What is the Bible? Part 62: Sheep and Goats

Back on it. Here’s a question from a Tumblr reader:

elbottso said:Hey Rob. I’m wondering what your interpretation of Mat. 25:41-46 is. I’m struggling with the tension between a Jesus who fully represents God as merciful, loving, dying for sinners; and a Jesus who says something like what is said in this scripture verse. I know the truth is somewhere in the middle but I’m having a hard time finding it. Will you please help me?

Yes, I’ll do my best. 

For those keeping score at home, in the passage elbottso (Which is honestly just so much fun to say) refers to Jesus tells a story about a king who separates people into two groups-sheep and goats -based on how they treated the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick and the lonely in their midst. 

First, a bit about the pressing history of the moment.  Jesus lived among a group of people who believed that God was going to act within human history in the immediate future, liberating them from a nasty oppressor, righting the wrongs and injustices they’d been suffering for generations, establishing peace on earth in their homeland. His audience was full of people who believed they were God’s chosen people and that when God did this they would rule the world with God. (Think about Jesus’ disciples arguing about who would sit where in the future kingdom. And their mom-how embarrassing-trying to put in a good word for them with Jesus.) 

And yet..these very same people who argued about who would get to sit where in seats of power were the ones marginalizing and oppressing and ignoring the very real suffering all around them.

So, first, let’s clear up some nonsense: Sometimes this passage is used to talk about who is going to heaven and who is going to hell. The problem, and there are lots of them, of that particular reading of this passage is that the “criteria” for who goes where is how they treated the poor and suffering they encountered. Interesting, isn’t it, how the people who often use this passage as a justification for God sending people to hell forever seem to be the people who talk the least about caring for the poor and suffering right here, right now in this world?

Two thoughts about presence and responsibility:

Presence. There is a mystery hidden in the fabric of creation, a mystery that Jesus talks about again and again and again. In the least, the lost, the forgotten, the broken we see the divine. At the end of ourselves, in our fragile and flawed brokenness is where we often find God. That’s how the mystery works. 

Some people see this, some don’t. Jesus never stops pointing to the divine image and significance of the people who are the easiest to pass on by, the easiest to ignore, the most likely to be forgotten. 

do you see why modern religious folks with a roof over their head and food in their stomachs often miss the power of a passage like this-making it about some other time and place and world and not about the very real suffering of this world, right here and right now? 

To read this passage and then debate who’s going where when they die is to miss the power of Jesus’ insistence that the divine is all around us, especially in the places we are least likely to look. No wonder people get bored with the Bible when it’s read like that. 

He’s teaching us here that the invitation is to grow in your awareness of the divine in all people, places and events, especially those with the most hunger, pain, loneliness, and suffering.

It’s as if he’s saying You want to find me? That’s where I am.

Now, on to responsibility.There’s a larger story Jesus is referring to, one rooted in his first century Jewish audience’s conviction that God is looking for partners to care for the world, to do something good with it, to rule it in the best sense of the word. 

The question driving the story is What have you done with what you’ve been given? Because why would you be given more responsibility when you haven’t done well with what you’ve already been given? If you haven’t been true and faithful in the small things, why would you ever be entrusted with big things? If you’ve missed the divine all around you in the sick and lonely and broken and naked, how will you ever handle more divine responsibility?

Can you see why Jesus would tell a story like this? Can you see the the very real modern, immediate implications of a story like this? 

Or to put it another way: Are you growing in your awareness of the divine in every person and conversation and interaction and event and encounter? Are you more and more aware of how important it is to be true and faithful and honorable and full of integrity in the small things in your life, especially when no one is looking? Are you more and more aware of how holy and sacred your life is, how much it all matters, and what an extraordinary responsibility and opportunity and joy it is to be you? 

So, let’s finish by going back to the question: the problem with the question is that it won’t get you where you want to go. The answer isn’t in the middle, it’s all around you. And it’s very, very urgent. Jesus is inviting us to wake up to the divine here, in the language and symbols and reference points that would have resonated with his audience. His message, though, is timeless, because what you want is a full life, a vibrant life, a life in which you experience the divine fullness throughout the day in countless people and events in countless ways. Open your eyes, trust that the divine is present, especially in the lost, the broken, the hungry and the lonely. 

Next: Contemplation

Start at Part 1 of this Series

Presence. There is a mystery hidden in the fabric of creation, a mystery that Jesus talks about again and again and again. In the least, the lost, the forgotten, the broken we see the divine. At the end of ourselves, in our fragile and flawed brokenness is where we often find God. That’s how the mystery works. 

Some people see this, some don’t. Jesus never stops pointing to the divine image and significance of the people who are the easiest to pass on by, the easiest to ignore, the most likely to be forgotten. 

do you see why modern religious folks with a roof over their head and food in their stomachs often miss the power of a passage like this-making it about some other time and place and world and not about the very real suffering of this world, right here and right now? 

To read this passage and then debate who’s going where when they die is to miss the power of Jesus’ insistence that the divine is all around us, especially in the places we are least likely to look. No wonder people get bored with the Bible when it’s read like that.