Jesus Divides the Sheep and Goats

“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.

“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom 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 stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘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 stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see 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 say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’

These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:31-46)

We all know these words of Jesus. We all say, "Amen, Lord !!"...for we're all certain that we are among Jesus' sheep. But the Shepherd's flock includes both sheep and goats. The time comes to separate the one from the other.

This is Jesus' unique statement of the absolute moral clarity by which He judges men. "Unique," because it appears in scripture only this one time: yet I don't doubt it's imprinted on the heart of His every follower. It's the Spirit's wisdom we should measure ourselves by Jesus' measure.

We should measure too all teachings that come before us. The teachings we choose to receive into our hearts are the operative beliefs on which we will act.

What then of todays' "conservative" teaching that we do the poor, the hungry, the sick, immigrants ("strangers") harm when we show them mercy ? Helping such people only makes them "dependent" on others, say the politicians, and encourages their laziness and irresponsibility.

It's commonsense, politicians say. And very many who consider themselves Jesus' sheep echo, "Indeed, commonsense."

So we measure. Does the political doctrine that it's a bad thing to show mercy to those in need teach us to act the ways Jesus' commends in His sheep...or the other way ?

Thank You, Jesus, thank You, Spirit for Your wisdom of moral clarity ! Amen !!