Sheep or Goat - Your Choice

The Judgment

“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left.

“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You as a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me.’

“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you accursed people, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or as a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for Me, either.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

-Matthew 25: 31-46

The United States is a country built upon the immigrant. The four years of the Biden administration has seen an influx of tens of millions of new immigrants from all over the world. Rolling the calendar over to 2025, we expect there to be a concentrated effort by President Trump to deport as many of these people as he can.

Every country has a duty to protect its citizens. Regardless of your political leanings, we all should be able agree that letting millions of unvetted people roam free in our country is not necessarily safe. Just from a health standpoint alone we have no idea of the diseases that our population has now been exposed to. There are diseases that we no longer inoculate for because we believe them to be irradicated that would wreak havoc upon our population if they were exposed. The call for mass deportation is not made out of fear or hatred for the immigrant. The safety of our citizens must be given priority.

But as Christians, that is not our top priority. In fact, unless we work for one of the many agencies whose job it will be to handle this situation, the legal status of a person in this country should not even be a concern for us. We do not reserve our love and care for those with legal status only. Jesus is very clear when he tells us that the place we will spend eternity is dependent to how we respond to those in need. He does not preface his parable by talking about the legality of a person in need. That is because sacrificial love knows no bounds. We are commanded to care for everyone in need regardless of who they are, where they are from, or why they are here, including those who wish to do us harm.

Yes, we are called to care for our enemies because even they have been made in the image and likeness of God and have been bestowed with the same dignity inherent in every person. That does not mean that we allow them to roam free and do as they wish. But it also means that we do not torture or abuse them either.

The coming years are going to put our faith to the test. The government is going to count on you to assist them in gathering up all those who came here in the last four years. I can’t help but to have the images of cattle cars full of Jews who were rounded up in WWII stuck in my head. No, we do not have an evil government and we won’t be sending these people off to their deaths, but back to their countries of origin. That is a distinction we have to draw. At the same time, it will indeed bring the deaths of some we do send back. That is a fact we have to acknowledge and accept.

During the covid pandemic some government agencies set up hotlines you could call and report your family or neighbors who had a gathering of people in their homes or other places. We can expect the same type of hotlines setup to report where those who are here illegally are hiding. We will be encouraged to do our part for the safety of our country. We, by all means, should be reporting any known activity that puts another in danger, like Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gangs that are terrorizing so many neighborhoods in our country. As people of God we should never call these numbers to report the immigrant family who wants nothing more than to have a better life for themselves and contribute to society.

The Holy Family were once refugees themselves, fleeing from their home country to another because the king of that country wanted to kill an innocent baby over fears that he would one day rise up and take his power. When we give aid to refugee families who are here for much the same reason we give aid to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. As Jesus said in the parable, “What you have done for the least of these you have done for me.”

Do not find yourself on the wrong side of this coin when you go to stand before Jesus to render an account for your life. A false sense of patriotic duty does not come before a command of God. We have been commanded to love and care for those in need around us. Failure to do so will have you grouped with the goats who will depart to the place created for the devil and his demons.