I have long been a fan of C. S. Lewis. I have read some of his works repeatedly. I prefer his Space Trilogy to Narnia. My favorite book, though, is a remarkably hard-to-find volume: Essay Collection and Other Short Pieces (London: HarperCollins, 2000). In it are contained numerous essays that Lewis wrote — many which cannot be found in print anywhere else. I read one this week that has humbled me: “The Weight of Glory.”

Jesus presents a view of what the final judgment will be like with an analogy of sheep and goats:

Matthew 25:31-34; 41 — When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will place the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, “Come you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world…” Then he will say to those on His left, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

Those of us who believe in Jesus take comfort that we are likened to sheep, on the right. When we read the above verses, though, we tend to think of ourselves. When you read, “Come you who are blessed by my Father…” you think of yourself, right? Lewis makes a great point in his essay, though. He realizes that Jesus is not just talking to ME. I am not alone in being blessed. I am not the only one who will inherit the kingdom. Here are some of his concluding thoughts:

The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbour’s glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare… There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations — these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit — immortal horrors or everlasting splendours… Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself [Jesus], your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbour he is holy in almost the same way, for in him Christ vere latitat [is truly hidden] — the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself — is truly hidden.

There is much to be gleaned from this 10-page essay; do yourself a favor and read the whole thing someday. Remember that each and every human you encounter is no mere mortal. They are immortal, just like you are. The most boring Christian you know will one day be a glorified, holy creature. The most illustrious, fascinating unbeliever you know today will one day be embalmed in the horrors of hell. Unless they repent and believe in Jesus Christ, that is.

May you be humbled when you think of every single human around you — now and always.

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This entry was posted by zac on Thursday, December 13th, 2007 at 6:33 am and is filed under Weekly Jib Jab. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.