"What's the Difference
Between a Sheep and a Goat?" - Matthew 25:31-46
Last Sunday of the Church
Year -
Pastor Troy Slater - Our
What’s the difference between a sheep
and a goat? … You probably noticed in your bulletin for this morning that that
is the title of this sermon. “What's the
difference between a sheep and a goat?”
Now perhaps you’re saying, “Well boy, Pastor certainly must have been a
city kid. He needs to get out on the
farm a little bit more; doesn’t even know the difference between a sheep and a
goat.” And while I suppose there is some
truth to that, this morning that question is not simply a matter of livestock
knowledge. No, rather this morning with
our Gospel lesson, we see that the difference between a sheep and a goat is a
matter of Judgment Day. For our Gospel
lesson for this Last Sunday of the Church Year - Matthew chapter 25, verses
31-46 - is an account that Jesus gives us of Judgment Day – the Last Day – the
day of the return of our Lord Jesus Christ in all glory and with all the angels
to judge the living and the dead. And
with this reading Jesus gives us the image of sheep and goats - with the goats
going on His left, the sheep on His right; the goats going go off to eternal
punishment, the sheep to eternal life.
And so really when we are talking about the difference between the sheep
and the goats, it really is a matter of life and of death; it’s a difference
between hearing the words, “Come you who
are blessed.” or “Depart, you who are
cursed.” Yes the difference between
a sheep and a goat really is a difference between heaven and hell. So let’s take a look at this important
difference. Let's take a look.
And I suppose that at first glance,
this seems like an easy one to figure out.
After all, Jesus gives the reason for the difference, doesn’t He? For He says to those on His right - the sheep
- “Come you who are blessed by my Father
and receive your inheritance. For I was
hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me
something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes
and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you
came to visit me. … for whatever you did for the least of these my brothers,
you did it for me.” Sounds like they
did some good deeds, right? Helped those in need.
Good stuff and so they receive their inheritance.
And those on the left, the goats,
well the King says, “Depart from me you
who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his
angels. For I was hungry and you gave me
nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a
stranger and you did not invited me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe
me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me. … For whatever you
did not do for the least of
these, you did not do it for
me.” Apparently they didn’t do good
deeds - didn't help those in need. So
seems rather simple then, right? The
difference between the sheep and the goats is what they did, how they lived; their
deeds. In fact you'll hear many a
people, including many a politician, quote Jesus' words here and say,
"This is the essence of Christianity - social ministry - social welfare -
helping the poor and needy."
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not
saying we are not to do good deeds - helping those in need – after all there
are plenty of Scripture passages that exhort us to do just that. But you know there’s a problem here, actually there are a lot of problems here with such an
interpretation of this particular section of Scripture.
And for starts, and hopefully you all
caught this as good Lutherans, it’s works
righteousness! To say that the end time
judgment, the division of the sheep and the goats will be based upon what I do
or don’t do for the needy, that’s "works righteousness" and of course
that’s totally contradictory to the rest of Scripture. Scripture such as Ephesians 2 immediately
comes to mind, “It is by grace you have
been saved, through faith, and this not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not
by works so that no one may boast.”
“It is by grace … not by works” that you are saved. Now it is true that right after these verses
And so what is often done here with
this text is to try to say that what's going on here is that the King - and the
King of course being Jesus - but what the King is doing here with those on His
right is pointing to the fruits of their faith - those good works of believers
that serve as the physical, objective evidence of their faith. Then we are told, ok now go out and help the
poor, the downtrodden, for by doing so you are showing forth your faith. But you know, I've known many an unbeliever
who is just as generous and caring as any believer - maybe even more so in a
lot of cases; people who have done plenty of clothing the naked, feeding the
hungry, etc.
Now again, don't get me wrong, as
Christians we are called to do social ministry by helping the poor, etc. We are called to love others as we have first
been loved by God. And again, there are
plenty of portions of Scripture that support a ministry to those in need. But an honest reading of this Judgment Day
scene in its context reveals that
this is just not one of those
portions. In other words, let's follow
that fundamental principle of reading Scripture and "let Scripture
interpret Scripture." Let's look
for clues elsewhere in say Matthew's Gospel to help us in determining the
difference between the sheep and the goats.
But first let's read once again Jesus'
words to those on His right. He says,
"whatever you did for one of the least of these my
brothers, you did it for me." (repeat) Who are
"the least of these my brothers"?
Well now certainly in the Gospel of Matthew the word "brother"
refers to just that - biological, male siblings - how we normally use the
word. But in Matthew this term
"brother" is also used in a non-biological sense and in fact by Jesus
himself. In chapter 12 for example Jesus
refers to His disciples as His quote,
"mother and brothers and
sisters." Also, in chapter 28
and after His resurrection, Jesus tells the women to go and announce the news
of His resurrection "to His
brothers" - "His brothers" being the eleven disciples - the
twelfth, Judas, of course gone at that point. And so who are the "brothers" of
Jesus? Are they just anyone we may come
across in life who is in need, be they a believer or an unbeliever? No.
Our brothers, or sisters we should also say, are those fellow believers -
fellow disciples - of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But still, this doesn't take care of
the problem, does it? This
problem of works-righteousness that Jesus seems to be promoting here in our
reading. For
this would just mean that we receive our inheritance based upon how we treat
our fellow believers. And so we need to
dig a little deeper and ask "Who are the least of these my brothers
in the context of Matthew?" Who are
the hungry, the thirsty, etc.?
Well as we continue to let
"Scripture interpret Scripture" we can find the answer to this question
in chapter 10 of Matthew. For here we
find Jesus sending out His 12 disciples to the lost sheep of
And this is important. For you see in Jesus' day common hospitality
meant that if someone came to you with a message, you didn't just talk to them
out on the porch for a couple of minutes, rather you received them into your
home, you fed them, you threw a party. Unless of course you rejected their message. In that case you turn them away empty handed,
you had nothing to do with them. To
receive the messenger was to receive the message. To reject the messenger was to reject the
message.
And this held true for those who
received Jesus' messengers of the good news of the kingdom. For those who offered care to those
missionaries whom Jesus sent out with no basic provisions - His brothers IN
NEED - their care and hospitality was an indication that they had received the
message of these missionaries, that is, the message of Jesus. And in fact Jesus even told His disciples in
chapter 10, "He who receives you,
receives me." "He who
receives you, receives my message of salvation, they receive me." And so "whatever they do for you, they
do it for me."
So those who gave food, water,
clothing, shelter, compassion to Jesus' messengers - visited those who are in
prison for proclaiming the message of Jesus - it is they who are on Jesus'
right on Judgment Day - they are the believers - they are the sheep who have
received the message of Jesus. And the goats? Well
they are those who did not do unto the least of these my brothers, they are
those who rejected the messengers of Jesus and thereby also rejected Jesus
Himself - they are the unbelievers.
And so the difference between the
sheep and the goats? It's not a matter of works, rather
it's a matter of faith in the Gospel message of Jesus; it's a matter of believing the good news of the King - the only-begotten
Son of God who came not to be served, but to serve by giving His life as a
ransom for many. To be among the sheep -
on Jesus' right hand - it's a matter of faith - faith in Jesus the Savior who
went to the cross for sinners. …
So what's this mean for us - for you
and for me - this difference between a sheep and a goat? Well like we said earlier, it is a difference
between heaven and hell. It is the
difference between eternal salvation and eternal damnation. It means that like with little Mason here
this morning, by the Gospel - by God's Word of forgiveness and His waters of
Holy Baptism, you have been made to be a sheep.
The Holy Spirit has granted you a faith which says, "I believe that
Jesus has lived and died for me. My sin
is forever gone, heaven is my eternal inheritance." Yes, the difference between a sheep and a
goat means that when the King, Christ Jesus comes again in all glory to judge
the living and the dead, you will hear those wonderful words, "Come!
Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the
kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world." Amen.