Parables of Jesus The Sheep and The Goats

The Parable  “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the

angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and 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 of 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 invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me;

The Parable  I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came

to 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? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;

The Parable  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 did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ These will go away intoeternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

The Flock  The parable of the Sheep and the Goats found in Matthew

25:31-46 is one of the most well known parables, even to the point of becoming an idiom. The phrase, “Separating the sheep from the goats” is much like, “Separating the wheat from the chaff ”. This parable is a more detailed retelling of the wheat and tares parable. This one takes place however during the harvest time where the righteous and unrighteous are separated and find their fate. The Parable is told during the last week of Jesus’ ministry before the crucifixion, and He is taking off the gloves, so to speak, to let anyone who will hear, what is at stake.

First Things First  Jesus is speaking to His disciples in this passage, but Matthew

does not specifically say whether he means the Twelve, or the general company that would accompany Jesus from time to time. He does give a clue when he writes,” As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately” This would seem to indicate that it was a smaller number who sought to have Jesus address them, and He does so in a series of parables. In this parable, the first thing Jesus tells them is His status as King; “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.

First things First  This, of course, would not be news to the Twelve; earlier in

chapter 16, He confirms Peter’s declaration of Him as the Messiah, the Son of God. Jesus’ favorite title to use for himself was “Son of Man”, so there was no doubt who He was talking about it; was Himself. The scenario was familiar to the disciples, sheep and goats shared an environment, and both provided means for clothing and food. Both provided wool and meat, and goats were useful for milk. At shearing time however, when the wool was shorn from the sheep, it would be necessary to separate them as the goats would not be desired at this time. Also strange, at least to His contemporaries was Jesus likening of the King to a shepherd; shepherds were outcasts in that society

The Judgment  The universality of the scene taking place is highlighted by

Jesus use of the term ethnos or nations. The disciples would have understood this to mean non-Jews or Gentiles. Paul uses the same word to describe the Gentiles to whom he ministers. Given the subsequent revelation of God, and Jesus’ own actions, a case may be made that the use of the word here may be inclusive of all mankind, Jew and Gentile alike all reconciled under Jesus as a new nation. This is meant to promote universal inclusion, merely the blurring of ethnic lines in the kingdom as revealed in Gal. 3:28; There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

The Formula  The pattern described, and its repetition serves to highlight it

for us, is that the criteria for judgment is the service of the individual to the fellow man; feeding, clothing, and fellowship. Both the ‘sheep’ and the ‘goats’ protest their identification of having done these for or to the King, and Jesus is both instances proclaims, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did it/did not do it/ to Me.’ The Greek word translated as ‘these’ in our translation is adelphon which literally means “brother” both in a literal and in a figurative sense. With that, Jesus is saying that those who belong to him are a new nation, a new ethnos, and that we are kin.

Faith Vs Works.  Some may try to use this parable to justify a works based

salvation, but that flies in the face of the rest of Scripture. What we are seeing here is confirmation of James’ maxim, “Faith without works is dead.” Those who truly have a relationship with Jesus are going to be the ones who will be feeding, clothing, and fellowshipping with those who are unable to do anything in return. Those who do not have this relationship, will only do so out of motives other than the desire of the Lord. This is highlighted by the specific mention of the inability of the ones being served to repay; the “least” of these.

Do!  Our demographic identifications must be secondary. We need

to be Children of God first and White, Black, Male, Female, Gay, or Straight last. We can only serve people, not labels.  Hell is real, and was not originally intended for humans. We will however, spend eternity with our father; whichever one that is.  True faith is visible. No matter what we say, it is what we do that reveals what we truly believe. “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? “