The fact is, most of us fall into both categories- sheep and goats. Most of us have done something in our lives as the sheep have done, and most have also neglected to do as the goats have done. Not an easy saying to understand.
Did Jesus broadcast the seed of the good news or did he look for good ground, good soil? We know from Matthew that he told the Canaanite woman that he came to the lost children of Israel, but then Matthew doesn’t tell us that she stayed, and wanted to travel with him and monopolize the time he spent listening to his Father so he knew what to do.
Should I ignore Paul’s words to, I think Timothy, to concentrate on people who have the potential to be multiplying disciples?
Drat..fat fingers again. Continuing from previous comment:
Do the poor and vulnerable and unhoused get a pass to hold onto sin or bitterness or stubbornly refuse, to accept the truth that Christ calls them to repent of sin, that those who are not poor in the eyes of the world do not get?
This is not a theological, ethereal question for me. It is a decades long matter of trying to hear and follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance about the use and application of the time, energy and gifts he has given me to use for his glory. I have been in relationship with people on “both sides of the track” who would suck up every bit of time and energy given to me and no hope of fruit from their lives in sight. That also seems like theft of the enemy to me. (John 10). Erecting boundaries never feels good, but are they necessary at times for those who are trying to follow Jesus with all their heart over decades not just months or years?
OK, several questions/thoughts from one who is not a Greek scholar:
1. Does the order in which Matthew has placed these three parables say anything to us? They seem to move from simplicity to complexity.
2. Verse 3 reads, “and he will separate people from one another as a Shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” Are you saying that “people” should be translated as peoples? That we should read that as entire groups or nations of people rather than individuals? Or that first century Jews would have heard that as referring to nations rather than individuals? ….. continuing the Old Testament frustrating ambiguous relationship between what God required of the nation of Israel and the individuals of Israel?
3. You say ”The hidden presence of Christ in the vulnerable neighbor is not a metaphor. It is the logic of the incarnation extended to every encounter with human suffering.” Beautifully said .
But I struggle.
I have heard and responded on a limited basis to the call to encounter Christ by being proximate with the poor and vulnerable, showing attention and care to those crushed or formed by other people’s sin.
The fact is, most of us fall into both categories- sheep and goats. Most of us have done something in our lives as the sheep have done, and most have also neglected to do as the goats have done. Not an easy saying to understand.
I am not trying to be difficult… These are real questions which I am trying to resolve.
Did Jesus broadcast the seed of the good news or did he look for good ground, good soil? We know from Matthew that he told the Canaanite woman that he came to the lost children of Israel, but then Matthew doesn’t tell us that she stayed, and wanted to travel with him and monopolize the time he spent listening to his Father so he knew what to do.
Should I ignore Paul’s words to, I think Timothy, to concentrate on people who have the potential to be multiplying disciples?
Drat..fat fingers again. Continuing from previous comment:
Do the poor and vulnerable and unhoused get a pass to hold onto sin or bitterness or stubbornly refuse, to accept the truth that Christ calls them to repent of sin, that those who are not poor in the eyes of the world do not get?
This is not a theological, ethereal question for me. It is a decades long matter of trying to hear and follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance about the use and application of the time, energy and gifts he has given me to use for his glory. I have been in relationship with people on “both sides of the track” who would suck up every bit of time and energy given to me and no hope of fruit from their lives in sight. That also seems like theft of the enemy to me. (John 10). Erecting boundaries never feels good, but are they necessary at times for those who are trying to follow Jesus with all their heart over decades not just months or years?
OK, several questions/thoughts from one who is not a Greek scholar:
1. Does the order in which Matthew has placed these three parables say anything to us? They seem to move from simplicity to complexity.
2. Verse 3 reads, “and he will separate people from one another as a Shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” Are you saying that “people” should be translated as peoples? That we should read that as entire groups or nations of people rather than individuals? Or that first century Jews would have heard that as referring to nations rather than individuals? ….. continuing the Old Testament frustrating ambiguous relationship between what God required of the nation of Israel and the individuals of Israel?
3. You say ”The hidden presence of Christ in the vulnerable neighbor is not a metaphor. It is the logic of the incarnation extended to every encounter with human suffering.” Beautifully said .
But I struggle.
I have heard and responded on a limited basis to the call to encounter Christ by being proximate with the poor and vulnerable, showing attention and care to those crushed or formed by other people’s sin.