Matthew 25:31-46
June 16
David A. Davis
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Sheep and goats. Sheep over here. Goats over there. The sheep on one side. The goats on the other. Sheep and goats. Goats and sheep. The goats hear of judgement, curse, and the fire prepared by the devil and his angels. They hear “you did it NOT to me.” The sheep hear of invitation, inheritance, the kingdom, and eternal life. “You did it to me.” Sheep and goats. Here and there.
Both the sheep and the goats are there in that gathering of many nations before the Son of Man. Both are there before the Son of Man who comes in all his glory, complete with an entourage of angels. The Son of man was there before the nations on the throne of his glory. This Son of Man who, according to the teaching of Jesus, had no place to lay his head, who had the authority on earth to forgive sins, who came eating and drinking with sinners, who is the Lord of the sabbath, who was betrayed into human hands, handed over and condemned to death. This Son of Man who came not be served but to serve. This Son of Man who is seated at the right of power and is coming on the clouds of heaven. The goats and the sheep are gathered before the Son of Man and his glory. The Son of Man comes dripping in glory and there among the gathering of many nations, the sheep and goats finds themselves before his throne.
You did it to me. You did it not to me. Somewhere in that gathering when the Son of Man comes in his glory, James must poke an elbow into the Apostle Paul’s ribs. Paul who wrote “therefore since we are justified by faith.” Paul and “for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God.” Paul and “we know that person is justified not by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.” James listens to the Son of Man on the goats and sheep, smiles and gives Paul a little dig. James and “be doers of the word not merely hearers.” James and “I by my works will show you my faith” and “faith by itself, if it has not works, is dead.” You did it. You did it not.
Some have made the argument that when Jesus speaks of “the least of these of my family, my siblings, in Greek my brethren, he was referring to those who would follow him. First to the twelve, and then to those who would take his name: apostles, disciples, preachers, martyrs, saints. Those who, in the name of Christ and for his sake, find themselves hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, in prison. It is the least of these defined as some sort of apostolic succession; care and concern within the Christian community.
But a wider read, a broader understanding, a more universal affirmation of the least of these is more consistent with Jesus’ own ministry and the rest of his teaching. By his own example, Jesus was not so parochial. There is a boundlessness to his servanthood. He makes the family reference in his response to the sheep but not to the goats. And remember how he really turns the language of “greatest and least” on its head anyway. So all the hungry and all the thirsty and all the strangers, the naked, the sick, the prisoners in the gospel of Jesus are actually the greatest not the least.
I did some research this week to try to find out if farmers have to keep sheep and goats separated from each other. Turns out farmers are a lot like bible scholars, preachers, and people who go to church. There were lots of different opinions. One wrote that a sheep and a goat can be together and can actually become good friends. Another suggested it has more to do with a having a few animals or running a working farm. On a farm it is too risky for the health of the animals. The most convincing opinion I read was that the animals are just too different when it comes to physiology, psychology, and behavior. They have absolutely nothing in common except they are both animals.
So the Son of Man in glory seems to be reprising his role as a shepherd. Maybe the first thing a shepherd would do would be to separate the sheep and the goats. Goats over here. Sheep over there. The reader, the listener, the theologian, the interpreter, the preacher, and the farmer can’t help but ponder the difference. Sheep and goat difference. Right and left. Reward and judgement. But in the Son of Man’s telling before they were separate, they were together. In all their “sheep and goatness”, what they have in common ought not be missed.
“Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison?” Both sheep and goats had to ask. Both had missed when he was hungry or thirsty. Both missed that he was a stranger, that he was naked. Both goats and sheep didn’t know that he was sick or in prison. Sheep and goats. They all could see it was Jesus standing before them on the throne wearing nothing but glory. They knew then. But looking back, looking back not just at an instance here or an opportunity there, looking back over a stretch of time, looking back at all of life here on earth. Standing there in the kingdom of God with the canvas of history stretched all around them and they had no idea. Both the sheep and the goats didn’t know. They couldn’t see the hidden Jesus.
When it came to the least of these, when it came to the Son of Man present in the lives of the least of these, when it came to seeing the Lord’s face in the hungry and the thirsty, when it came to recognizing him in the stranger, in the one with no clothes, when it came to looking into the eyes of Jesus in the one who was sick, the one in prison, when it came to the least of these who are members of my family? They missed it. Both the sheep and the goats. The sheep and the goats were united, they were one when it came to their inability to see Jesus in the face, in the life, in the person, in the face of the other.
Jesus’ parable of the sheep and the goats is so familiar, ingrained, memorable. But it is far too easy to not remember that this teaching of Jesus comes right on the threshold of his suffering and death. Here in Matthew Jesus tells this parable just before the narrative takes the turn toward his betrayal, his trial, his beating, his humiliation, and his crucifixion. Another to think about it is that while James and Paul may have the luxury of theological banter at the kingdom table, and as the tradition goes toe to toe about faith and works and debating faith vs works, Matthew’s Jesus tells the parable and heads off to the cross. Matthew’s Jesus, the last word from the Teacher, the Rabbi, his last bit of teaching to the disciples, it isn’t a beatitude or a lesson about prayer or a quote from the prophets. He leaves them with the one about the goats and the sheep. Jesus points not to the law, not to the devil, not to the Pharisees, not to a miracle, not even to the twelve, but to the least of these. As if to say, when I am gone, when I am gone, see me, find me, look for me, serve me, not on the mountain where I delivered that sermon, not at the Mt of Transfiguration with Moses and Elijah, not in the temple, not in the synagogue, but among the hungry, the thirsty, the strangers, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned.
You remember that the Risen Christ told the women at the tomb to tell the others to go to Galilee and he will see them there. At the Great Commission Jesus tells them “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them everything I have commanded you.” In the fullness of the story of Jesus and all the nations, before preaching, before teaching, before making disciples, before conversation, before the Great Commission, it is “as you did it to one of the least of these….”. The first act of gospel proclamation is for the followers of Jesus to join all nations in feeding the hungry. The first step in sharing Christian faith is to find yourself among the nations pouring for the thirsty. The first move of evangelism is for the followers of Jesus to lead all nations in welcoming the stranger and clothing the naked and visiting the prisoner. “As you did it to one of these, you did it to me.” It ought to be such a part of who we are. It is such a part of who we are.
One preacher I listened to a long time ago offered the takeaway that all of us are part sheep, part goat. When it comes to living this parable there is a bit of goat and sheep in all of us. Once in a while Jesus says to us “you did it unto me”. Other times Jesus says “you did it NOT to me” At the very least, we have a lot in common with both those over here and those over there in the kingdom of heaven. Sheep, goats, and the hidden Jesus. But here is where we are different. Here’s what is different for those of us who follow Jesus. For us, for you, for me, Jesus has already told us where to look.