The Sheep and The Goats - Matthew 25

4. Matthew 25:31-36
the SHEEP and the GOATS

5. Justice is one of the most profound longings of
the human race. If there is no justice,
then deep within ourselves we know that
something is out of joint. Justice is hard
to define and harder still to put into practice; but
that has never stopped human beings and
societies seeking it, praying for it,
and working to find ways of doing it better. And
‘justice’ doesn’t simply mean ‘punishing
wickedness’, though that is regularly involved. It
means bringing the world
back into balance.

6. 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
MATTHEW 25:31-34

7. 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
MATTHEW 25:35-38

8. 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…
MATTHEW 25:39-42

9. 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.
MATTHEW 25:43-46

10. John’s Jesus suffers the ultimate injustice and, with
that, declares that the passion for justice that all
humans feel—even though we all distort it to suit
ourselves—always was a true signpost, albeit a
battered and broken one,
to the nature of God. With the resurrection, the
signpost has at last itself been put right.The risen
Jesus has won the victory over injustice and now
sends his followers to work on the multiple
projects of new creation. Justice itself—
restorative, healing, life-giving justice—is central
to that task.

11. And we should note that Jesus doesn’t
say that those who have done evil will be
tortured eternally; all he says is that they
will face a judgment of condemnation.
A lot of wrong thinking about hell is the result of
reading into the text what is not actually there. A
careful reading of the parable of the sheep and
the goats (Matthew 25:31–46) shows that Jesus
is not strictly speaking about an afterlife
judgment but about what happens
“when the Son of Man comes in his glory.”

12. According to Jesus, the coming
of the Son of Man is not an
event postponed to a distant
future but an imminent event.

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18. Closing Prayer
God, go with us. Help us to be an honor to the church.
Give us the grace to follow Christ’s word, to be clear in
our task and careful in our speech. Give us open hands
and joyful hearts. Let Christ be on our lips. May our lives
reflect a love of truth and compassion. Let no one come
to us and go away sad. May we offer hope to the poor,
and solace to the disheartened. Let us so walk before
God’s people that those who follow us might come
into his kingdom…

19. Closing Prayer
Let us sow living seeds, words that are quick with life,
that faith may be the harvest in people’s hearts.
In word and in example let your light shine in
the dark like the morning star. Do not allow
the wealth of the world or its enchantment
flatter us into silence as to your truth.
Do not permit the powerful, or judges,
or our dearest friends to keep us from
professing what is right.
Amen.