The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats #9

The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, also called the Judgment of the Nations, is Jesus’s teaching about the final judgment, when the Son of Man separates people like a shepherd dividing his flock. It appears only in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 25:31-46), where it closes Jesus’s long teaching on the last things. Strictly speaking it is more a description of a future scene than a story, but it is usually listed with the parables because of its shepherd imagery.

The Parable

Jesus says that when the Son of Man comes in glory with all his angels, he will sit on his glorious throne, and all the nations will be gathered before him. He will separate them as a shepherd separates sheep from goats, putting the sheep on his right and the goats on his left (Matthew 25:31-33). To those on his right the King says to come and inherit the kingdom prepared for them, because when he was hungry they fed him, when thirsty they gave him drink, when a stranger they welcomed him, when naked they clothed him, when sick they visited him, and when in prison they came to him (Matthew 25:34-36).

The righteous are surprised and ask when they ever did such things. The King answers that whatever they did for one of the least of his brothers, they did for him (Matthew 25:37-40). To those on his left he says the reverse: they did none of it, and they depart into eternal punishment, while the righteous go into eternal life (Matthew 25:41-46).

Context

The scene follows the Parable of the Ten Virgins and the Parable of the Talents in the discourse Jesus gave on the Mount of Olives. Where those parables urge watchfulness and faithful use of gifts, this passage names the practical evidence of a faithful life. The six needs listed echo the Old Testament call to care for the poor and the oppressed (Isaiah 58:6-7). Shepherds in Palestine commonly grazed sheep and goats together and separated them at night, which makes the image natural, and the sheep and the goats also echo God’s judgment between the flock’s members in Ezekiel 34:17-22.

Meaning

The surprise of both groups shows that the judgment turns on ordinary acts of mercy rather than on spectacular deeds. Interpreters, however, differ on who the least of these brothers are. Many Christians, particularly in the Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican traditions and in the social gospel movement, understand the phrase to cover any person in need. Many evangelical and Reformed commentators argue that it refers to Jesus’s disciples or missionaries, and that the nations are judged by how they treated Christ’s messengers, since elsewhere Jesus calls his followers his brothers.

Traditions also differ on how this passage relates to salvation by grace through faith. Most Protestants read the deeds as the fruit and evidence of faith rather than its cause. Catholic and Orthodox teaching generally connects works of mercy directly with a life lived in grace. All agree that the passage makes compassion for the vulnerable inseparable from following Christ, and that it presents a real final accounting.