On this final Sunday of this series where we have focused on beginnings and endings, we are again given a glimpse into the kingdom that is to come. In our reading from Matthew (see Matthew 25:31-46), Jesus uses metaphor to teach us about the kingdom of heaven that is not yet here while at the same time making it clear that we are expected to live today is if it is, in fact, already here. Using imagery that would be familiar to many of his followers, Jesus gives a twist to his familiar teaching about how we are to treat our neighbors -- loving others is one of the ways that we show our love of God.
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Today is the final Sunday of the current church year. In the liturgical calendar, this day is known as Christ the King or Reign of Christ Sunday. It is a day we celebrate the fullness of Jesus in our lives, our reliance on his guidance and protection in our lives. It is also a day we look ahead to the final fulfillment of the kingdom of heaven on earth and Christ’s eternal rule in that realm.
It is in some ways the ideal celebration for the theme we have focused on these last few weeks. It is an acknowledgement that the beginning will come to an end and a new reality is coming into existence. At the same time we recognize that the world to come is one we cannot fully comprehend and that our earthly rulers pale in comparison to Christ. We await the kingdom not fully understanding what it will be like even as Jesus has given us ample hints along the way.
The church year that is now drawing to a close has seen gospel readings primarily drawn from the Gospel of Matthew. Throughout this Gospel, the kingdom of heaven has been one of the major themes. For Matthew, this idea of the kingdom of heaven suggests a spiritual rule. It is something we cannot see directly with our eyes and that we cannot fully understand, because the rules of the kingdom of heaven are so unlike the rules by which our earthly realms are so often governed.
We get a sense of this in the Sermon on the Mount near the beginning of Matthew. In that teaching, Jesus lays out what it looks like to be a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. To live in the kingdom of heaven is to focus on what is good and right and holy and to seek to emulate that in our own lives. It is to go out of our way to avoid doing what would harm others. It is to pray to our heavenly Father that our needs will be met and that we will be judged in the same way we judge others. It is to treat others the same way we would wish to be treated.
As we think about this kingdom that Jesus describes, we begin to understand why he would have to focus on this concept over and over again with his followers. When we look around our world, where is an example of a kingdom that works in this way? Sure, there are smaller communities that manage to get by on mutual support and mutual respect, communities where people meet one another's needs and take care of one another. But how many nations accomplish this feat for all their members?
I hope it begins to become clear how this idea relates to our reading today. This reading from Matthew today gives us a glimpse into that coming kingdom. The king in this story tells us who it is that is already living in the kingdom and who is not really a part of it. As is typical for Jesus, he uses imagery that would have been familiar to his followers -- he talks about herding sheep and goats.
This leads to some interesting problems for us today. For one thing, sheep and goats as we know them are likely quite different from the varieties that existed in Israel 2,000 years ago. Second, our opinions of sheep and goats have quite possibly been influenced by this very passage. We tend to think of sheep in a positive light and goats in a negative one. However, for the Hebrew people, that does not appear to have been the case.
During Jesus’ time in that part of the world, both sheep and goats were domesticated.¹ The flocks over which shepherds watched were made up of both goats and sheep. Sheep were obviously prized for their wool and had a place within the sacrificial system of ancient Israel. Goats were prized for their meat and skins and were also a part of the sacrificial practices of the Temple. Sheep required the protection of shepherds to defend them from predators while goats tended to be more sensitive to colder temperatures and needed to be brought into shelter at night. This is one of the reasons for which the flocks might be separated, dividing the sheep from the goats. Other reasons might be for milking, for breeding, or for Temple sacrifices.
In some ways, this makes it more difficult to determine why Jesus would choose this particular image in this teaching. If goats are not inherently bad and are in fact a prized part of the herd, why show preference to the sheep here?
There are two more facts that I think will help us think about this.
In ancient Israel, there were more goats in the flocks than there were sheep. In a story where one wishes to show the value of something that is precious and not as common, it would make sense to choose sheep. They are fewer in number. If we see the followers of Jesus as sheep in this way, we recognize that there are fewer of us in the world than there are those who do not believe. This is not in itself a negative, simply a statement of fact.
Our second point is related to the first, but may not be as obvious. The flock is made up of both sheep and goats. We live with one another, eat with one another, travel with one another, rest with one another. For the shepherd tending the flock, until there is a need to separate them, no distinction is made. Both are treated with the same care.
Perhaps the opening metaphor of our story doesn’t carry quite the level of import that is so often given to it. Perhaps after all, it is simply an image the people would understand to explain how one group is divided from another. Instead, the important part is what comes after.
As we read the rest of this teaching, who are those that belong to the kingdom and who are those who are left out? Drawing on a theme we have seen throughout this Gospel, Jesus points to those who have loved and cared for their neighbors as those who are righteous. This should not be surprising as this is in keeping with the Golden Rule -- "treat people in the same way that you want people to treat you" (Matthew 7:12, CEB) -- that we find in the Sermon on the Mount near the beginning of this Gospel. We find the injunction to love our neighbors again in the Great Commandment which appears only a few chapters before today’s reading (Matthew 22:34-40).
But here in today’s story, Jesus gives this law an interesting twist. When you did those things for others -- when you fed them, clothed them, welcomed them -- it was as if you were doing it for me. In some ways, Jesus is concluding his teaching on the kingdom of heaven. Or perhaps he is only beginning to draw it to a close. He starts with his summary of the Law in the Sermon on the Mount about treating others as you want to be treated. Then he gives a variation on the summary that explicitly quotes two sections of the Hebrew Scriptures in the Great Commandment -- love God with all that you are and love your neighbor as yourself. The natural consequence of interpreting all that we find in the Law and the Prophets through these summaries is that we will in fact welcome the stranger, we will feed the hungry, we will clothe the naked. If we live in the present according to the teachings we have already received, what have we to fear of the future?
Jesus tells us early on what it means to live in the kingdom of heaven. Those who are citizens of his kingdom will treat others as they themselves wish to be treated. Later, he tells us that the most important rule for us is to love God and our neighbors. Then here he makes it clear that one of the ways in which we show our love for God is in the way that we show our love for others.
In his letter to the Hebrews, Paul reinforces this teaching by reminding us of Abraham and Sarah.² He refers us back to a story in Genesis about Abraham and Sarah in their old age. They receive visitors, but they do not know who they are. However, that does not stop them from welcoming the visitors and preparing food for them. It is only after they have provided for their guests that they learn it is in fact a divine visit. In their unknowing, they had treated God exactly as they would have treated any other visitor.
On the other hand, the story of "Beauty and the Beast" helps illustrate the other option. As told by Disney, a woman knocks at the door of a grand home seeking shelter from a storm. She is rather bedraggled looking and offers only a single rose as payment for hospitality. The arrogant young prince who lives there sneers at her and denies her entry. Before his eyes, she is transformed into a beautiful enchantress. When he sees her true form, he offers her entry, but it is too late. She curses him and his entire household, turning the prince into a hideous beast. The only way to break the spell is for someone to fall in love with him as he now finds himself, a task that seems impossible to one who only sees beauty in appearances.
As with Abraham and Sarah, the prince did not know the identity of his visitor at first. While the enchantress is certainly not God, we can easily see in this story the same point that Jesus is making. How we treat others is how we treat God. Where Abraham and Sarah welcomed their visitors, the prince turned his away with nothing.
When we show compassion, love, and caring for others, we are compassionate, loving, and caring toward Jesus. When we deny those things to others, we show Jesus that his teachings have not sunk in, that we have failed to understand what he has called is to do and to be.
As followers of Jesus, we are called to live as if we are already in the kingdom of heaven. We are called to live according to Christ’s rule. We are asked to offer hope and welcome to others, to feed the hungry, and to give the same grace that we have received. And we are called to do those things today, not in some unknown future.
To help us reflect on this call, our song this week comes again from the United Methodist hymnbook, The Faith We Sing. “Together We Serve” is a song that reminds us that as followers of Christ, we are united by love to offer hope and welcome to all those around us. We do this to provide the same grace we have received out to the rest of the world.
When we let this love shine through us, we begin to learn that Christ is present in everyone we meet.
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1. The MDiv thesis by Jack Douglas Ferguson provides an interesting analysis of flocks throughout the Old Testament; https://scholar.csl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1017&context=mdiv
2. See Hebrews 13:2 and Genesis 18.