November 20, 2011

“Are We the Sheep or the Goats?”

Matthew 25:31-46

 

The Papal secretary walked into the Pope’s office one day and said, “Your Holiness, I have good news and bad news.” “What’s the good news?” asked the Pope. “Jesus has returned to Earth and is on the phone,” said the secretary. “Praise God! What’s the bad news?” asked the Pope. The Papal secretary answered, “He’s calling from Salt Lake City.”

Wouldn’t you like to know if your religion is the right one? I think most people would claim that one of the reasons they belong to their religion is because they believe it is somehow more correct or truthful than other religions. Although studies show that the number one reason we belong to our religion is that our parents belonged to it or it is the dominant religion of our culture. To use the metaphorical language Jesus uses in Matthew 25, we believe we are the “sheep,” not the “goats.” But are we? Let’s explore this passage from Matthew 25:31-46. At the end of my sermon I’ll let you decide if we are the sheep or the goats …

This is one of those passages that we find at the end of the Gospels referring to what is often called the Second Coming of Christ. I personally believe these passages were written because the early Christians were still mourning the death of Jesus and they desperately needed a Messiah who would come and shake things up. As a people who were oppressed at the hands of the Roman Empire, they yearned for a new king, a Jewish king. “When the Son of Man (which is code for Messiah) comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.” Who sits on a throne? A king!

The presence of the angels suggests something akin to a military presence. The angels come “with him,” and because he is coming to occupy a throne—a coup d’etat, if you will—the angels are his “armed forces.” Opposing Jesus, of course, is the “devil and his angels,” mentioned in verse 41. So the whole thing is set up as some sort of cosmic battle between good and evil, between Jesus and Satan, between the angels and the demons. Jesus and his forces win, of course, and his first act as the new king is to gather the nations before him and separate them “as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”

This is a great image, but it doesn’t work very well if we take it too literally and if we place this event within our own history or near future. Just a few days ago the earth’s human population hit seven billion people. Can you imagine Jesus having to sort through seven billion people? Can you imagine waiting in that line? Again, don’t take this passage too literally! There are several things about this passage that ruffles my feathers a bit. For instance, the “kingdom” Jesus establishes here seems like a meritocracy—people are judged based on their merits—but we have all been conditioned to read the Gospels as a story about grace. Grace does not judge people based on merits. In fact, grace really doesn’t judge people at all. So is this an anti-grace passage?

Another thing that ruffles my feathers about this passage (but only a tiny bit) is how harsh it is against goats. Why are sheep superior to goats? I guess if you have ever owned goats you can probably understand why the goats are b…a…a…a…d and the sheep are good … By the way anti-goat rhetoric is common where I’m from. We refer to people in a pejorative way as “goat ropers.” And then there is the right hand versus the left hand in this passage. Jesus puts the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left hand. Doesn’t that reveal a bias against left handed people? Doesn’t Jesus know that since Gerald Ford, four of our presidents have been left-handed as opposed to only two righties, and that Ronald Reagan was ambidextrous? Doesn’t he know that there is some evidence to suggest that, generally speaking, left-handed people have better cognitive skills than righties, even though teachers used to suppress left-handedness because they thought these students were disabled? Isn’t Jesus aware of the value of having a couple of southpaws in the bullpen?

The point being that the bias against left-handedness and goats really bothers me in this passage … but not as much as this un-Jesus-like practice of separating and judging people. As a progressive inclusive-minded Christian who believes in God’s unconditional love and mercy, I just have to admit that I have a really difficult time with this passage. It runs counter to all my sensibilities as a Christian. At the same time, however, because I fear it may be true, it compels me to ask myself whether I am a sheep or a goat. If Jesus is going to return to Planet Earth some day with an army of angels and take over all the world’s governments, I want to be put on his right hand, not his left hand. Don’t you?

Apparently, making Jesus’ “sheep at the right hand” list is rather tricky. After spending several hundred years in line waiting to be judged, he will want to know if you fed him when he was hungry, gave him something to drink when he was thirsty, welcomed him when he was a stranger, clothed him when he was naked, and visited him when he was in prison. Of course, you will protest and say, “Lord, when did I even see you hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, or in prison.” And Jesus will surprise you with his answer, “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.”

Now, that’s just a fancy way of saying if you want to be a sheep on Jesus’ right hand, which is better than being a goat on his left hand, you need to show a little compassion for those who are in need. Sounds simple, right? But it still begs the question … Are we to be counted among the sheep or the goats? My guess is that most of us read this and think that yes, most definitely, I’m one of the sheep. We have to be because the alternative is not so good.

Mike Stavlund, a Christian writer from Washington, DC, said this about this passage: “Like many (of you), I’ve been reading this passage my whole life. Since I started when I was a kid, I’ve never once imagined that I might be a goat. I’ve always assumed that I’m on Jesus’ good side because, well, Jesus seems flush with goodness and mercy and kindness and all of that, especially given all of my cute foibles, endearing failures, and good intentions. And after being inundated with all of Jesus’ other lovely gospel sheep/shepherd metaphors, I’ve grown accustomed to imagining myself as a fluffy, cuddly sheep. The goats, on the other hand, are ‘The Others.’ They’re the people who don’t believe the right things, think the right way, vote the right ticket, read the right theology, or do the right stuff. As we might expect, they turn a blind eye to the kind of people who Jesus identifies with: the poor, the homeless, the sick, and the incarcerated. In other words, they’ve got it coming. Of course in all of this, I tend to exaggerate my own list of accomplishments, shining the light on the rare occasions when I actually have fed the hungry, housed the stranger, cared for the sick, or visited the prisoner, while ignoring the many, many, many times when I have not. So me and my tribe (whoever that might be) consider ourselves ‘safe’ from Jesus’ rightful wrath, and shrug uncomfortably when it’s time for those folks on the other side to get theirs. We claim mercy for ourselves, and merit for ‘The Other.’”

While you are still pondering whether Jesus sees you as a sheep or a goat, let me make this observation: If we take this passage literally we are all doomed to, as the passage says, “eternal punishment.” Unless you have spent your life working in a homeless shelter in Detroit or a refugee camp in Africa or holding AIDS babies, you might as well call yourself a Billy Goat and start head-butting neighbors. But rather than focusing on the literalness of a passage that claims Jesus is going to appear some day with an army of angels at his side, which sounds like something from a science fiction novel, let’s focus on the gist of this passage.

Here’s the gist: Jesus put an immense amount of value on compassion. By using the literary device of hyperbole or exaggeration, which is common in apocalyptic writings, this passage in Matthew 25 is trying to tell us that there is nothing more important in this life than helping those who are in need. If Jesus could literally sit on the throne of a one world monarchy his first priority would be encouraging and enabling his subjects to be compassionate toward those who are less fortunate. It’s a simple concept, and one that we tend to practice only when it is convenient for us to do so. But Jesus was, shall we say, fanatical about it.

So, are we the sheep or are we the goats? My answer is that we are goats who should aspire to be sheep. And having said that, let me just add that I have nothing against goats … or left-handed people. Many of our greatest presidents have been left-handed people.