Sunday's Message: The Parables of the Gospel of Matthew (Sheep from Goats - Matthew 25:31-46)

During the months of October and November, we're discussing the following parables unique to the Gospel of Matthew:

• October 8 - Wolves & Fig Trees (Matthew 7:15-20)
• October 15 - Weeds with the Wheat (Matthew 13:24-30)
• October 22 - The Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 13:44-48)
• October 29 - The Two Debtors (Matthew 18:23-35)
• November 5 - Laborers in a Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16)
• November 12 - Two Sons (Matthew 21:28-32)
• November 19 - The Wise and the Foolish (Matthew 25:1-13)
• November 26 - Sheep from Goats (Matthew 25:31-46)

On Sunday, we focused on the parable of the king separating the sheep from the goats found in Matthew 25:31-46. A recording and a copy of the sermon are below. You can stream the service by going to the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel at 10:00 a.m. (EDT)

Now, as we get started, I have a special little, inspirational video to sort of put us in the right mood. 

Now, I know that Black Friday was a couple of days ago and that Kirk Douglas passed away in February, 2020. but do you realize that, since today is November 26, next month this time, Christmas 2023 will be over, which means that we have less than thirty days to put out all the decorations and to buy and wrap all the presents and to bake all the cookies and cakes and, maybe most important of all, to watch over 300 Hallmark Christmas movies. Of course, I understand that if you’ve seen one, you pretty much know what’s going to happen in the other 299. Still, we all know that, when December 25 comes, we have to get everything Christmas-related done or else we’re going to disappoint a lot of people including ourselves. And let’s not forget about Jesus, because it is his birthday for crying out loud. And right now, we have only 28 days, 13 hours and about 30 minutes. Now if that doesn’t put the fear of God in you, I don’t know what will.

And I’ll tell you, that’s really what we’re going to talk about this morning, but not about the coming of Christmas. We’ll start with that next week. Rather, we’re going to finish up this series dealing with the parables found only in the Gospel of Matthew by looking at the final lesson Jesus said to his disciples before they started to get ready for the Last Supper. You see, building on the parable we talked about last week, you know, the one about the five wise young women who were prepared for the bride groom even though he was later than they expected and the five foolish ones who weren’t, in his very last parable, Jesus focused on what the disciples could expect when the Son of Man returns to judge the world. And so, this morning we’re going to talk about judgment, but not the kind that we generally associate with the second coming of Christ. You see, in this particular story, Jesus wasn’t addressing the judgement of individuals, you know, like you and me, instead he described the judgment of the nations; therefore, it has an application a whole lot broader than what’s going to happen to me or to us or to the folks who live across the street. Now that’s what we’re going to look at this morning. 

And to do it, we’ll talk about some of the questions I think Jesus answered in the parable, in other words, some of the stuff we already know about the judgment of the nations. And then, we’ll consider one more question that really only we can answer. And hopefully, when we’re done, we’ll have a better idea about how we, as citizens of a nation, can better prepare for the Son of Man’s return. And this morning, as we look at this parable, we’ll be using my own translation of the text rather than the Contemporary English Version, because I think it’s a more accurate translation of the Greek. Now that’s what we’ll be doing.

And we’re going to start by looking at three questions that I believed Jesus answered as he told his disciples about the separation of the sheep from the goats. For example, thanks to what he said, we know when, you know, when the judgment is going to happen. Now this was what the Evangelist Matthew wrote:

And when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he’ll sit upon his glorious throne. And he'll gather together before him all the nations, and he’ll separate them from one another just like the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And the sheep will stand on his right and the goats on his left. [Matthew 25:31-33]

Now that was what Jesus said. And so we know exactly when this judgment is going to take place. Of course, he sort of alluded to it in the parable we looked at last week, you know, the one about the groom who was late to his own wedding reception. But it was also something Jesus actually described in chapter 24 when he said this:

Right after those days of suffering,

“The sun will become dark,

and the moon

    will no longer shine.

The stars will fall,

and the powers in the sky 

    will be shaken.”

Then a sign will appear in the sky. And there will be the Son of Man. All nations on earth will weep when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. At the sound of a loud trumpet, he will send his angels to bring his chosen ones together from all over the earth. [Matthew 24:29-31, CEV] 

You see, even though, again according to Jesus, “No one knows the day or hour. The angels in heaven don’t know, and the Son himself doesn't know. Only the Father knows.” [Matthew 24:36, CEV] we can be confident that it’s going to happen. This we know.

And when it does, the Son of Man is going to do some separating, you know, after he gathers before him “all the nations.” Now according to Matthew, that was what Jesus said. And even though we’d be more comfortable if he’d used the word “people” or even “the people of the nations,” which, by the way, we see in a lot of modern translations, that’s not what it says in the Greek. The word used isn’t λαός, “people,” but rather ἔθνοι, “nations.” And so, according to Jesus, when the Son of Man returns, the nations will be separated, with some standing on his right and some on his left. This time is coming. And I’ll tell you, this is something else we know, because Jesus told us when all this is going to happen. 

But of course, that’s not all we know, because he also told us why, why the separation will be made. In other words, we know exactly why some nations will be regarded as sheep while others as goats. I mean, after establishing the when, just listen to what Jesus said:

The king will say to those on his right, “Come, those who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom which was prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a foreigner, and you brought me together with yourselves. I was naked, and you put clothes on me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was a prisoner, and you came to me.” Then those on the right will answer, saying, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink? And when did we see you a foreigner and bring you together with ourselves or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?” And the king will answer and say to them, “Amen, I say to you, in as much as you did it for one of those who are the least of my brothers, you did it for me.”

Then he will also say to those on the left, “Go from me, those who have been cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you didn’t give me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me something to drink. I was a foreigner, and you didn’t bring me together with yourselves. I was naked and you didn’t clothe me. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.” Then they will also answer, saying, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a foreigner or naked or sick or in prison and didn’t serve you?” Then he will answer them, saying, “Amen, I say to you, in as much as you didn’t do it for one of these who are the least of these, neither did you do it for me.” [Matthew 25:34-45]

Now, again, that’s what Jesus said about the why, you know, about the basis for the separation. And I think it’s important to pause for just a minute and think about what he was suggesting. You see, for Jesus, there would seem to be two kinds of nations. On one hand, there are nations that intentionally help those who are helpless and powerless and needy, and I’m talking about the hungry and the thirsty, the foreigner and naked, the sick and the prisoner. Now those are the ones who’ll inherit the kingdom. On other hand, for the nations who don’t feed and don’t provide drink, those who don’t embrace and don’t clothe, those who don’t offer care and don’t offer comfort, well, according to Jesus, their future isn’t quite so rosy. Now that’s what he says. But I’ll tell you, for anyone who knows the Old Testament, man, this really isn’t a surprise. I mean, the Law is full of commands given by God to his people about providing for the poor and about protecting the widows and the orphans and about caring for the aliens in the land. In fact, according to Isaiah, this kind of stuff was exactly what God expected from his people. The prophet said, 

I’ll tell you

what it really means

    to worship the Lord.

Remove the chains of prisoners

    who are bound unjustly.

Free those who are abused!

Share your food with everyone

    who is hungry;

share your home

    with the poor and homeless.

Give clothes to those in need;

don’t turn away your relatives. [Isaiah 58:6-7, CEV]

Now that seems pretty clear to me. And even though those nations on both the right and the left are actually surprised by the judgment, the reason for the separation seems crystal clear, at least according to Jesus. And so, along with knowing the when, I believe we also know the why.

And as to the how, how will the judgement be executed, well, I’ll tell you, we know that too. Just listen to how Jesus wrapped up the last parable he offered his disciples accord to the Evangelist Matthew:

And they will go away into eternal punishment, but those on the right into eternal life. [Matthew 25:46, CEV]

Now that’s what Jesus said, that the nations on his left will be punished while God will bless those on his right. But before we assume that our ultimate destinies depend on what our nation and its leaders choose to do, I really don’t think that was what Jesus was getting at here. You see, when telling a story or teaching a lesson, Jesus often used what’s called hyperbole, in other words, he’d use extreme language and images to make his point, you know, sort of like when we say “I could kill you” or “I could kiss you” to let another person know they’ve done something that made us angry or happy. Now, that’s hyperbole, and I think that’s what Jesus is using here. But having said that, I also believe he used it to make sure his disciples understood, in no uncertain terms, just how important it was and is for nations to find themselves on the right rather than on the left. As matter fact, for them and for us, both the when and the why becomes even more important, since we know the how. 

And with that, the parable ends. But you know, when you think about it, that really leaves one pretty important question unanswered, doesn’t it? I mean, as it relates to national judgement, we know when it’s going to happen. And we know why it’s going to happen. And we know how it’s going to happen. Therefore, we’re left with only this: What are we going to do about it? In other words, what are we going to do since we know that, when the Son of Man comes, he’s going to separate the nations like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he’s going to do regardless of what we believe he should do? And what are we going to do since we know that the basis for the separation won’t be our words or our promises or our intentions much less our wealth and our power and our prestige, but rather it’s going to be grounded in our actual treatment of those who are least able to help themselves, because, as the king will say, “Amen, I say to you, in as much as you did it for one of these who are the least of my brothers, you did it for me”? [Matthew 25:45b] And what are we going to do since we know how God regards the nations that are on this left and on his right? Man, what are we going to do about these words from Jesus Christ, words that we won’t be able to erase no matter how much White Out we use or how creative we are in mistranslating the Greek? You see, whether we like it or not, that’s the question we have as citizens of a nation that we all love and that some of us here this morning also defended. And I’ll tell you, we really need to be answering it right now, because let’s face it, knowing what we know, I don’t think any of us want to hear Jesus say,

“Go from me, those who have been cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you didn’t give me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me something to drink. I was a foreigner, and you didn’t bring me together with yourselves. I was naked, and you didn’t clothe me. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me. ...Amen, I say to you, in as much as you didn’t do it for one of these who are the least of these, neither did you do it for me.” [Matthew 25:41b-43, 45b] 

You see, in light of everything we know, we need to decide what we’re going to do about it.

And in that way, it’s sort of like us getting ready for Christmas, isn’t it? I mean, for both, we know the when and the why and the how, but at some point, we’re going to have to make a decision about the what, what are we actually going to do about all that we know. And even though this is a decision we need to make together, personally, I really hope we make the right one, because, I don’t know about y’all, but speaking for myself, I sure want to hear the king say to us:

Come, those who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom which was prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a foreigner, and you brought me together with yourselves. I was naked, and you put clothes on me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was a prisoner, and you came to me. ...Amen, I say to you, in as much as you did it for one of those who are the least of my brothers, you did it for me. [Matthew 25:34b-36, 40b]