Matthew 25:31

This verse opens one of Jesus' most famous parables, known as 'The Sheep and the Goats.' The 'Son of Man' is a title Jesus used for himself, drawn from the ancient book of Daniel, where a heavenly figure receives authority to rule over all nations. Here, Jesus is describing a future event — his return to earth at the end of history — not as a humble servant, but as a glorious king surrounded by angels, seated on a throne of judgment. This is a dramatic contrast to his first coming as a helpless infant in Bethlehem. The verse sets the stage for a reckoning where all people will be separated and judged, a scene that unfolds in the verses that follow.

Lord, forgive me for making you only gentle and never glorious. Let the reality of your return not fill me with dread but wake me up — to the hungry, the lonely, the unseen. Help me live today like someone who truly believes the king is coming. Amen.

We tend to carry two images of Jesus: the gentle shepherd cradling a lost lamb, or the suffering servant bleeding on a cross. Both are real. But this image — arriving in blazing glory with an angelic retinue, taking his seat as sovereign judge of all humanity — this is the Jesus we rarely sit with long enough to feel the full weight of. It's almost too vast to absorb, so we quietly skim past it. What's striking is that this throne scene immediately precedes a judgment based not on religious credentials or Sunday attendance, but on whether you fed someone who was hungry, visited someone who was sick, welcomed a stranger who had nowhere to go. The glorious king, it turns out, cares most about the quiet, unnoticed acts of love that nobody applauded. If this coming glory is real — and Jesus spoke about it as if it absolutely is — then the smallest kindness you show today carries a weight of eternity you can barely measure.