Sheep or Goat?
Sheep or Goat?
Matthew 25:31-46
The earliest Bible verse we learned in Sunday School was not John 3:16. The earliest verse we learned, the earliest verse we teach in 1 John 4:8, three words so that children can learn almost as soon as they learn to talk – God is love. Both verses, though, remind us of God’s love for us.
You know, it’s very popular these days to talk about God’s love. Everybody’s doing it. Protesters on the street carry signs proclaiming that God loves everybody. It’s comforting, isn’t it? No matter what our sin may be, we can still carry a sign claiming God’s love for us. God loves gays. God loves trans. God loves illegal immigrants. It’s so generic that we could just preprint a bunch of signs that say, “God loves ...” and let whoever just fill in the blank.
But it’s a squishy love, a tolerant love. In fact, it seems to be a love that just tolerates anyone and anything. It’s a radically permissive love that makes no demands, has no exceptions, and is based entirely on emotion. It is in fact, a love that is contrary to the very nature of God. Because God’s love is not permissive and it is highly conditional. That is to say, God’s love is demanding. Yes, the Scripture is clear on this, God does love everyone, and wants everyone to come to repentance and be saved. God did not create hell for people but for Satan and his demons. I firmly believe that God does not want anyone in hell, which is why he has made a way of escape through Jesus Christ. Let me share the first stanza of a poem I am writing –
God in Triune splendor sat upon His regal throne
While gathered in their millions, like stars the angels shone.
The brightest one among them in dark rebellion fell
So God, in loving grace toward him, created for him Hell.
There, apart from all that spoke of heaven’s wondrous grace
Satan never would again see Jehovah face to face
So God, in loving grace toward him, created for him Hell. The creation of hell was an act of God’s love. God loved Lucifer. God loved Judas. And because he loved them, he honored their choices, and gave them a place apart from his presence. And that is the definition of hell – the one place or realm where God is absent, where God is not. The one place where nothing of God’s goodness will be – no music, no beauty, no color, no light, no friends. But hell is also an act of God’s justice. I’ll come to that in a moment.
But first, I’ve defined for you before the four Greek words that we translate “love” in English. Two of them are vital for us today. The one is eros, which is sensual love, emotional love, preferential love. We often apply it to sexual behavior, but it applies to all the senses – to taste, smell, touch, sight. We “love” things that taste good, that feel good, that smell good, that sound good. We hear people talk about loving a certain genre of music or literature or art. We hear people talk about loving certain foods, certain aromas, certain textures. All of that is best described as erotic, as eros love. The other word is agape, much harder to define and describe. It is sacrificial, yes, we often say that. It is also altruistic, and altruistic heroes don’t consider their acts of rescue as acts of love, necessarily. It is also decisive, an act of the will. In this sense, we don’t feel it, we just do it. But this love is also inextricably linked with justice. We do it because it is right, and we are deeply offended when it is violated.
God’s love also comes with rewards, as we read in the Beatitudes, the Blessings of the King. But those rewards are conditional. There are rules. We find that stated very clearly in the Last Supper Discourse in John 14-16 – “You are my friends if you do what I command” (Jn 15:14). “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My father will love them ...” (Jn 14:23). And while nothing can separate us from the God’s love (Rom 8:39), we will learn in our text today that there are things that will separate us from God’s presence.
God’s love is protective. It is a love that is accompanied by a deep-seated hatred for anything that harms those he loves. It sounds wrong to say that God hates, but the Scripture is filled with things that God declares his hatred for. Deuteronomy 12:31 tells us that God hates idolatry and the practices of the idolaters who burn their children as sacrifices to their gods. Deuteronomy 16:21-22 tells us that God hates the very idols that people set up to worship. Isaiah 1:14 and Amos 5:21 tell us that God hates phony worship, and Isaiah 61 tells us that God hates robbery and wrong-doing. Zechariah 8:16-17 says that God hates those who scheme against others and swear falsely. That, by the way, is why God is sometimes called a jealous God, because he is jealous for (not jealous of) the ones he loves. It is a rage against anything that harms us, anything that harms our soul, anything that disrupts our relationship with him. We talk about God’s wrath, which is directed at those who deceive, those who cause harm, those who entice into sin, those who turn us away from him, and at the evil that people do. God’s wrath, God’s jealousy, God’s hatred all flow from his love for us.
With all of that in mind, we can begin to unwrap this parable.
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory ...” Remember, this is a reference to Daniel 7:13-14, and a claim to deity. Jesus will return with his angels and take his glorious throne. The nations will be gathered ... and the people separated “as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”
I wanted to know why a shepherd would do that. What I found is this: They have different dietary needs. Sheep graze on grass; goats have a more varied diet and will eat thorns, thistles, and shrubs, even garbage. They have different shelter needs. Sheep have thick wool that keeps them warm; goats need to be brought in out of the cold. But perhaps the most important difference is this: sheep are docile and follow the shepherd; goats are temperamental, independent, and prone to escape enclosures. That is, sheep are followers while goats are wanderers. When Jesus uses this image, he’s separating those who follow him from those who reject him. It’s not just good and bad. In fact, there is much good about goats. My sister has raised them for milk. Some people raise them for meat. But goodness is not the only measure. Discipleship, following the Shepherd, is the primary measure.
As we read the parable, though, it appears at first that compassionate behavior is key. “The King will say to those on his right ... 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. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me.”
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we ...?’”
I want you to notice something important: righteousness informs behavior. It was not their behavior that made them righteous, but rather their righteousness that caused them to act the way they did. They were motivated to act by their relationship with the King. Read again the surprising question of the “sheep.” “When did we do those things? When did we see YOU hungry? When did we see YOU thirsty, naked, cold, or sick?” We saw people in that condition, and stepped in to help where we could, but when have we ever seen Christ in such extremity? The righteous ones aren’t really aware, always, that they are serving Christ. But it is their close walk with Christ that causes them to meet the compassionate needs of people around them. Holiness creates righteous behavior. Holiness acts itself out in the world, often unconsciously. The wise don’t know they are wise. The humble don’t consider themselves humble. The holy are acutely aware of their faults. And “the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did for me.’”
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed ... For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink ...” The list is the same as for the righteous, but instead of giving, they withheld. And again we notice that unrighteousness also informs behavior. It is the state of our heart that leads to our action. Jesus told us that in the Inaugural Sermon – that adultery begins with lust, that murder begins with anger, that theft begins with covetousness. He told us already that the things we say come from our hearts, “for out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander” (Mt 15:18-19). Every sin begins, James tells us, in the heart: each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin (Jas 1:14-15).
Interestingly, their response is the same as the righteous, but with an attitude shift. “When did we every see YOU hungry? When did we ever see YOU thirsty, cold, or sick.” If we had known it was you, we would have helped. There’s a video creator who posts on social media, in which, for example, a woman is on her way to an important job interview and trips over a janitor. Irritated that this lowly, dirty person is in her way, she scolds and insults and pushes him aside. A second person comes along and instead of scolding and insulting, she stops to help. Once inside, the applicant discovers that the person who stopped to help is her potential boss. Of course, when she is rejected for the job, she whines, “If I had known ...” Or she discovers that the “poor janitor” is, in fact, the father of the interviewer. Such people will stop to help if they know they are being watched, or if they know the person is rich or important. They’ll hold the door for a well-dressed businessman, but not for the janitor. The “goats” whine, “If we’d known it was YOU, we would have helped. We didn’t know it was YOU.”
Remember, Jesus had something to say about that attitude, too. Back in that all-important Inaugural Sermon, if we were listening, Jesus asked, “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?” (Mt 5:46-47). If we only do for others who do for us, how are we any different from unbelievers? If we are only reactive, that is, if we only say hello to someone who has already said hello to us, how can we call ourselves good? Jesus invites us to take the initiative. Give to those who can’t give back. Love those who need love, not just those who give love. When we stand before God, we don’t want to be the ones saying, “If we’d known it was you ...”
The judgment, then, is not just about what we do, but about our motivation, about our heart, because our deeds, our behaviors, our words flow from what lies within us. That means, doesn’t it, that it’s not just about what we do. It’s not enough, then, to do good. We have to be good. We have to be reborn into the image of Christ.
Now, to wrap this up, both the sheep and the goats are rewarded. I say that carefully because the goats appear to be punished, but their punishment is their reward. They are not rewarded for their deeds but for the state of their souls. The righteous “sheep” are invited to “take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.” This is the blessing promised in the Beatitudes, the favor of the King. The cursed “goats” are sent away “into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
There are people who do not believe in hell. They see it as cruelty on God’s part, and say that no good God would send anyone to hell. But, you see, they have chosen hell. And this is so important to us. Notice the “preparation” in both cases. The kingdom is prepared for you. The kingdom of God is your rightful destination. You are supposed to be a citizen of the kingdom. All through Matthew, Jesus has been inviting, cajoling, wooing people into the kingdom. The kingdom is prepared for you. Has been since before creation.
But hell is prepared for the devil and his angels. Hell was never intended for you. You’re not supposed to go there. God does not want anyone to perish (2 Pet 3:9). God sent his Son so that whoever believes in him will not perish (Jn 3:16). Hell is not your rightful destination. It wasn’t made for you. That means that going to hell is your choice. God doesn’t choose it for you; he just honors your choice. If you choose to reject Christ, reject the cross, turn your back on the holy invitation, you’ve chosen your destiny, against everything God has done and against God’s own will.
But, if you choose Jesus, if you choose to follow the Shepherd, believe that Jesus died to atone for your sin, and live in obedience to him, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you.