Month: February 2009 (Page 2 of 2)

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“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. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
-Matthew 25:31-40 (NIV)

Leading up to these verses, Jesus was answering his disciples’ questions about eternal life and the end of times. And he concludes it with an intriguing parable: The Sheep and the Goats.

Now, your first question may be, “Why sheep and goats?” To put it simply, sheep and goats often grazed the same fields together but were separated when it was time to sheer the sheep. So the disciples would have been familiar with this division.

So in these verses Jesus explains that righteous people, these “sheep”, gave him food when he was hungry, a place to stay when he was a stranger, etc. In the following verses, he condemns the “goats” for not meeting those very same needs.

The sheep however, are confused. They don’t remember serving Jesus at all. None of the situations he mentioned ring a bell. In the moment and in the end, they didn’t recognize the significance of their actions.

But Jesus sets the record straight: Any time someone reaches out to those in need, regardless of their intentions, regardless of what they believe… If they are genuinely helping the needy, they are actually ministering to God, they are doing it for Jesus. Simply put, the sheep were exhibiting God’s sacrificial love by living it – without having a clue what they were doing.

I think Jesus’ point to his disciples here was that the sheep had a lesson to teach to the goats – the goats being those that already were followers of God, but were overlooking the needs of others. And I think that same point resonates with us today. Are we really showing the world the same love and grace that God has given us, especially those who are hurting, those who are overlooked, those who are ignored, those who are considered the least?

Early the next morning Jesus was returning to the city. He was hungry. Seeing a lone fig tree alongside the road, he approached it anticipating a breakfast of figs. When he got to the tree, there was nothing but fig leaves. He said, “No more figs from this tree—ever!” The fig tree withered on the spot, a dry stick. The disciples saw it happen. They rubbed their eyes, saying, “Did we really see this? A leafy tree one minute, a dry stick the next?”
-Matthew 21:18-20 (MSG)

At first glance this story seems rather random and bizarre.

To start, there’s more to figs than just Fig Newtons. Fig trees were very common in Jesus’ time because they were an inexpensive source of food. It takes a fig tree about 3 years from the time that it is planted to bear fruit. Once fully able, the tree will turn out a huge amount of fruit twice a year, in late spring and early autumn. Generally, when the leaves start to bud that’s a sign that the fig fruit will appear as well.

Now with that said, back to the story. It’s morning, and Jesus wants some breakfast.  He sees a fig tree in the distance and makes his way toward it. I think it’s safe to say that from afar Jesus probably saw the leaf buds on the tree and thus assumed that there would be fruit to eat as well. But alas, there were no figs so Jesus dries the tree up, killing it instantly.

So why did he do this? Why was Jesus picking on this innocent fig tree?

I think he was making a point. Whether he was referring to the Temple, the disciples, Israel… I don’t know.

The point, however, was that from far off a lot of things look great and promising on the surface. But upon further examination, they are ultimately hollow and without substance, bearing no good fruit.

I wonder how many times that has described me — a person only concerned about how he looks from the outside, only putting on the appearance of faith. A “Christian” who bears no fruit of Christ. And if I’m only pretending and not producing, I’m better off withered and dead.