Sheep VS Goats

Gospel:

[Jesus said to the disciples:] 31“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.

34Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’

37Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’

40And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family you did it to me.’ 41Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’

44Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’

45Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Introduction

Are you a sheep or a goat? Are you among the righteous or among the damned? Are you destined for eternal life in the kingdom prepared by God for you from the foundation of the world or eternal punishment in the fires prepared for the devil and his angels?

These are the questions that Jesus provokes in our gospel text today from Matthew. And directly following this text we see the beginning of the end of Jesus’ life as the chief priests and the elders of the people began their plotting together to kill the Son of Man.

And perhaps after words like these it is no surprise that this plot arises. Jesus has been pushing continuously for a change in perspective of what validates a believer from one that simply follows the Law to one who waits faithfully for the return of the Messiah—one who actively lives for the sake of the other rather than just for the sake of self.

It would seem that in this final text that Jesus is perhaps casting a stone at the leaders of the church of the day as ones who live more by the law than by love for the neighbor. But hold on a moment...

Ethnos

Bear with me because I want to pull out my theology nerd a little here. You see, here’s one of those texts where brushing up on your Greek can really help understand things a bit differently. While I certainly believe that Jesus is underscoring the importance of take care of the poor and hungry—I do not believe this text is a prescription on how to get to Heaven. And there is one word in particular here that I want us to look at today.

In verse 32, Jesus says, “All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats..”

I want to look at the third word in that verse… the word translated here as “nations.” In the original Greek the word would have been “Ethnos” and this little tidbit is extremely important in our understanding of the entire Gospel lesson for today.

You see, the word “Ethnos,” again translated here as ‘nations’ does not mean ALL people… it almost does but not quite. What it means is ALL of the OTHER people. Ethnos was used to describe anyone who was not a follower of Yahweh. If you weren’t an Israelite, then you were part of the Ethnos. If you were an Israelite, then you were NOT part of the Ethnos. And in Matthew’s gospel… every other place where Jesus uses the word “Ethnos” he is describing everyone who is not one of his followers!

Alright, so why does this small distinction matter, you ask? Great question! I was hoping someone would ask! Thank you! Your welcome.

This may mean that Matthew is not so much proscribing the behavior of his flock—in other words he’s not telling his followers how to get to the pearly gates instead of the eternal sauna... but rather we see him describing the situation of his community – hungry, thirsty, lonely, imprisoned – and promising that the judgment of the nations will turn on how those in power respond to the needs of the discipleship community (hence the importance in verse 40 not just that these good acts were done to “the least of these” (aka, the poor and suffering people in general) but more specifically to those who are part of “my family”). Cool!! Right?

So Jesus is saying that God cares for Christ’s followers so much that even non-believers will be blessed by God in thanks for helping care for the flock. And this promise most likely would have been a powerful, comforting, and encouraging word to those early Christians who were run down and worn out by oppression, persecution, and disruption in their lives.

Which may mean that Matthew is not so much proscribing the behavior of his flock but rather describing the situation of his community – hungry, thirsty, lonely, imprisoned – and promising that the judgment of the nations will turn on how those in power respond to the needs of the discipleship community (hence the import of not just “the least of these” but also “of my family”).

And here’s another incredibly nifty part of this text… Agh! I love the chance to nerd out on a good piece of scripture.

The surprise!! There is incredible surprise among the Ethnos (the nations) that are being divided up… the folks that are not Jesus’ followers that God judges as either sheep or goats, both groups are SHOCKED when Jesus tells them that they either did or did not feed him, give him drink, give him shelter… care for him in anyway. Both groups are completely taken by surprise that Christ was present.

God is showing up in places and persons where they least expected to see that divine presence!

Theology of the Cross

This leads to one of the central tenants of the Reformation and of Luther’s theology is called the “Theology of the Cross.” It is the concept that God regularly, even relentlessly shows up where we least expect God to be.

Not in Jerusalem or Rome, but in backwater Bethlehem. Not in armor but in the vulnerable flesh of a babe. Not in conquest but in crucifixion. Not in power but in weakness.

Now we have a tendency to be ok with the idea that Jesus looks upon us with favor when we do kind acts to others. But let’s flip this idea on its head a little and actually look at what Jesus is saying here. Yes, Jesus is with the people that we help and I am sure that if God is going to be pleased with any of our actions it is when we are being philanthropists. But that’s not the point for Christ’s followers then and it’s not the point for us now.

Again and again, God in Jesus shows up where we least expect God to be to surprise us, disarm us, overturn our expectations and judgments, all in order to invite us to give up our attempts to redeem ourselves – or even just to go it alone –instead relenting to God’s redemptive, surprising, and uncontrollable love.

Which means that the surprising element of this week’s Gospel doesn’t only apply to first-century Christians who felt like the world was against them.

You see as Matthew is describing the God’community of Christ’s followers as hungry, thirsty, lonely, in prison…

Rather, it serves to remind us as Christians today that God regularly and reliably shows up in those to whom we give little thought, those whom we tend to disdain, those who seem beyond the pale of our attention or good judgment:

Christ is present in and with that beggar on a convenience store bench who had the police called on them for being a public nuisance…

Christ is present in and with that mother with the frazzled hair trying to pick up a broken bag of groceries in the parking lot while keeping her children out of the way of moving vehicles…

Christ is present in and with that Walmart Associate trying to do 30 things at once on Black Friday.

And Christ is present in and with even... well.. even with you.

Today here in church, sure… but also when you are at work and stressed out with a project…

or at home and things aren’t going the way you would hope they would…

or by the phone as you await news from the doctor on your test results.

Or… whatever and whenever you might be, Christ is with you. That is the message of the cross and the message of Christ’s words today.

Conclusions

So there are two big ticket items that I want you to take-away with for this Sunday. The first is this:

Christ was sent into the world to suffer and to die for YOU. He was sent to redeem all of creation… the world… and specifically… YOU. And you, who have even a mustard seed of faith even in a land filled with fears and doubts are saved. Christ is with you in and through every step of life. Christ stands beside you through the storm and lifts you up as the waters get high.

And the second is this:

While this text is not a prescription on how to get to heaven… it does raise some interesting questions for us about who WE might overlook or have disdain for. How might we extend God’s hospitality to those that we might otherwise ignore?

How do we respond with God’s hospitality to those who we disagree with theologically or… perhaps even more dreadful… politically?

How do we show God’s love to those we have chosen to despite or at least not trust because of their actions?

There’s an old saying that whenever you draw a line between who’s in and who’s out… Jesus tends to be on the other side. I find that comforting in recognizing that Christ’s ability to include far exceeds my own. I also find that unsettling to recognize that Christ’s ability to include far exceeds my own!

So back to the question… are you a sheep or a goat today? Well, jokes about being old goats aside… there is judgement in this text, to be certain. But know that in this text you are neither sheep nor goat. You are not among the Ethnos being judged…you are among God’s family already.

Are you one who includes or excludes? Are you one who helps the neighbor or helps yourself? The answer is likely… yes.

You have been called and claimed, you have been marked with the Cross of Christ forever. You may have the confidence in knowing that the Creator of ALL THINGS came into this world and died for you so that you will have eternal life.

Now, how will you respond to that kind of love?

Blessings to you on this Christ the King Sunday.

How will you live as one who has been given new life?