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THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS
“When the Son
of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he
will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be
gathered before him, and he will separate people one from
another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he
will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.
Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you
that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you
gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,
I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave
me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison
and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord,
when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty
and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you
a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? And
when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’
And the king will answer them, ‘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.’ ”
At a spring in southern Jordan, I saw
flocks of sheep and goats drinking water to quench their thirst.
I immediately thought of the parable about the Son of Man
separating the sheep from the goats when he comes in his glory.
It was not so easy for me to tell the sheep from the goats. They
were about the same size. Perhaps Jesus had their temperament in
mind as the separating characteristic. Sheep will follow the
shepherd. Goats are more independent.
A main point of this parable is that Jesus
Christ identifies himself with every other person on earth. You
do something – feed, give drink, clothe, welcome the stranger,
visit the sick or imprisoned – and you do it to him. You don't
do it to those in need, and you don't do it to him.
Salvation is not just a ticket to get into
heaven. It is a life-changing impulse and pattern of Christ's
love awakened in each of us. This saves us from selfishness and
separation, and unites us to God and all others. A simple
meaning of this parable is that it is a call to naturally serve
others in need.
A newer meaning given by British
psychiatrist Maurice Nicoll in his book The Mark is that
the Christ in each of us is our higher self, our unknown self,
our Christ self. During our life, our task is to feed the hungry
Christ, give drink to the thirsty Christ, welcome the stranger
Christ, clothe the naked Christ, visit the sick Christ and visit
the imprisoned Christ. We can do these six things without
knowing we are doing it for our own higher self, our spiritual
nature and being, or we can awaken and do it consciously. But
not to do it is the biggest mistake of all.
Lord God, help us to welcome Christ in
other people in need and welcome Christ in us, our own Christ
self attuned to you, that we may be sheep at your right hand.
Amen
The Rev. Paul Reimers
Retired
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