The Sheep and the Goats

Christ the King – Bow Brickhill Church – 26 November 2017

Gospel Matthew 25

The sheep and the goats

³¹ ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

³⁴ ‘Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ 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, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was ill and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”

³⁷ ‘Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you ill or in prison and go to visit you?”

⁴⁰ ‘The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

⁴¹ ‘Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was ill and in prison and you did not look after me.”

⁴⁴ ‘They also will answer, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or ill or in prison, and did not help you?”

⁴⁵ ‘He will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”

⁴⁶ ‘Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.’

Sermon

Christ the King—recent addition to church’s calendar—first instituted by RC church (1925) as last Sunday in October. Adopted by other churches with Revised Common Lectionary. Final Sunday in Ordinary Time—last Sunday before Advent.

Significance

· Christ the Lord is given all power in heaven and on earth

· All people, purchased by the shedding of his precious blood, are subject to his dominion—including judgement [as in today’s parable of sheep and goats]

· Christ does not only reign for all time over all people—he reigns over our minds and wills—he reigns in our hearts.

Sheep and Goats—last of 4 consecutive ‘judgement’ parables in Matthew chapters 24-25

1. Faithful and Wise Servant—Keep watch for the day and the hour are coming—the faithful and wise servant is ready at all times—the wicked servant is tired of waiting his master’s return—starts beating and abusing other servants.
The punishment is shocking:
⁵¹ He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Weeping and gnashing of teeth appears 7 times in NT—6 in Matthew—signifies torments of the damned—Matthew the evangelist has an apocalyptic view of the end of time.

2. 10 Virgins—the door is closed on the unprepared young women who do not take with them a sufficient supply of oil for their lamps

3. Bags of Gold—the servant who buries his master’s wealth in the ground instead of making it work and earning a return is condemned:
²⁶ ‘His master replied, “You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? ²⁷ Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
²⁸ ‘“So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. ²⁹ For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. ³⁰ And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Not a sympathetic or moral picture of God—like other parables such as the Unjust Judge.

4. Sheep and Goats—the goats are sent to eternal punishment for their lack of care towards followers of Jesus, especially the vulnerable.

Interpretation—Matthew sets scene with gathering of all the nations before the Son of Man. Greek word for all people is used in Matthew sometimes for ‘Gentiles’ and sometimes in a universal sense—we’ll assume here Jesus is judge of all people, but this interpretation is controversial.

³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

This picture of judgement seems to include all Christians—whether they are inside or outside the church. Christians are condemned for their failure to take care of and nurture their brothers and sisters in Christ:

⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was ill and in prison and you did not look after me.”

⁴⁴ ‘They also will answer, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or ill or in prison, and did not help you?”

⁴⁵ ‘He will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”

The point is well made—do we see the face of Christ in the beggar on the streets or do we step over them and pass by on the other side? For his audience at the time, Matthew’s stress on neglecting fellow Christians must of course include those who do far worse—persecution of the early Christians was horrific.

Where does ‘justification by faith’ come in? Fear not—Matthew’s account of Jesus’ judgement parables and his insistence that Christian righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees is countered by Jesus’ words, when he says in chapter 11 that his yoke is easy and his burden is light.

Matthew’s Jesus is concerned to encourage and empower the persecuted Christians of the early church—but above the judgement and condemnation is the universal command to love our enemies and do good to those who persecute us.

If our faith has grown lukewarm—we would do well to take to heart the judgement parables—which are at least as radical as the command we should love our enemies. And if in our comfortable existence here we fail to care for our sisters and brothers throughout the church and across the world who suffer real and increasing persecution and violence, we are in some danger of neglect or worse.

It seems to me this encapsulates the message of Christ the King for us—judgement yes—not only that we should appreciate the risk of condemnation—but that we must work for Jesus in bringing in his kingdom of truth and life, holiness and grace, justice love and peace. Listen out for these words in the extended preface to our communion. Amen