Well, I told you a couple of weeks ago not to worry, that soon enough we would have a scripture reading that would again baffle us. Well, you guessed it! Here it is!
Again, this parable is probably very familiar to most of us. It is one of those parables that have even made it into the public sphere. When we say “sheep and goats” most people know exactly what we mean: Sheep are good; goats are bad. Pretty simple. But hopefully, when we encounter a scripture that we can view as “pretty simple,” we know that we should probably be a little leery.
So let’s take a look at this parable and see what is happening.
We have a vision of the end times presented to us. Jesus as the “Son of Man” is sitting upon his throne of glory and the peoples of the world are spread out in front of him. Then Jesus begins to separate the people into two groups; the sheep and the goats. When asked how the groups were split; Jesus tells the people that the sheep were the ones who attended to those in need and the goats were the ones who only attended to themselves. Then the goats were sent to the eternal fire pit for punishment while the sheep were invited into eternal life.
So the trouble begins.
When we look at the parable, the first thing that causes some problems is that it appears to promote predestination. Goats are born goats; sheep are born sheep. No matter what a goat does, it will remain a goat. The goat can try to roll around in fuller’s soap to make itself white like a sheep, but deep down inside, it will still be a goat.
And there also seems to be this thing about how we are born affects our behavior. Goats, who were born that way, are bad. Sheep, who were born that way, are good. So again, it seems that we are a product of our birth. We are the way we are and there is no changing that. All the Son of Man has to do is look at us, see if we are a sheep or a goat, and then either allow us into eternal life or eternal punishment.
Hopefully by this point, you should start to feel a little uncomfortable. We are celebrating the feast of Christ the King and we are presented with a scripture reading that depicts our savior damning creatures to Hell for no other reason than they happened to be born goats.
Well, before we get too far down this path, I would like to follow in the lines of one of my favorite shows on National Public Radio and present my four disclaimers:
1. The Grace of Christ is bigger than anything we can comprehend. If we can comprehend something, then by definition we are thinking too small.
2. Salvation was given as a gift. If there is something that we have to do to earn or merit salvation then it is not a gift and by definition what we believe we are receiving is not salvation.
3. The Bible wasn’t written to be read literally. This may seem obvious, but the people of Biblical times were not of the television generation. They had more of an understanding of imagery and symbolism. They were people of the theater, not people of the special-effects extravaganza at the multiplex.
4. We need to use scripture to interpret scripture.
When we are faced with a conundrum, we need to look back at these four disclaimers. These disclaimers, which can also be called hermeneutics, give us a consistent way of viewing the scriptures. And in working through these disclaimers, we should be able to find a meaning in the scriptures that will give us understanding and a direction in life.
So let’s take a look at the parable with our disclaimers in mind.
In the literal interpretation we started with, can we find any grace? We find a lot of grace given to the sheep. They are the ones who are place on the Son’s right hand. They are the ones who are going to eternal life. But what about the goats? Does the Son of Man show any grace toward the goats? It wouldn’t appear so.
We can probably think of people whose worldview is this black and white: You do good things, so you are good; you, though, do bad things, so you are bad. But through life, I would guess that we have met all kinds of people and know that people are so much more complex than just the simple sorting method of: You do good things so you are good.
We can comprehend of this simple method of sorting. We probably know people who use this method of sorting. If we can comprehend it, then it is not grace. We are thinking too small! Christ’s grace should make us stop in our tracks and just stare in awe. This literal sorting of sheep and goats doesn’t stop us in awe, so therefore, we must not be getting the full picture.
The Son of Man, it seems, continues with a kind of quid pro quo. The sheep did good things so they get to go to eternal life. The goats didn’t do good things so they have eternal punishment. This makes salvation sound like something that has been – if not paid for – then at least bartered for. “I do good things so Jesus will give me heaven.”
But disclaimer number two says salvation is a free gift! If it is free, then that means there is nothing anyone can do to pay for it. It is there, it is salvation, it is given by a loving and grace filled savior. Anything that hints at earning or payment reduces the magnitude of the gift. We may not be able to comprehend the love and grace that could give such a gift without condition, but that is the realization we make in disclaimer one. Disclaimer two is an extension of number one; such a great gift could never be paid for.
Disclaimer three says that the Bible was not written to be read literally. People in Biblical times were people who told stories and had lots of time to use their imaginations. Unlike the stories of today which need to be comprehended in one reading because we probably will not go back and reread them, the Bible stories were told and retold. People would hear them many times and would seek deeper meanings. People would see sheep as animals that followed the shepherd and relied on the shepherd to protect them. They would also see the goats as animals that were difficult to maintain and could be aggressive. Even though these are broad categories, the people of Biblical times would have made the been able to quickly understand what type of people Jesus was describing.
But it is disclaimer four that makes all the difference! Without this last disclaimer, we are still left with a bleak story. It still looks like Jesus is going to damn a bunch of people to Hell just because of what they have done. However, with this last disclaimer, we are to look at this parable in the full scope of the scriptures. We are resurrection people! We know the rest of the story. We know that it is Christ who goes to the cross and dies for our sins. We know it is Christ who is risen from the dead so that we may have salvation. It is Christ who does this for us! This is the incomprehensible gift of grace and salvation. It is this gift of grace and salvation that makes all the difference. Christ did not die for the few but for the many! Christ rose so the sins our sins would be forgiven. Christ died and rose so we God’s creation would not be destined to be goats damned to punishment, but so we could be sheep living in the eternal joy we find in our shepherd!
So why would Jesus tell this parable?
Christ the King is the Good Shepherd also. Christ does not care for his sheep so that they may only be dinner; Christ wants his sheep to have a happy, fulfilling life! Christ wants us to have a happy, fulfilling life! This parable tells us how to live so that Christ is happy and our lives are full.
The good that the sheep do in the world is because of what they are. In this parable, sheep are good, period. They are judged by their actions because it is their actions that show the Son of Man what they are. It is not something that they have planned to do; they just were kind and compassionate.
In life, the sheep would be the people who have taken the grace and salvation that has been given by Christ into their lives. In taking this great gift into their lives, they have changed. Their acts of kindness and compassion are just a part of who they are. These acts of kindness and compassion make Jesus happy because they show in our lives that we have taken the truth of Christ’s love to our very core. They show that we have truly begun to follow our shepherd.
Disclaimer four helps us to know that the Son of Man’s anger is a tool to help us learn. Christ died for the goats just as much as for the sheep; it is just that the goats are stubborn and have not taken the message to the core of their being. Their actions show that they have not yet received the peace that comes from being near the shepherd and feeling the grace and salvation that is there.
How are we like sheep? How are we like goats? It is in recognizing the gifts that have been given to us that we take that love, grace, and peace of Christ into our hearts. As we make room in our busy lives for the incomprehensible grace of Christ, our goat nature slips away and our lives shine through with the kindness and compassion of the sheep that is within each of us.
I think of this a Christ the King with the Four Disclaimers. On this last day of the church year and right before we move into Advent, it is good for us to realize that the biggest gift we could ever hope for has already been given to us. It was there before the Christmas sales, there before we were even born. God in Christ Jesus reaches out to us to change us from within. God in Christ Jesus touches our lives and gives us grace and salvation. God in Christ the King gives us a taste of the eternal even as we live in the here and now.
And all we need to do is be willing to accept the gift. Come forward and receive the strength of Christ from the table. And go out and let the grace and salvation that comes from our Shepherd show through our lives.
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