Know that the Lord is good, he has made us and not we ourselves, we are his people the sheep of his pasture – Psalm 100:3

Jesus tells this parable on the Mount of Olives two days before the last supper, three days before his suffering and death, five days before he is risen from the dead. Earlier in his ministry(Matthew 13) the Apostles asked Jesus why he speaks in parables. He answers that he is unfolding the secrets of the kingdom of heaven by them in them, and that parables both reveal and conceal this reality which is breaking forth.

This parable is the third in a series of end-times parables where Jesus is telling the apostles about the coming kingdom of heaven at the end of history. In the first parable Jesus tells them of ten virgins, five foolish and five wise. All fall asleep waiting for the coming of the groom at the wedding feast for he comes much later than any expected. But the wise got ready before the groom came and the foolish waited until the groom was almost there so the wise went into the wedding feast. Get ready for the wedding banquet, the groom is on his way. The second is a parable fo three servants entrusted with their masters wealth. Two of them made a profit out of what was given to them but the third buried his treasure for fear of losing it and won his master’s displeasure when he returned. First the return of a groom for a wedding. Second the return of a master to his slaves. Third the veil is lifted and Jesus speaks plainly of his own return, the return of the Son of Man.

When the Son of Man returns with all the angels he comes to judge the nations of the earth. In the face of evil, in the face of suffering, humans have often called on God for justice. At long last he will come among the nations and give justice. When he comes again he will divide the sheep from the goats among the nation, like a shepherd.

This is significant because Jesus is the Son of David the Shepherd King, who comes and fulfills the promise God made with David that a son of his, a son after God’s own heart, would reign God’s people justly for ever. This has echoes of Ezekiel who sees this coming anointed king separating those who use and abuse and devour others, from those who have mercy on others.

To the sheep he identifies the works of mercy they did for Christians in need, for the hungry, the thirsty, those in prison and naked. The sheep seem surprised not counting these works as merits but they are known by them.

To the goats he identifies their failure to be merciful as the just condemnation for which they enter into an eternal punishment.

We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith, not for our own works or deservings. He was the perfect paschal lamb without blemish. He was righteous where we cannot be and suffered the punishment for the sins of those who trust in him. Our works do not save us. But Good Works are the fruits of Faith, and follow after Justification. They cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God’s Judgement; yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and do spring out necessarily of a true and living Faith. As a tree is discerned by its fruit. We should look to fruits growing in us, out of us, as a consequence of being made alive where we were before dead inside.

While we labour in this world, sheep and goats will grow up together, will be in the same herd, until the shepherd comes and separates them. We are told here in this parable that to be a true Christian, to be of the flock of the Good Shepherd, to be a sheep, is to become merciful. By the mercy of Jesus we are called out of the world, out of the temptations of the devil, out of our selfish self-serving into a new kind of life with a new kind of birth. If it should please God to give us a living faith that truly trusts in him, we will show mercy to others even as he has shown mercy to us. We will want to feed the hungry, and clothe the naked, and visit those in prison. We will desire to suffer with and lift up our brothers and sisters in need. St. John Chrysostom puts it this way: “If you cannot find Christ in the beggar on the church steps you dare not pretend to find him in the chalice”. Let us desire that God would burn away our old cold hearts and give us new hearts that love what he would have us love.

For from the foundation of the world we are told, a place has been prepared for those who are made new men and women in the image of the mercy of Jesus. Come, the Good Shepherd says to those who are made merciful. Come, he says, you who are blessed of my Father. 

Know that the Lord is good, he has made us and not we ourselves, we are his people the sheep of his pasture – Psalm 100:3