who have participated in this mercy to Christ, requesting forgiveness and eternal joy for them. He will proclaim to them, "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. When I was hungry, you gave Me food; when I was thirsty, you gave Me drink; when I was a stranger, you welcomed Me; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me. Truly, I say to you, as you did to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me" (Matthew 25:40).

This preparation for the kingdom from the dawn of creation signifies nothing less than the royal status and value of humankind above all earthly beings. "Come," says the righteous Judge seated on the throne of glory, "inherit the kingdom that I have arranged for you from the foundation of the world." Upon delivering this verdict, He will also provide the just with the grounds for it; for He will proclaim, “You have fed the hungry, provided drink for the thirsty, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, visited the sick, and reached out to those imprisoned.” It is essential to understand that these righteous individuals even fulfill these six acts of kindness not only in a physical sense but also spiritually, reviving human hearts through the Word. They feed souls that are not merely craving bread, but are yearning for the nourishment of God's message through their virtuous lives; with their gentle Christian teachings, they quench the thirst of those seeking the words of life and the sustaining waters of salvation. Through the preaching of faith, they bring into the fellowship of the Church those who feel estranged and isolated; with the promise of future rewards, they cover those unfamiliar with good deeds in the garment of purity and the robe of salvation. By offering counsel, they empower the weak, bearing their weaknesses, and by illuminating their teachings, they bring light to those engulfed in the shadows of sin. What do the righteous judges say regarding these matters?

In the presence of all creation, at the revelation of that unimaginable glory, He acknowledges and honors you as His caretaker and guest, unashamed to declare this to magnify your dignity. Thus, the righteous are adorned with grace. I say grace, because even if they performed countless good deeds, that is merely an overflow of grace, for such trivial acts grant access to heaven and the kingdom, resulting in immense honor in the eyes of the universe. How will the hearts of the righteous respond when they hear their Lord and Savior's gentle words? Oh, the indescribable joy that will fill their hearts, the divine ecstasy their souls will proclaim!

Conversely, those who lack mercy towards their neighbors will be deemed unmerciful to Christ Himself in the reckoning of God. This momentous global judgment will be the definitive assessment, determining every individual's fate for eternity. The first phase of this judgment, after the Son of Man appears in divine majesty and is accompanied by His holy angels, will be the separation of the righteous from the wicked, placing the former on His right and the latter on His left. Following this, the Lord will invite the righteous into the eternal joy prepared for them by God from the foundation of the world, while the wicked will be eternally severed from His presence and cast into the everlasting fire, destined for perpetual suffering, which has been prepared for all adversaries of God, particularly for the devil and his angels.

Referring to themselves as unworthy servants who have only fulfilled their duties (Luke 17:10), they express surprise when their acts of kindness are regarded as praiseworthy. With this same humility and sincere astonishment, they will respond to Christ during the Final Judgment, asking, “Lord, when did we ever see You? When did we feed You when You were hungry? When did we give You drink when You were thirsty? When did we offer You hospitality as a stranger? When did we clothe You when You were naked? When did we visit You when You were sick or imprisoned?” The King will then reply (Matthew 25:40): “Indeed, you did not do these things directly for Me; however, did I not tell you that whoever welcomes one of these little ones welcomes Me? Understand that you did not turn away anyone who sought your assistance in My name; you fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, clothed the naked, welcomed the stranger, and cared for the sick and imprisoned. All the good you performed for the poor, the downtrodden, and the needy was done as if it were for Me. Now go and receive the inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven!”

For I was hungry and you gave me no food; I was thirsty and you gave me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not welcome me; I was naked and you did not clothe me; I was sick and in prison and you did not visit me' (Matthew 25:41-43). Isn't it clear from this that if God designated a kingdom for some from the beginning of time and eternal fire for others, it was not out of arbitrary love or hate, but because some demonstrated their worthiness for the kingdom while others did so for eternal damnation, based on their own deeds? This foreknowledge of God was not constrained by time, as He recognized these outcomes as already fulfilled (see also 2 Pet. 1:10; 2 Tim. 2:20; Rom. 8:17; 1 Cor. 9:27).

He will invite those who have shown mercy and gathered treasures in heaven through the righteous use of their resources—those who have provided food, clothing, and timely assistance to the needy. They will inherit the celestial kingdom, a kingdom that is truly theirs, from eternity (St. John Chrysostom), receiving an inheritance that is imperishable, pure, and unfading (1 Pet. 1:4), stored in heaven for all who have accepted the adoption into God’s family through Me (John 1:12; Gal. 4:7) and lived virtuous lives aligned with God's predestined choices (Rom. 8:29; Eph. 1:4). The King further continues to emphasize the importance of mercy, stating that hunger and thirst should be met by giving sustenance, that the stranger should be welcomed, the naked clothed, the sick visited, and those in prison cared for. These acts of both physical and spiritual compassion will facilitate pardon during the Last Judgment, aligned with the promise made by the Lord in His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:7).