"And the righteous shall be gathered on my right hand unto eternal life; and the wicked on my left hand will I be ashamed to own before the Father"
A short comment or two on a small detail in a familiar doctrine can hit different. This section contains soaring language as Joseph Smith takes on the Messianic voice to frame prophecies about when the Savior will return in response to a handful of faithful elders of the Church unified in prayer and common inquiry on the subject in preparation for the first General Conference (September 1830). The great work of gathering scattered Israel, creating a Zion society on the earth for heaven to bless, and preparing the way for the Lord's promised return was on their minds and hearts, as was their own roles in this work, and the Lord laid out specifics for them in response.
In this particular passage, the Lord is transitioning between those details of his return, and the first scriptural laying out of the doctrinal skeleton of what we now commonly call the Plan of Salvation. (I maintain that we should be careful what we put under that label, because the plan of how humans are saved is not the same as the map of its main structures, but I digress.) So here, before the insightful doctrinal commentary begins, the Savior relays the endpoints: heaven and hell, those who will be on His right hand or His left hand at judgment day.
Did you notice the phrase "ashamed to own before the Father?" Paul wrote to the Romans that he wasn't ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, and so they shouldn't be either. Peter, whose repentance from having been ashamed of Christ himself three times on a certain fateful night was then complete, invited the church as a whole to not be ashamed of Christ, but rather to glory in His name despite potentially suffering because of conviction in Him. Jesus Himself taught His disciples that those who allow fear of human opinions to paralyze them from accepting the truth that He is the Redeemer, and from behaving accordingly would find, to their own horror on judgment day, that the turnabout will be worse for them.
The doctrine isn't new that Christ will be ashamed of those who are ashamed of Him. What hit different for me was the framing of that shame. In this passage, there was purpose and direction that the other scriptural mentions of shame don't connote. Judgment day consists of a gathering of those worthy to be called Christ's, and by their own acts of will, some will fall short of that worthiness at that time. But rather than the image of a vengeful god who dispenses righteous disgust at the willfully stiff necks whose arrogance makes reject the love of the All-powerful and All-merciful, this hints at a desire to save more, but not being able to. He has to present a group to the Father that meet a certain criteria. He needs to be proud of having covered them with His atoning and cleansing blood because of their acceptance of that infinite gift. Those belong to Him. They are called by His name and know His voice and follow Him. But there are some who simply will not accept Him. He loves them too! He wishes they would just hear Him, but they won't. And He is bound by His own eternal word, by the judgement of His Father, and by the eternal principles of justice and mercy, and therefore His own power is limited by their will.
Another way to put this might be in terms of comfort. When I'm the least well dressed at a formal affair, I can expect a certain level of discomfort. It's an imperfect analogy, of course, especially since some have more aptitude than others at even feeling righteous social opprobrium, but imagine that scenario dialed up to infinite. At the moment of your meeting that Being of infinite goodness and love, having a "bright recollection of your guilt," as Alma put it, your sensitivity and your separation from Him and His nature will be at a matching and infinite maximum contrast unless you aren't going it alone--unless the Lamb of God has embraced you as His. And His discomfort too would kick for all who have un-repented wickedness remaining. As advocate, he simply can't present you dressed in that at the gates of eternal joy at His Father's kingdom of perfect love, perfect justice, and perfect progression. Without accepting Him, your own conscience would shrivel you, knowing you don't belong--not because the "club" is that exclusive, but because your nature is that criminal.
He wants to "own" us all. His burden is light. His requirements are accessible. He requires all of us, but His grace is sufficient all along the way.
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