At the Final Judgment, What Will the Lord Care About?

Title: At the Final Judgment, What Will the Lord Care About?
Scripture: Matthew 25:31-46
Speaker: Dr. Rose Wu (胡露茜博士)

At the Final Judgment, What Does Jesus Christ Care About Most?

Matthew 25 is entirely about the coming end-time; a key point is that the judge will separate people into good and bad. There are three parables in this chapter, each placing people into two groups: the “wise,” the “good and reliable,” and “those blessed by the Father” on one side — and the “foolish,” “bad and lazy,” and “those cursed” on the other. In today’s passage, sheep represent good, goats represent bad.

But in the Old Testament, both sheep and goats are clean animals — both can be offered as sacrifice (Numbers 7), and both symbolise valuable wealth (Genesis 30:32). Ezekiel describes the day of judgment: the Lord judges “between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats.” (Ezek 34:17) So in the Old Testament reading, neither sheep nor goats are purely good or purely bad. There is good and bad mixed in both.

From the Perspective of Queer Theology — How Should We Read This?

I. Jesus Cares About Our Love and Concern for the Weak.

Matthew 25:31-46 makes clear: God’s deepest concern is whether we have loved and cared for the weak — the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, the prisoner.

II. Goats and Sheep in Every Person

In every one of us there are “sheep” parts (that love and care for the weak) and “goat” parts (that ignore them). The judgment is not about excluding “goats” from “sheep” between people — but among people, where each of us must become aware of and transform our “goat” parts into “sheep” parts.

III. A Story

The other night, a friend and I were walking when we noticed an injured pigeon on the pavement. We called the AFCD (they took some details on the phone and hung up, saying it would be processed administratively). We picked up wooden sticks from nearby to make a barrier so passersby wouldn’t step on the bird. We posted on each other’s Facebook asking for help. Eventually we found the SPCA — they came and examined the pigeon’s injuries.

We don’t know how the pigeon’s story ended. But that night, those two women who kept watch over the bird — a life that in many people’s daily reality would be insignificant — witnessed what loving the neighbour really means.