Living in the Image of God M02S02
The parable of the Sheep and the Goats explains human responsibility in a Call to Compassion and describes God’s judgment regarding performance of the responsibility. He assigns every person to one of two categories based on completing or declining such responsibility. He judges favorably a person that completes and unfavorably those that decline. A person earns blessing for completion or incurs punishment for declining.
In a Call to Compassion, God directs a person’s attention to the need of others and expects the call recipient to recognize the need, care about the needy, commit to providing a solution, and persevere in seeking to alleviate the need. Christ provides formal teaching in two parables to explain what God expects from us in a Call to Compassion. The parable of The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30–35) uses an example to explain human behavior in a Call to Compassion. Furthermore, the parable of The Sheep and the Goats explains human responsibility in a Call to Compassion and describes God’s judgment regarding performance of the responsibility. God judges a person favorably for completing his or her responsibility in a call to compassion or unfavorably for declining.
We discuss the parable of the Sheep and the Goats in this bible study and the parable of the Good Samaritan in a future study to expand our understanding of human responsibilities in a call to compassion.
Parable of The Sheep and the Goats
Christ uses the parable of the Sheep and the Goats to explain human responsibility in a call to compassion and how God judges performance of the responsibility. He uses the parable to establish a clear link between the need in a call to compassion and the goods and service provided to alleviate the need. For example, the statement “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat” [Matthew 25:35] establishes a link between hunger for nourishment and something to eat provided to alleviate the hunger. Similarly, the parable links the need of thirst to something to drink provided, the need of being a stranger to provided shelter, the need for clothing to provided clothing, sickness to looking after the sick, and being a prisoner to visiting the prisoner.
By linking each need with the goods or service provided to alleviate the need, Christ explains the meaning of completing responsibility in a call to compassion. To understand the explanation, each of the statements in this section of the parable [Matthew 25:35–36] can be paraphrased as follows: I placed a need on your path and you did what you could to alleviate the need. The need could be basic, as the examples used in the parable, or more complex, like the need of the man beaten by robbers in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30–35).
Completing the Responsibility
Completing responsibility in a call to compassion means the recipient does what he or she can to provide goods and service to alleviate the need. In the parable, Christ describes the need in terms of basic needs. However, the basic interactions are the same for all needs, ranging from basic to complex. Completion means linking the Need through Care to the Goods and Service provided to alleviate the need. The link could be a sub-link in a complex chain or a simple link for a simple chain. In every case, the call recipient is to recognize need, care about the needy, commit to doing what he/she can, and persevere in seeking to provide goods and service to alleviate the need.
Refusal of the Responsibility
Refusal means the recipient of a call to compassion declines responsibility. The call recipient could decline by refusing to recognize the need (i.e., looking the other way and pretending he or she did not see). Or he or she recognizes the need but does not care; or recognizes and cares, but does not commit; or recognizes, cares, and commits, but does not persevere. That is, the call recipient refuses to do what he or she can to alleviate a need that God has placed on his or her path.
Judgment for Completion
God judges a person favorably that he knows as one that completes responsibilities in a call to compassion: “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” [Matthew 25:34]. You earn blessing every time you complete your responsibility in a call to compassion: “Do this and you will live” [Luke 10:28].
Judgment for Refusal
God judges a person unfavorably that he knows as one that declines responsibilities in a call to compassion: “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” [Matthew 25:41]. You incur punishment every time you decline your responsibility in a call to compassion.
Summary of What We Learned
The parable of the Sheep and the Goats explains human responsibility in a Call to Compassion and describes God’s judgment regarding performance of the responsibility.
He assigns every person to one of two categories based on completing or declining such responsibility. He judges favorably a person that completes and unfavorably those that decline. A person earns blessing for completion or incurs punishment for declining.