Am I A Sheep Or A Goat?
Stories
Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit
Series V, Cycle C
Object:
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.... Then he will say to those at his left hand, "You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me." Then they also will answer, "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?" Then he will answer them, "Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me." (vv. 31-33, 41-45)
As members of a church youth group walked into their youth room, they noticed there was a big target on the wall and also several darts on a nearby table. Also, on the table were several markers and pieces of blank paper.
The youth minister instructed the youth to take a piece of paper and some markers to draw a picture of someone that they strongly disliked or someone who had recently made them angry.
Caleb drew a picture of his ex-girlfriend. She had dumped him two weeks before with the old standard, "Let's just be friends." Friends? Yeah, right! That was a Friday night. By Saturday, she had her hooks in another guy. His heart was ripped out. He wasn't about to be her friend.
Others drew their pictures, as well. Jenny drew a wonderful rendition of her geometry teacher. She felt the teacher had it in for her. Consequently, she was making a C in the class instead of her normal A.
Toby drew his little brother who was always a pain, but whom his parents seemed to favor. Gary drew his former boss at the bowling alley who had fired him for constantly arriving to work late. Trina drew a friend that failed to show up for the youth group meeting that night.
One by one, these youth and the rest of the group taped their drawings on the target and took turns throwing darts at their pictures. There was a lot of laughing and joking as everyone enjoyed getting their frustrations out. Some obviously were just going through the motions, but others were really intense as they threw each dart.
Caleb really enjoyed throwing darts at his ex-girlfriend. Not only did he find joy in the payback, but he also smugly "knew" that the evening's lesson was going to be a study on dealing with anger. He was a smart kid who could often pick up on the subtleties of object lessons.
But when everyone had completed the dart fest, the youth minister walked very seriously to the target and began taking down the pictures one by one. She moved with such intention, that all the laughing petered out and all eyes became riveted on her.
When all the pictures had been removed, she also pulled down the target. Silence of a new magnitude befell the room. Underneath all the pictures that had been mutilated by darts was a picture of Jesus. It hung on the wall showing all the abuse intended for others.
The youth minister then read Matthew 25:31-46 to the youth. No other discussion was held. It wasn't necessary. The youth began to spontaneously pray for the people they had drawn. They realized that each dart not only hit the intended target, but also hit Christ. What they had done to their enemies, they had done to Jesus. Each then sought to treat their enemies as if he or she was actually the Christ.
The scripture from Matthew that the youth minister read is today's scripture passage. It very simply says there are sheep and goats in this world. The sheep see Christ within people. They serve Christ by serving others. The goats ignore others and therefore ignore Christ.
The parable forces us to ask, "Am I a sheep or a goat? Do I serve Christ by serving others?"
You know, we've grown up with the Golden Rule which says, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." In other words: Treat others as you wish to be treated. But in today's scripture, Jesus seems to be saying, "Do unto others as if you were doing unto me."
Yikes! We aren't supposed to treat people like we want to be treated. We're supposed to treat them like they are Jesus.
As members of a church youth group walked into their youth room, they noticed there was a big target on the wall and also several darts on a nearby table. Also, on the table were several markers and pieces of blank paper.
The youth minister instructed the youth to take a piece of paper and some markers to draw a picture of someone that they strongly disliked or someone who had recently made them angry.
Caleb drew a picture of his ex-girlfriend. She had dumped him two weeks before with the old standard, "Let's just be friends." Friends? Yeah, right! That was a Friday night. By Saturday, she had her hooks in another guy. His heart was ripped out. He wasn't about to be her friend.
Others drew their pictures, as well. Jenny drew a wonderful rendition of her geometry teacher. She felt the teacher had it in for her. Consequently, she was making a C in the class instead of her normal A.
Toby drew his little brother who was always a pain, but whom his parents seemed to favor. Gary drew his former boss at the bowling alley who had fired him for constantly arriving to work late. Trina drew a friend that failed to show up for the youth group meeting that night.
One by one, these youth and the rest of the group taped their drawings on the target and took turns throwing darts at their pictures. There was a lot of laughing and joking as everyone enjoyed getting their frustrations out. Some obviously were just going through the motions, but others were really intense as they threw each dart.
Caleb really enjoyed throwing darts at his ex-girlfriend. Not only did he find joy in the payback, but he also smugly "knew" that the evening's lesson was going to be a study on dealing with anger. He was a smart kid who could often pick up on the subtleties of object lessons.
But when everyone had completed the dart fest, the youth minister walked very seriously to the target and began taking down the pictures one by one. She moved with such intention, that all the laughing petered out and all eyes became riveted on her.
When all the pictures had been removed, she also pulled down the target. Silence of a new magnitude befell the room. Underneath all the pictures that had been mutilated by darts was a picture of Jesus. It hung on the wall showing all the abuse intended for others.
The youth minister then read Matthew 25:31-46 to the youth. No other discussion was held. It wasn't necessary. The youth began to spontaneously pray for the people they had drawn. They realized that each dart not only hit the intended target, but also hit Christ. What they had done to their enemies, they had done to Jesus. Each then sought to treat their enemies as if he or she was actually the Christ.
The scripture from Matthew that the youth minister read is today's scripture passage. It very simply says there are sheep and goats in this world. The sheep see Christ within people. They serve Christ by serving others. The goats ignore others and therefore ignore Christ.
The parable forces us to ask, "Am I a sheep or a goat? Do I serve Christ by serving others?"
You know, we've grown up with the Golden Rule which says, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." In other words: Treat others as you wish to be treated. But in today's scripture, Jesus seems to be saying, "Do unto others as if you were doing unto me."
Yikes! We aren't supposed to treat people like we want to be treated. We're supposed to treat them like they are Jesus.
