The Second Last Sunday in the Church Year – November 17, 2024Psalm 54; Daniel 7:9-14; 2 Peter 3:3-14St. Matthew 25:31-46
In the Name of the Father, and of the +
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The words of our Lord concerning the Sheep and the Goats is
not a parable. A parable is an illustrative story that may-or-may-not be true
(but generally isn’t), where the people, places, and events stand in for other
people, places, and events. Next week, we will hear the parable of the 10
virgins. That parable depicts those within the church who have genuine, saving
faith and those within the church on earth who are hypocrites, who give no
attention to the faith once delivered to them. However, when Christ returns,
there will not necessarily be 10 women waiting by a wedding hall where 5 enter
in and 5 do not.
The Sheep and the Goats is not a parable because the
division of the nations into the righteous and the wicked will happen, and it
will happen as Christ describes it. He calls these two groups “sheep” and
“goats” as an illustration and this illustration delivers the key to
understanding this teaching of our Lord. The eternal fate of the nations, that
is, all people, is not determined by works. It is determined by what they are.
Sheep and goats are different animals. To use biblical language, they belong to
different kinds. One kind of animal is saved. The other kind of animal is
damned.
It is fundamental to understanding the final judgment that
you understand this concept. We will get to the judgment of works in a moment,
but the separation into the categories of those who are saved and those who are
not is determined by what you are. Are you a baptized child of God? Are you a
new creation in Christ? Do you find your origin in the living Word of God? Then
you belong to one category of man. Are you a citizen of the kingdom of satan?
Are you the old creation of Adam? Do you find your origin in the loins of man? Then
you belong to the other category of men.
On one of the occasions that the Pharisees challenged Jesus,
they claimed to have no father but Abraham.[1]
Fundamental to their understanding of the world is that they can trace their
blood and their faith from man to man, all the way back to Abraham. What are
they saying? They claim that the most important aspect of their salvation is
who donated DNA to their existence. They find salvation in their blood
heritage. Since the time of Christ, the Jewish people have obstinately
continued in this lie.
Compare this to the teachings of Christ who said, “If anyone
comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children,
brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My
disciple.”[2]
Jesus is not teaching disobedience to parents. He is boldly stating that the
Word of God is more important than blood. We are the true children of Abraham
because we have continued in the same faith delivered to Abraham. We are the
true children of Adam because we continue in the same faith delivered in Eden
immediately following the Fall. We are a different kind of being than the Jew,
the Muslim, and the hypocrite.
The nations are divided according to the kind of being. The goat-sons
of satan and all who disbelieve the Word of God are set to the Lord’s left. The
true sons, of Adam, Abraham, David, and Christ, the sheep in the hands of the
Almighty, are set to the Right.
After this division has taken place, our Lord judges the
works of the sheep and the goats. After the determination of salvation or
damnation, our Lord evaluates their works. The sheep are surprised to learn of
what deeds they’ve done. They have no idea that they were serving Christ in all
those ways. This is because they are true sons of God. A son does not need to
work to gain the love of his father. Born within the son is the desire to be
like his father. He wants to become the man who defines masculinity in the eyes
of the son.
From the son’s perspective, that usually means trying to
find great deeds of heroism to impress his father. But from the father’s
perspective, it is the subtle traits of maturity that make him proud; the
effort to become a better man that warms his heart. This relationship found in
man is a reflection of the Almighty’s relationship with mankind. We distract
ourselves with the idea of big, heroic works of righteousness when what our
Father sees is our works in secret. He sees the daily acts of love toward our
neighbors.
The goats are likewise surprised to learn of what they haven’t
done. They believe that they’ve done their best, that they are “pretty good
people,” that they did their time in Sunday School and that those things should
be enough. Yet the Lord has placed them on His left, sentenced them to eternal
perdition. Why? They have rejected the Word of God made flesh. They have
rejected the messengers of this Gospel. They have rejected the Church and her
true love – the Words and Sacraments of God. If the Church is the Body of
Christ, then these have amputated themselves from the body and a limb that has
been cut off, shrivels and dies.
Now, it is incredibly significant that although our Lord speaks
of the goats last, He concludes His teaching with a statement about the
righteous. “The righteous will [will go] into eternal life.”[3]
This indicates that whenever we consider the Last Day, whenever we consider the
end of times, it is for the consolation of Christians, the comfort of your
conscience. When Christ reveals Himself on that Last Day, it will be in glory,
as He revealed Himself at the Transfiguration. He will reveal Himself in His
glorified flesh, at the sound of angels’ trumpets. And this will be our call
home. Like the dinner bell on the farm, or a mother’s whistle into the
neighborhood signaling that it is time to come home for dinner, the return of
Christ will be a joyous occasion for the righteous. Even before the division
between the sheep and the goats, all those in Christ will rejoice that their
King has come to dwell with them eternally, to bring them home.
In + Jesus’
name. Amen.
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