Reading 39
The sheep and the goats
The reading
Matthew 25:31-46
“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you; or thirsty, and give you a drink? When did we see you as a stranger, and take you in; or naked, and clothe you? When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?’ The King will answer them, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
“Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’ Then they will also answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
The companions
Psalm 72:12-14
For he will deliver the needy when he cries; the poor, who has no helper. He will have pity on the poor and needy. He will save the souls of the needy. He will redeem their soul from oppression and violence. Their blood will be precious in his sight.
Ezekiel 34:17-24 (selected)
“As for you, O my flock, thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, the rams and the male goats. Does it seem a small thing to you to have fed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture?’ Therefore thus says the Lord GOD to them: ‘Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you thrust with side and with shoulder, and push all the diseased with your horns, until you have scattered them abroad; therefore will I save my flock, and they will no more be a prey. I will set up one shepherd over them, and he will feed them, even my servant David. I, the LORD, will be their God. I, the LORD, have spoken it.’”
The note
The surprising thing is not the separation. It is that neither side recognises the account of their own life.
When did we see you hungry. When did we see you sick, or in prison. The ones who did it kept no record and did not know who they were dealing with. They were not building a case.
What gets weighed is small and physical. Something to eat, something to drink, clothes, a visit, somewhere to stay. Not belief, not what anyone said about themselves, not how serious they were about any of it.
One more detail. Every person on that list can give nothing back. The prisoner, the stranger, the sick, the one with no clothes. There is no return on any of it, which is why it counts as evidence.
Jesus does not soften the ending, and it is not ours to soften either.
This week
Name the least protected person your week actually touches. Not in the abstract. The specific one, with a name, who has the least power in whatever you are doing: someone using the thing you build, someone on a waiting list, someone in your family with no leverage.
Do one concrete thing for them this week that they cannot return. Then say nothing about it to anyone.
For the watch
This is the recognition test in its sharpest form, and it is the heart of what we watch by. Christ hid himself among the hungry, the imprisoned, the least, and that is where he is known. So when we ask how we will recognize him, this is our answer: by love that reaches the lowest, in deeds. Not by might, not by spectacle. A thing may be vast and dazzling and still walk past the person in the ditch; that is not Christ, however glorious it looks. We watch for the one who is found among the least, and we are known the same way: by what we do for them.
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (public domain). The divine name is rendered “the LORD” and “the Lord GOD” in the companions.
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