Matthew 25:31-46 (The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats.)

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.'

Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Where did it all go wrong for goats? They really do get a bad press. In today’s parable the goats represent self-righteous hypocrites whilst the sheep represent the innocent humble good people. Part of the problem with goats was that they were associated with foreign gods. Secondly their diet damaged trees, and thirdly they were a bit more wayward in their behaviour. Coming back to the parable, maybe Jesus used sheep and goats in his illustration because from a distance they might look the same, but close up they are very different.

Jesus highlights the needs of five groups of people – the hungry and thirsty, the stranger, the destitute, the sick and the prisoner. Five groups of people who found themselves in unfortunate situations. The Jewish faith emphasized the importance of caring for such people, but obviously something had gone wrong in their society to create the situation of the ‘sheep and the goats’. 

We often here the call to be kind and generous. Many respond and remind us that the greater majority of people are good. But the behaviour of a minority occasionally leaves us puzzled. How can they be so hard-hearted? Our actions can be seen as the fruit of our lives, and if we want to understand their quality we need to inspect the roots. We are all rooted in past experiences. Maybe those who are kindest are those who through good experience or bad have learnt the importance of such behaviour. We are also rooted in our beliefs and values. If we have been brought up to worship the gods of success and wealth then we will naturally prefer the company of the rich and famous. The unfortunate people who have fallen upon hard times will be pitied rather than loved. They will be avoided rather than sought after. On the other hand, if we have been brought up to know the extraordinary generosity and compassion of God, then all our actions will mirror this experience. The more at peace we are inside, the more we are inclined to reach out in love to others. Knowing we have been blessed makes us generous, and being generous makes us feel blessed.