Matthew 25:31-46
The Sheep and the Goats
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 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, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Jesus shows us in the Parable of the Sheep and Goats the importance of showing compassion and kindness to others, particularly those in need...Jesus maybe emphasizing the parable's message as a call for social justice and working towards alleviating the suffering of others...He is teaching love...He shows us the importance of our actions and how they show and are a representation of our faith...True faith is not just about belief, but also about translating that belief into acts of love and service to others...Jesus focuses on concrete actions that demonstrate care and concern for others...
The sheep, in the Parable, are recognized for providing basic necessities of others like food, drink, clothing, shelter, and care for the sick and the imprisoned...And something interesting is the sheep express a surprise at being acknowledged for their actions, stating they didn't realize they were serving Jesus directly...This tells us our acts of kindness and our random acts of kindness that are done with a genuine desire to help other, even if not directed solely towards Jesus, hold great value...
On the other hand the goats are condemned not necessarily for wrongdoing, but for their failure to act when they had the opportunity to help those who are in need...So when you hear about people wanting to help others and how we can on a daily basis keep Christ in Christmas we can learn from this Parable...We can act in a concrete way to go out and help social injustices...Help problems in our communities...We can feed the hungry, give something to drink to those who thirst, invite in a stranger in when he needs help, clothe the needy, help the sick, and help those are imprisoned...We can welcome the unwanted, care for the ill, literally love our enemies, and do unto others as we want to have done to us...