​The Sheep And The Goats

The Venerable Joan Clark

Matthew 25:31-46

Like it or not, judgment is a fact of life. That is true whether we are talking about the histories of nations or the events of our own personal life. If we break the law, then society will judge us. If we live immorally drink too much, engage in sexual promiscuity, live a lifestyle of constant stress then our bodies will judge us. We simply cannot escape judgment in life.

Jesus rarely spoke about the final judgment, but on one occasion he did paint a picture for us in one of his stories. The parable that I just read gives a strong jolt to those who are heavy on doctrine but short on ethics.

A shepherd divides the sheep from the goats, said Jesus, so too shall there be a great division on the final day. Those on the right hand will be allowed entrance into the kingdom, while those on the left will be denied it. And the great surprise is that those who thought they were religious turn out to be not as good as they thought, and those who thought they failed were told they did a better job than they supposed.

The parable suggests that we are to view each individual as though he or she was Christ himself. “Lord, when did we feed you, or clothe you, or visit you in prison?” was the question that was asked. Came the response: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did for me.”

There is an old children’s story, one that perhaps most of you have heard. The Knight’s aide advised the mayor of a small village that his majesty was going to be making a visit to their humble little village. With great fanfare the mayor began to make the appropriate arrangements. On the day of the arrival the mayor, dressed in his finery, waited in joyful anticipation. The hours slowly ticked away but no one ventured into the village. No one, that is, except a lonely lame beggar who asked the mayor for a drink to quince his thirst. Irritatingly he brushed him aside. He had no time for the low-life such as this, for he was waiting for the King. Yet, at the end of the day the mayor stood alone; the King had never arrived. Furiously he wrote the King’s aide asking what had gone wrong, only to be told that the King had indeed passed through his village that day. The aide said, “He was traveling incognito.” He had come in the disguise of a lonely lame beggar.

Who is Christ? Christ is everyman. And there will be those who say, “But master if we had only known that it was you we would have responded.” That is precisely the point. If the Bethlehem innkeeper had known that Mary was carrying within her womb the long awaited Messiah, no doubt he would have made room for them on that fateful night. If the Sanhedrin had known that it was God they were arresting on that fateful night in the Gethsemane garden, no doubt they would followed him. Our goodness must be un-calculating. If we do a kind act simply because we think that it will assist us in gaining entrance into heaven, then our motivation was not love but selfishness.

The parable also suggests that in the end the criteria by which we shall all be judged will be simple acts of kindness. In the story the King allows entrance into his kingdom not by affiliation with any particular religious group, or fame, or fortune, or credential that might be listed in an obituary. No, the final judgment is based upon how kind an individual was: feeding those who were hungry, showing concern for those in prison, taking care of those who did not have sufficient clothing.

Who would ever have thought that such simple acts would carry so much weight on the final day? Who would ever believe that we would be judged for what we view as slight oversights? When we think of divine judgment we think of a few life-making decisions, but according to this story judgment comes every single day in the little commonplace things that we do or we do not do. Piety, orthodoxy, sound theologies do not count for everything. Jesus is saying that the main business that we are in is the business of kindness, and it is this criterion by which God will view our life. Ignore the law of kindness and we perish.

I always remember fondly the movie Sound of Music. At the beginning we find Baron Van Trapp ruling his household with an iron fist. Every time he blows a shrill whistle the children come marching out of their bedrooms like well-seasoned troops. He then turns to Maria, the new governess, and curtly informs her that her signal on the whistle will indicate thus and such. She very quickly informs him that she does not answer to whistles. She introduces a new mood and slowly the children begin to respond to her and the house is transformed from a military barracks into a home. Of course, you cannot miss the point. It is kindness that has won the day.

Of course, there is a drawback in kindness. Kindness means nurturing and nurturing takes time. Blowing a whistle will get you a more immediate result. But in the end shouting and ultimatums will never win the day. The Apostle Paul admonished the church at Ephesus: “Stop being mean, bad tempered and angry. Instead, be kind to one another, even as God has forgiven you because you belong to Christ Jesus.”

In the end we are judged not on the bad that we do, but the good that we do not do. Those on the left hand of the King were denied entrance into the Kingdom. Why? Because he said, I was thirsty and you gave me no water, I was in prison and you never came to see me, I was without clothes and you never gave me any.

We think of divine judgment as opposite of this. We think that the thing that will get us into heaven is by refraining from certain sins. Conversely we think sin will send us to hell. A religious person is one who does not smoke, does not drink, does not curse. That misses the point, my friends.

There are many in church who are fine, decent respectable people who are not doing anything for Christ. Jesus told the story about a man who took a thousand dollars and buried it. Why did Jesus condemn him? Not because he gambled it away, not because he frivolously spent it, but because he did nothing with it, Those on the left hand side were kept out of the Kingdom of God, not because of what they did but because of what they failed to do. In the old catholic language, It was not sins of commission, but sins of omission.
​
We need to look upon each person as though he or she was Christ. Kindness is the criteria by which we will be judged. It is not the bad that we do that will keep us out of heaven (we have been forgiven for our sins); rather, it is the good we fail to do that will make us a sheep or a goat.
Amen.