Will you be a sheep or a goat?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

From the readings in the Revised Common Lectionary for 1 January 2014, I chose to comment on Matthew 25:31-46 (NASB) today.

₃₁ “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. ₃₂ 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; ₃₃ and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.

₃₄ “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. 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 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to 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 And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? ₃₉ When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ ₄₀ 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.’

₄₁ “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; 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; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ 44 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?’ 45 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.’ ₄₆ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Note carefully that which will distinguish the blessed sheep from the wretched goats.  It is not that one acknowledges Jesus as King and the other does not, for both sheep and goats do so. Christ did not come to Earth for the purpose of receiving homage.  Not that we should not pay Him homage, for of all who have walked this earth, none are more worthy than He of it.  But Christ did not come to collect Caesar's coin as payment.

Nor is it that one group chastised the wicked while the other did not. Indeed, while Christ will do so, in His ministry here on Earth, He ministered to all, providing an example of the benevolent life that all who seek to be a part of His ministry would do well to emulate.  Rather, it is by how we care for those less fortunate than ourselves that we are distinguished as sheep or goats.

As is mentioned in another of today's readings, Ecclesiastes 3:1-13, "For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven." ^{Ecc 3:1 (ASV)} New Year's Day is traditionally the time we make resolutions about what we will do differently to make ourselves better than we were in the old year. I urge you to include among them a resolution to do more to help the unfortunate this year than you did last year, and if you should find yourself only able to keep one resolution, may it be this one, for in helping others you will be helping yourself.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I don't read it that way.  I see the reference to all nations as indicating that he comes not merely to separate the sheep and goats within the herd of Israel, but it all the flocks of the world.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Anvi:

I suppose it depends upon whether one takes a Futurist view of the passage or not.  After all, at the Last Judgement, all the nations will be collected and the division into nations that in story took place at Babel will be healed. After the Judgement there will no longer be nations for all will part of the Kingdom of God. However if one looks at the passage from an Idealist perspective, then I could see where the verse would be applicable to nations as well as individuals.

Tweed:

Ask your Calvinist friend this: if those who do not believe in God are not being addressed here, then would that not imply that they are neither sheep nor goats and thus would not be part of Christ's Last Judgement?