Holy Week – The Sheep and the Goats

Sometime around now in Holy Week is when Christ delivered his Second Coming sermon in Matthew 25.  The conclusion, the sheep and the goats, is so simply profound that we are still unlocking the implications today.  Until that point he had been speaking in parables but at the end he speaks that way no longer.  He simply says what will happen.

Matthew 25:31-46

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

We are so used to this passage that it is hard to understand it.  We treat it as if it were just a beautiful way of saying ‘be nice.’  Oh, no no no.  Let’s hit at least 4 of the astounding revelations that the Savior gave in this famous passage.

1.  Is is an astonishing claim to power and authority.

When Christ says that ‘his kingdom is not of this world,’ he isn’t disclaiming rule over us.  He is disabusing us of the notion that his rule would merely be secular rule.  It’s as if there’s a gunslinger movie and in the climactic scene where the boss of the criminal gang asks the new guy in town if he has come to try to take away the town from the gang, the new guy laughs and says, no, I have to come to take away everything from everybody, countries and continents.  Christ is saying here that He is the central focus of everyone’s existence and everyone’s every act.  No amount of modern revisionism can get around C.S. Lewis’ trilemma: the man who could say this is either lunatic, liar, or Lord.

The King is truly crowned.

2. It puts the enabling power of the atonement front and center.

The Savior does not say that every right and wrong done to another will be as if done to him.  He says right out that they will be done to him.  He isn’t merely hinting but announcing that in the atonement he will bear the entire burden of the human race.  Not just the burden of sin but every suffering, every trial, every abuse, every burden.  There is no road so lonely that He has not walked it with you every single step.

This truth is hidden in plain sight.  He just comes out and says it.

Adam and Christ in Gethsemane

3.  It puts fatherhood and motherhood at the center of Christian life.

Most people, even in the ancient world, will not have that many opportunities for clothing the literal naked.  Except as parents.  Everything that Christ says here about what the righteous do are the core functions of parents.  They also have deep symbolic layers, where mothers in the womb clothe their children in flesh.

Helpless as a child

4. It explains exactly how Christ fulfilled the law of Moses

Most explanations of how Christ fulfilled the law of Moses seemed like handwaving.  It’s bothered me for awhile.

This passage has the answer.  Christ here explains why the retributive logic of the law of Moses–blessing for blessing, cursing for cursing–when combined with his atonement where he takes on every blessing and every cursing–necessarily by strict logic converts the Mosaic law into the Christian law of mercy.

Paul thinks the law of Moses prepared people for Christ by showing them their inadequacy to follow the law. Alma has a different angle. He sees the eye-for-an-eye principle as preparing you to understand the concept of restoration (“you get back what you put out”) and therefore to practicing Christ-like behavior so that you can have Christlike behavior extended to you by God. Eye for an eye? Mercy for mercy.

Under the law you start by thinking you need to do to others what they do to you. ‘Eye for an eye.’ Then you start seeing things from other people’s point of view and start acting towards them the way you hope they will reciprocate. This is still an eye for an eye but with you now giving full consideration to its implications. Then you realize that everything is God’s, and you start acting towards everyone and everything the way you want God to act to you. Mercy for mercy.

The golden rule and Christ’s famous ‘inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren’ are the culmination, fulfillment, and perfection of the Mosaic law.