Sheep, Goats, and My Guilty Conscience

Matthew 25:21-46 is a well-known text.  Jesus is teaching the disciples about what will happen when God establishes His Kingdom "on earth as it is in heaven."  To wrap up this long discourse (scholars call this whole section of Matthew 24-25 the Olivet Discourse), Jesus tells a story to illustrate the final judgment.  The Son of Man returns in glory with all the angels and the nations gather before Him for judgment.  He separates them into 2 groups - the sheep and the goats.

He welcomes the sheep into His Kingdom because they cared for those that were considered the least - the poor, hungry, sick, stranger, imprisoned, etc.  The sheep didn't realize it but when they were caring for these people, they were actually caring for the King Himself.

He sends the goats away into eternal punishment because they did not care for those who were in need.

Pretty harsh if you ask me.  Every time I read this passage I feel guilty and get worried that I haven't done enough to make God happy.  What if the guy sitting at the intersection with a sign saying he was homeless and desperate was really Jesus and kept going because I was late for a lunch appointment?  I will get sent to hell for that?

Fortunately, I don't think that is what Jesus is teaching here.  This story comes after several stories that were focused on being ready and being faithful.  The sheep and the goats story was not meant to make us worry about doing enough. It was an exclamation point at the end of teaching about living a kingdom life because the King is returning and wants to find His people with the heart of the King.

In judging the sheep and the goats, the King seems to be looking at how they responded to the needs in front of them.  This says more about their heart than their effectiveness in fighting poverty or injustice.  The sheep were blessed because they responded to the needs they saw with compassion.  The goats were cursed because their response was to ignore the needs they saw.  The issue was not how many hungry people the sheep fed or how many strangers they welcomed in; the issue was their heart in the face of brokeness.

It boils down to whether I am self-seeking, self-absorbed, and self-serving or others-focused and humble.  God's people are the latter.  Kingdom people are the latter.  Rather than worry that I've met God's "quota of kindness," the parable is a challenge to reflect on the kind of life I lead and the tenderness of my heart.  God's people are tender-hearted.

I can't fix all the brokeness in the world, but I can see the broken people in front of me and care for them.  That is God's measuring stick: not effectiveness, but tenderness and willingness to respond.

I can evaluate my faith, my walk with Christ and how pleased God is with me by looking at my tenderness.  I can't always control my effectiveness, but I can work on my tenderness.

I have a long way to go...