Who is Your Neighbor? A Parable about Sheep and Goats
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“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. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
He will put the sheep on His right and 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.
For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you took care of Me; I was in prison and you visited Me.’
“Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or without clothes and clothe You?
When did we see You sick, or in prison, and visit You?’ “And the King will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’
Then He will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels! For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink;
I was a stranger and you didn’t take Me in; I was naked and you didn’t clothe Me, sick and in prison and you didn’t take care of Me.’ “Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or without clothes, or sick, or in prison, and not help You?’
“Then He will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me either.’ “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Point: A neighbor is anyone that Jesus loves. Sheep and goats are seperated based on their acknowledgment of Jesus and thier work. One’s works prove the reality of one’s faith. One’s works demonstrate the state of the heart.
Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming when all who are in the graves will hear His voice
and come out—those who have done good things, to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked things, to the resurrection of judgment.
Anything done unto one of His, He considers done unto Him.
And whoever gives just a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple —I assure you: He will never lose his reward!”
And whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of My name, since you belong to the Messiah —I assure you: He will never lose his reward.
Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
Who is truly a neighbor?
According to Jesus it was the Samaritan! The mixed breed of Jew who had intermarried with the gentile people around them when Israel took the promised land.
Just then an expert in the law stood up to test Him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the law?” He asked him. “How do you read it?”
He answered: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself. “You’ve answered correctly,” He told him. “Do this and you will live.”
But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus took up the question and said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead.
A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’ “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”
“The one who showed mercy to him,” he said. Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.”
Note: The one who is truly a neighbor extends the divine womb of Christ, His mercy, to those in need, those Jesus loves. Remember the word picture for ‘mercy’ in Hebrew is woman’s pregnant womb. Jesus’ mercy is being protected and cared for like a baby in a mother’s womb. Being a true neighbor, is to extend to other’s Christ’s protective womb.
According to the Jews it was their brother, the fellow Israelite, or also member of the covenant. Leviticus 19:18, OT Law, instructed Israelites “to love their neighbor as themselves”.
Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself; I am Yahweh.
The neighbor was their fellow Israelite. We know this is so because their is a cavet if you will, or an adendum added to the law concerning foreignors in the land.
They are to be extended the same courtesy, as long as they follow the laws of the land. Lev 19:34
You must regard the foreigner who lives with you as the native-born among you. You are to love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt; I am Yahweh your God.
Being foreigners in a land not yours, were you not welcomed? Were you not embraced? Were you not loved as a neighbor? Joseph was second in power in the land of Egypt next to the Pharoah himself. The Pharoah treated Joseph as a brother and fellow Egyptian. When Joseph came to him about the plight of His family, and people, the Hebrews were invited to come and live among the Egyptians.
Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Now that your father and brothers have come to you, the land of Egypt is open before you; settle your father and brothers in the best part of the land. They can live in the land of Goshen. If you know of any capable men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.”
Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly.
Pharoah extended to Joseph and his family his mercy, Egypts mercy, a protective womb from famine. Have we extended mercy to those who are not family, but foreignors?
Jesus says ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’
Interesting when Jesus says, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’, in what context does He use it in? Jesus echoes the command of the OT law but expands upon it as a marking of a true disciple of God and one to inherit the kingdom of God.
One of the scribes approached. When he heard them debating and saw that Jesus answered them well, he asked Him, “Which command is the most important of all?” “This is the most important,” Jesus answered: Listen, Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. “The second is: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other command greater than these.”
Another instance when Jesus uses the same phrase is found in Matthew 5:43-48, the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus says,
“You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?
What?! Love your enemy because he/she is your neighbor. Jesus has had a little to much Jugo Juice! You want me to extend care and love to my enemy? You want me to extend grace and mercy to my enemy? Your out of your mind Jesus! Yes, Jesus is actually out of this world. God’s common grace, His common favor extends to all both the good and bad, He sends the rain on both the righteous and unrighteous, the politician and the poor. But if you only love those who love you, what reward will you have? What sacrifice have you and I made? What burden have we carried? What suffering have we endured? What discomfort have we experienced? None. Nothing. Jesus came into the world to die for the world because of His great love for the Father, His will, and His creation.
Sheep follow the Savior. Goats do their own thing. Sheep will inherit the Kingdom of God and eternity with Him. Goats will inherit eternal seperation from God and punishment of their own choosing because they refused to believe and follow Jesus Christ.
How can you tell the difference between sheep and goats?
In North and South Amercia, as well as Europe it is fairly easy....but in the Middle East it is a different story. Sheep and goats look almost exactly the same except for two distinguishing characteristics…their tail and ears. Sheep tails always go down, goats tails always go up. Sheep ears are long flappers, goats ears are sticky and small.
Jesus told us the difference between sheep and goats are their willingness to be shepherded. Sheep will follow Jesus, goats do their own thing. Sheep do the work of Jesus because they love Him. Goats are selfish and do their own thing to their own benefit. Sheep take care of their neighbor, the poor, and the needy. Goats care nothing about their neighbor, the poor, and/or the needy. Goats will actually say, ‘We never saw any’. On the day that nations are gathered for judgment of their works, both sheep and goats, Jesus’ seperation is based on two things: Do they know Me? Jesus? And secondly, did they love their neighbor?
“And the King will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’
“Then He will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me either.’
Who is your neighbor? Anyone that Jesus loves and sheds His common grace upon. Short answer: the world.
Why this sermon? Why these passages? Because our community is uncomfortable with ‘our neighbors’. Our church is somewhat uncomfortable with ‘our neighbors’. I am uncomfortable with ‘our neighbors’ because homelessness is a blight on a community. We wish not to see it, not to acknowledge it, so we attempt to hide it, abuse those in it, those who try to love and lift the homeless out of their plight.
Three reasons why homelessness exists: a person being lazy, unforseen circumstances (death, work, disaster, etc…), and ignoring God, ignoring Christ.
With Israel living in covenant with God and with each other, they had a responsibility to look out for one another. New believers living in covenant with Christ are to live in covenant of looking out for one another because we follow Christ. Neither covenants allow the ignoring of the world…the foriegnor, the destitute, the stranger, nor the enemy. Refusing to love a neighbor is a lack of God problem and a lack of loving Christ problem. The two are one of the same.
Do we have a hard heart? Do we truly love Jesus? Do we truly follow Jesus? Our neighbors will tell us. Sheep love and follow the Savior. Goats love themselves and follow their own desires, the devil. Sheep will inherit the kingdom of God and eternal life with Him. Goats bring upon themselves eternal seperation from God and eternal punishment. The choice is ours. Will we love our neighbors? Amen.