Mt 25:36-40 - - What if you are both sheep & goat?

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As with so much in Scripture things are drawn pretty much black and white…which is as it should be I will admit…BUT…

The above referenced passage (last Sunday’s Gospel) has me thinking…What about all the variations between the two extremes.
We are all mixtures…we give here, we deny there…we have give to this or that charity…we pass by that beggar on the street. We comfort one person but think of another that, “he brought it on himself”…In short, many times we are a mixture of good and bad.

Unfortunately - Mt 25 does not make provision for those who are both sheep and goat…

Thoughts?

Peace
James
 
In the end, you will either be considered a sheep or a goat, and your eternity will depend on which of the two Jesus Christ considers you. God bless you.
 
If you area goat go to confession and be a sheep by making restitution and resolve to change. Goats walk over the lowly and never think twice.
 
Hopefully your timing is just right so that when you die, you are a sheep and not a goat because you couldn’t receive the Sacraments before your death.

I also go back and forth, though I am much more goat than sheep in terms of time spent as each. I may only be a sheep a very short time before I become a goat once more. It is very troubling.
 
JRKH said:
As with so much in Scripture things are drawn pretty much black and white…which is as it should be I will admit…BUT…

The above referenced passage (last Sunday’s Gospel) has me thinking…What about all the variations between the two extremes.
We are all mixtures…we give here, we deny there…we have give to this or that charity…we pass by that beggar on the street. We comfort one person but think of another that, “he brought it on himself”…In short, many times we are a mixture of good and bad.

Unfortunately - Mt 25 does not make provision for those who are both sheep and goat…

Thoughts?

Peace
James
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James, I appreciate this post more than you know.

Society wants to paint everything in binary - true and false, good and bad, conservative and liberal, Christian and atheist - and they want to pit one against the other.

The goal is to move, with God’s help, away from the goats and toward the sheep. We move from the image of God to the likeness of God and there will be ups and downs along the way. God will test us. Sometimes we fail. Thanks be to God for the sacraments.

It’s not about timing it correctly as another has put it. Salvation isn’t the stock market. It is about trajectory, which way we are headed and the desire and disposition of our heart.

-Tim-
 
There is no both. You’re either in a state of grace or you aren’t. If you’re in a state of grace, but with venial sin or undue attachments, you’re a sheep. A dirty sheep that needs some washing but a sheep nonetheless. If you’re not in the state of grace, then you’re a goat.

There is no in between. You’re one or the other.
 
you don’t have to be perfect to be a sheep, you are made perfect in the blood of the lamb. keep the faith and keep on keeping’ on! ‘anyone who gives a cool glass of water to one of these little ones, will surely not lose his reward’.
 
I believe a true goat is intransigently stubborn. I suppose that’s redundant, though. 😛 They are pretty clear cut. They refuse to obey, and that’s that.

The hybrids shall go to purgatory.

That’s my theology in a nutshell on this topic. I would not aim for purgatory, though. I just read tonight regarding a Padre Pio story that some poor Cappuchin Friar, a student, was in purgatory for 60 years before Padre Pio intervened for him. And the offenses that were mentioned did not **seem **so extreme. That is just a story, though. You can take it with a grain of salt.
 
ready said:
In the end, you will either be considered a sheep or a goat, and your eternity will depend on which of the two Jesus Christ considers you. God bless you.
Click to expand...
THAT’S not very comforting…
guiltyofdoubt said:
Hopefully your timing is just right so that when you die, you are a sheep and not a goat because you couldn’t receive the Sacraments before your death.

I also go back and forth, though I am much more goat than sheep in terms of time spent as each. I may only be a sheep a very short time before I become a goat once more. It is very troubling.
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I don’t think it is really that harsh a matter.
TimothyH said:
James, I appreciate this post more than you know.

Society wants to paint everything in binary - true and false, good and bad, conservative and liberal, Christian and atheist - and they want to pit one against the other.

The goal is to move, with God’s help, away from the goats and toward the sheep. We move from the image of God to the likeness of God and there will be ups and downs along the way. God will test us. Sometimes we fail. Thanks be to God for the sacraments.

It’s not about timing it correctly as another has put it. Salvation isn’t the stock market. It is about trajectory, which way we are headed and the desire and disposition of our heart.

-Tim-
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Great post as usual Tim.
I think that the parables are often very much like that too. It’s easier to paint the lesson that way. But yes - it is very much where we put our heart and what direction we are moving (spiritually) that matters.
MarcoPolo said:
If you are a goat go to confession and be a sheep by making restitution and resolve to change. Goats walk over the lowly and never think twice.
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I like the “goats walk over the lowly and never think twice”, comment. Very nice.
porthos11 said:
There is no both. You’re either in a state of grace or you aren’t. If you’re in a state of grace, but with venial sin or undue attachments, you’re a sheep. A dirty sheep that needs some washing but a sheep nonetheless. If you’re not in the state of grace, then you’re a goat.

There is no in between. You’re one or the other.
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Easier said than done…Like most things spiritual…🤷
JamalChristophr said:
I believe a true goat is intransigently stubborn. I suppose that’s redundant, though. 😛 They are pretty clear cut. They refuse to obey, and that’s that.

The hybrids shall go to purgatory.

That’s my theology in a nutshell on this topic. …
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I like simple theology too…

I thank everyone for the feedback.

Peace
James
 
Good thread.
I had wondered the same during the reading and like everyone, I feel like I spend some time as both.
ready said:
In the end, you will either be considered a sheep or a goat, and your eternity will depend on which of the two Jesus Christ considers you. God bless you.
Click to expand...
During the homily, this is exactly what I arrived at.
 
JRKH said:
As with so much in Scripture things are drawn pretty much black and white…which is as it should be I will admit…BUT…

The above referenced passage (last Sunday’s Gospel) has me thinking…What about all the variations between the two extremes.
We are all mixtures…we give here, we deny there…we have give to this or that charity…we pass by that beggar on the street. We comfort one person but think of another that, “he brought it on himself”…In short, many times we are a mixture of good and bad.

Unfortunately - Mt 25 does not make provision for those who are both sheep and goat…

Thoughts?

Peace
James
Click to expand...
You realize that sometimes you are a goat (as we all sometimes are), and you don’t like it. That is important. Conversion every day of our lives. It is the change in attitude of he “brought it upon himself” (which I struggled with earlier today), to “there but for the grace of God go I”, that I think is key.
 
Holiness gets us to heaven, not confession. For the human person holiness is a decrease in sin and an increase in virtue. It’s something I learned from the monks - holiness takes a lifetime.

None of us will ever be perfect. The only perfect sheep was Jesus Christ, the paschal lamb. Martyrs come close.

-Tim-
 
A look at a popular protestant interpretation of this might be helpful. Just keep in mind, it is not completely square with catholic teaching, just something to think about…

Evangelicals, who would say we are saved once for all time by an act of will in believing in Jesus, see this as an example of how outward actions reveal the condition of our hearts. They would say, the sheep are sheep because they put their trust in Jesus Christ and the goats are those who rejected Christ and his forgiveness. Therefore, the actions reflect the fruits of being either a follower of Christ doing the best you can (loving God and others) or a follower of darkness seeking only your own pleasure and gain (ignoring God and others).

Whether by mortal sin or rejecting the gospel outright, I don’t see how anyone can be a goat and not know it. When one knows the love and mercy of God, he simply cannot go around kicking sand in people’s faces any more. He wants to share God’s love with others. We must all make a decision in this life.

Just something to ponder.

God bless you.
 
Both the sheep and goats questioned Jesus.

Both question in a similar fashion, although the sheep are blessed and the goats damned.

Why would the ‘sheep’ question Jesus after being separated and told “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” ??

In my opinion:

The goats seemed that they were looking for a salvation earned.

The sheep out of devotion and obedience to Christ.

I can’t say if I am one or the other. It seems to me the sheep did not judge or self-judge.
 
I believe both the sheep AND the goats are believers. The difference? You can see that in the goats response. When did we see You (specifically Jesus, for if they saw Him they would help in a second), the sheep don’t care who is in need, they just help.
 
57Bill said:
Both the sheep and goats questioned Jesus.

Both question in a similar fashion, although the sheep are blessed and the goats damned.

Why would the ‘sheep’ question Jesus after being separated and told “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” ??

In my opinion:

The goats seemed that they were looking for a salvation earned.

The sheep out of devotion and obedience to Christ.

I can’t say if I am one or the other. It seems to me the sheep did not judge or self-judge.
Click to expand...
Funny how things work. I always read this as the goats are OSAS ilk, and did nothing thinking their salvation was assured. The sheep did works, not that they thought their works would save them, but just knowing that there was work to be done.🙂
 
I learned one interesting fact about goats this summer from someone- not being a farm kind myself.

Goats eat weeds.

Sheep on the other hand, feast on green grass.
 
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