Last Sunday, we read the parable of the ten bridesmaids, imagining the scene of waiting as a time to build a community by taking time together to get to know each other and encourage each other so that the time can be bearable to all who are there in the times of waiting and uncertainty.

Today, we read another parable, the sheep and the goats. It is one of the judgment parables in the chapters before Jesus’ trial and execution. Jesus is telling people what it means to be following God and working with God to fulfill God’s kingdom.

Jesus uses the images of sheep and goats. They both are familiar for them because they are farming communities. In another text today from Ezekiel, there are also good and bad animals, greedy sheep and skinny sheep. God would judge those who took more than their share and scattered the sick sheep away because God would take the lost sheep as God’s flock as well.