American theologian Jason Hood, writing in the Journal of Biblical Literature, argues that chapter 23, chapter 24, and chapter 25 of the Gospel of Matthew form the fifth and final discourse in the gospel. In his reading, these three chapters together "uniquely infuse Jesus' distinctive teaching on discipleship, Christology, and judgment with the dramatic tension running throughout Matthew's plot".[3]
Text
Matthew 25:12–15 on the recto side of Papyrus 35 from 3rd/4th century
The original text was written in Koine Greek. Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:
This chapter is divided into 46 verses. Pope Francis treats this chapter as "the 'protocol' by which we will be judged at the end of the world":
What is the protocol by which the judge will evaluate us? We find it in Chapter 25 of the Gospel of Matthew.[5]
The chapter continues a discourse commenced at Matthew 24:3 where the disciples come to Jesus to speak "privately".[6] The Parable of the Ten Virgins (verses 1-13) and the Parable of the Talents (verses 14-30) are both unique to Matthew,[7] but the Parable of the Talents has a corollary in Luke 19:11-27.
Verse 14
Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them.[8]
This verse begins a new parable, that of the talents or minas. There is no reference to the "kingdom of heaven" in this verse or in the parable, but the words, which mirror verse 1, are added in the King James Version and some other English translations "for the sake of grammatical completeness".[9]
Verses 31-46
The final section (verses 31-46) is sometimes referred to as The Sheep and the Goats[10] but other times referred to as "The Judgment of the Nations".[11] Although often called a "parable", it is not a story as such, but the portrayal of the Son of Man as a shepherd and the people under judgment as sheep or goats can be treated as "parabolic elements".[11]
The narrative quotes Jesus teaching that all of the people will be assembled before him and "he will separate them one from another", with some who will "inherit the kingdom" while others who will go to "the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels". Jesus is said to have said that the basis of this separation is whether or not someone:[11]
^Hood, Jason (2009). "Matthew 23-25: The Extent of Jesus' Fifth Discourse". Journal of Biblical Literature. 128 (3): 527–543. doi:10.2307/25610201. JSTOR25610201.
