From Marjorie Watrobski, our guest pastor for this Sunday, New Year’s Day
Please Consider the Goats
The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats. It’s a parable we use all the time. “Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” This is a phrase we use quite frequently. This is the basis for many mission projects that get off the ground. This helps identify our work as Christians.
The parable of the sheep and the goats seems to be a good one for the start off a new year. The ending of one year and the beginning of another is a good time to evaluate things. What worked in the last year, what didn’t work? What do you want to change for the coming year? How do you want to improve yourself or the world around you. There’s always so much we can look at. This parable, about how we should treat people, seems like a good place to start. Do we want to be a sheep, helping people, or a goat, that just went about its own life?
Jesus liked the people he separated as sheep. They helped their neighbors in various situations: the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned, etc. We want to be like the sheep. The sheep will inherit the kingdom to come. This is what we strive for.
What about the goats, though? Silly creatures that, at a quick glance, don’t have a lot of redeeming value, outside of some milk and really good cheese.
This week we’ll take a look at the goats and see what story they may have to tell us because, as the song goes, “All God’s creatures got a place in the choir.”