31“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne.32All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.33He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.
34“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world.35For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home.36I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
37“Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink?38Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing?39When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
40“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’
41“Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the idevil and his jdemons.42For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink.43I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’
44“Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’
45“And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’
46“And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”
I obviously love this story, it is where I got the name for this website. This story is full of wonderful thoughts, but to me, there are two foundational truths.
First, we are expected to be proactively good and kind. When Jesus explains to the goats why they are going to eternal punishment, there is not one mention of any evil that they did. Everything mentioned is a good deed they did not do. Never pass up a chance to do a good deed.
Second, and this one is by far the biggest, there is simply a huge difference in the hearts and souls of these groups of people. The sheep noticed the people around them in need and did what they could, because it was their nature. They obviously didn’t even think of what they did as special. They obviously didn’t do it for a reward because they didn’t think they deserved any reward from Jesus. They acted as they did not because they calculated that it was best for them, or the right thing to do, or because someone said they should. The acted as they did because that was who they were, and are. They had allowed Jesus to change them and they were absolutely humble about it right down to questioning why Jesus was bringing them into his kingdom.
The goats are exactly the opposite. They lived so caught up in their own lives they didn’t even see the hurting around them. They thought they were good. They showed no humility whatsoever. Be careful. If you think you are good, you are very likely a goat.
Lord, open my eyes to the suffering around me. Open my heart to the pain of others and give me the strength of Your love to make a difference. Change me Lord. Make me a humble sheep. Beginner’s Online Bible Study *obbs*
