One of my church activities is to serve as Secretary for the Canberra Region Presbytery of the Uniting Church in Australia. In this capacity I represent the Uniting Church on the ecumenical Council of Churches for the Australian Capital Territory. I presented the following short Bible reflection at the meeting of the council yesterday, on Matthew 25:31-46, the Last Judgement. I call this text the SDGs of the Bible, comparing it to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The Last Judgement describes the centrality of works of mercy to the salvation of the world, in a way that is directly relevant to modern development priorities. The salvation proclaimed by Christ in this text is supremely practical, while also resting upon the spiritual call to have faith in the grace of God. The Biblical claim is that our connection to divine love is the main thing that matters, as the source from which all blessings flow. Discussing the love of God for the world can inspire us to ask what we must do to be saved.
The six works of mercy described by Jesus in the Last Judgement say the key priorities for salvation are to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, welcome strangers and visit prisoners and the sick. These all show how the love of God can appear in our lives through a transformation of our world. These six actions are brought together in the seventh commandment, to treat the least as though they were Christ, like the story of God resting on the seventh day after six days of work to create the world.
Together these commands from Christ form what we can call the sustainable development goals of the Bible. The starting point for sustainable development in this approach is to see the glory of God revealed in parts of our world that are often despised, rejected and ignored. The vision of the reign of Christ in the Last Judgement calls us to live proleptically, which means living as though we were now in the kingdom of God. Simple practical measures that show our love for the least work to include people who are excluded by worldly prejudice, challenging prevailing social values and enabling sustainable development.
The vision of transformation here is like Saint Paul’s explanation in Romans 8 that the natural creation groans like a woman giving birth as God works for good through love.
The priorities for change in this vision from Christ reflect the theme of the General Assembly of the World Student Christian Federation, “rejoice in hope” (Rom 12:12). The vision of planetary transformation for sustainable development in the Last Judgement gives a basis to rejoice in hope, confident that faith in God revealed in Christ can show a path to make our world a better place.