sheeps and goats and Jesus ..

while reading an article this morning, a scripture reference reminded me of a sobering thought ..
Jesus is speaking:

“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.

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. For 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. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
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? 38 Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
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!’

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 devil and his demons. For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. I 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.’
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?’
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.’
And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life."

while we've turned 'christian' into more of a 'belief' system, there are numerous references to 'do' in scripture, as in many; and they are undeniably poignant and urgent ..
perhaps partly in the fear of 'works salvation', we subscribed to knowledge, logic and intellectualism, occupying pews and passive participation .. and there went the baby with the bathwater ..

in this parable (at Matt 25:31ff) the only distinction between those blessed and those cursed by the king is their works

you can go wherever you want with that ..

additionally, the works Jesus refers to are pointed; they are heading somewhere ..
he didn't refer to 'evangelizing'; he didn't mention missionary activities; he didn't talk about preaching, or passing-out tracts, or saying 'grace' in restaurants, or tithing, or following the christian religious calendar, or making the sign of the cross when you make a touchdown, or supporting Israel, or voting republican, or standing on the street corner telling people they're going to hell, or wearing t-shirts with a cross, or dressing-up and 'going to church', or 'joining' a church, or labeling ourself 'baptist' or 'catholic' or 'episcopal' or 'presebyterian' or 'disciples of christ' or 'pentecostal' or 'seventh day adventist' ..

think about it ..

i'm not saying that these things are wrong, or that there's no place for (some of?) them at all, or whatever ..
that's not the point
the thing is Jesus, on this occasion, is making a point, and he couches it in very serious language, like
"Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world."
and "Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons."

question is, was Jesus just using hyperbole, trying to get our attention, startle us ?

you decide ..

tell you this, when i see words like 'inherit the kingdom' and 'eternal fire' i kinda slide a bit lower in my chair and look around a bit, and wonder if i was there which group i would be in .. .     .
'cause that's serious stuff

.. . . .        .

one more thought
i commented on the 'works' Jesus did not include in his parable ..
what did he point at ? what 'works' did Jesus identify that made the difference between the sheep and the goats ?
feeding the hungry
drink for the thirsty
hospitality to strangers
clothing the naked
caring for the sick
visiting the imprisoned

.. ..

“Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”
Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

. .. .       .

now
go
and do


peace