Parable of the sheep and the goats

Janet jarret

One of the plus points of this enforced lockdown is having more time.  Distressing as it is for so many, it has given us the chance to slow down and take stock of our of lives.  Reading - I have always loved reading, but so often other things come in the way.  Now I can enjoy the first hour of the day having a quiet time of thought followed by reading what I hope to be enlightening literature.  I have just finished (being Easter Sunday) the suggested Lent reading LIVE LIFE – CARE FOR GOD’S CREATION which I have found extraordinary in the prophetic content.  No sooner had I read in the newspaper about nightingales going into decline, due to their wing spans being affected by global warming, than the next day the passage related to the nightingale.  The reading for Wednesday Week 3 came from Joel 1:2-4 about swarming locusts – just when we read about swarming locusts in parts of Africa, the Gulf States and Iran.  Another time Let There be Darkness encouraged us to save electricity –  followed by the national suggestion we turn off lights from 8.30 to 9.30pm.  The penultimate theme was Suffering and Lament in which we ‘recall with grief Jesus’ death and his burial in a stranger’s tomb, we also lament all the suffering in our world.’  What could be more appropriate than this message in today’s world? 

The book I have just finished is THE JESUS I NEVER KNEW by Philip Yancey.  It is just so readable and you really do end up feeling you know Jesus more intimately.  Another of Yancey’s books is WHAT IS SO AMAZING ABOUT GRACE? and, likewise, I was engrossed from beginning to end. 

In the JESUS book Philip Yancey talks about the parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25) which isn’t so much of a parable as a statement of fact.  At the end of time God will divide the good from the bad, the good being the sheep and the bad the goats.  (I am deeply unhappy about the latter as I do love goats and when in Greece nothing would induce me to eat a roast goat offering.)  The good are defined by the deeds of charity and love shown to the suffering, the hungry, the thirsty, the poor, the ill.  At this particular time of the Corona virus so much has been done for so many, by the NHS staff, the volunteer force, the many workers continuing their jobs to keep the wheels turning - also the multiple neighbourly good deeds.  Apart from the satisfaction felt by both the giver and the receiver, there is an enormous bonus:  “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”  What greater statement is that as we go about our daily lives? 

Returning to my book theme, let me add another recommendation.  It is called THE BOOK OF JOY which records conversations between Bishop Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama.  I first heard about this when it was the choice of the guest on Desert Island Discs.  I can’t remember who the castaway was, but his enthusiasm was such that I immediately bought a copy and this also would be my book choice were I to be cast away. 

-Janet Jarret