SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Our Duty Is Evident

In this week’s gospel reading, Jesus tells the disciples that at the end of the age, “The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous.” 

I’ll admit I had a hard time understanding this line. We worship a God of love and forgiveness, merciful toward our many human failings. To “throw them into the fiery furnace” seems so different from the message of redemption that the Lamb of God brought to humanity. 

As I prayed on this passage, I started to wonder what it meant to be righteous and what it meant to be wicked. In the Beatitudes, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matthew 5:6). Those who pursue righteousness seek a relationship with God to follow a path to holiness and Heaven. 

What, then, does this say about the wicked? I believe this passage refers to people unable or unwilling to walk beside Jesus and let Him into their hearts. Think of God as the brightest light in the universe. There are some who walk towards Him, bathed in His holy light. And there are some whose backs are turned to Him so that all they can see is their own shadow. When Jesus speaks of “the fiery furnace,” perhaps he was putting the pain and sorrow of their separation from God into words his followers could understand. 

This passage from scripture calls on us to walk the path of righteousness beside Jesus, but it does not command us to separate the wicked from among us. Jesus is clear when He says that the “angels” will be the ones to undertake this task, and if we look back to His commands, our duty is evident. We must love all our neighbors—righteous or wicked—just as God’s light shines on every one of us.

–Sarah Moll

Send Us Forth are reflections written by St. Matthew parishioners and friends.