Bible Parables S2E12 : Parable Of The Sheep And The Goats

The parable of the sheep and the goats and this is taken from Matthew chapter 25 verses 31 to 46.

When the Son of Man comes in His glory,

And all the holy angels with Him,

Then He will sit on the throne of His glory.

All the nations will be gathered before Him,

And He will separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.

And He will set the sheep on His right hand,

And the goats on the left.

Then the King will say to those on His right hand,

Come,

You blessed of My Father,

Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

For I was hungry,

And you gave Me food.

I was thirsty,

And you gave Me drink.

I was a stranger,

And you took Me in.

I was naked,

And you clothed Me.

I was sick,

And you visited Me.

I was in prison,

And you came to see Me.

Then the righteous will answer Him,

Saying,

Lord,

When did we see you hungry and feed you,

Or thirsty and give you drink?

When did we see you a stranger and take you in,

Or naked and clothe you?

Or when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?

And the King will answer and say to them,

Assuredly,

I say to you,

Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of My brethren,

You did it to Me.

Then He will also say to those on His left hand,

Depart from Me,

You cursed,

Into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

For I was hungry,

And you gave Me no food.

I was thirsty,

And you gave Me no drink.

I was a stranger,

And you did not take Me in,

Naked,

And you did not clothe Me,

Sick and in prison,

And you did not visit Me.

Then they also will answer Him,

Saying,

Lord,

When did we see you hungry or thirsty,

Or a stranger,

Or naked,

Or sick,

Or in prison,

And did not minister to you?

Then He will answer them,

Saying,

Assuredly,

I say to you,

Inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these,

You did not do it to Me.

And these will go away into everlasting punishment,

But the righteous into eternal life.

And that's the parable.

Traditionally,

This parable is often seen as a depiction of the final judgment.

But when we approach it from a spiritual,

From a metaphysical,

From a psychological lens,

It holds a lot of deep inner meaning.

It is not about a distant external judgment,

But it is a call to inner alignment.

It is a call to consciousness expansion.

It is about the daily choices that we make between higher awareness,

The sheep,

And the lower tendencies,

The goats.

So we will now go into the parable sentence by sentence,

Trying to see what meaning it has for us.

And so the parable starts.

When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the holy angels with Him,

Then He will sit on the throne of His glory.

And this represents an awakening of your higher self.

You are the Son of Man coming in all your glory.

When your divine consciousness,

When our divine consciousness,

Which is the Son of Man,

It is taking the rightful place as at the center of your life.

Another way to look at it is making Christ consciousness the center of your life.

Understanding that the higher self,

Our higher self is within us.

The call here is to acknowledge the higher self within you.

And the question that we can ask is,

When it comes to the choices we are making today,

Are we making choices from our divine awareness?

And the parable goes on.

All the nations will be gathered before Him and He will separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.

All the nations.

All the nations simply symbolize the different parts of our self.

Our thoughts,

Our desires,

Our emotions.

All this is what is meant by all the nations.

And this sentence,

It invites us to discern between what serves your highest good,

Which is the sheep,

And what leads you away from the truth,

Which are the goats.

Another way to think of it is that sheep are very timid creatures.

So they represent the good part,

The good aspects of what you need to be doing in your life.

Whereas the goats,

The goats are kind of always agitated,

Always in fear.

So that represents things that don't serve us,

Like the fears that we have,

Like the anxiety that we hold,

Like the comparisons that we make.

So discerning between what serves your highest good and what leads us away from our truth.

So the call here is to be aware of our inner dialogue.

Are the thoughts that we have nurturing or are they separating us from our peace?

Are our thoughts rooted in love or are they rooted in fear?

And you can take a moment at any point in the day,

Or you can take a moment at midday today and ask yourself,

What thoughts or what actions have been sheep,

As in have been kind actions,

Loving actions,

Compassionate actions?

And what thoughts or actions that you have taken today have been goats,

Have been fearful,

Have been judgmental?

And then realign your thoughts.

And he will set the sheep on his right hand,

But the goats on the left.

The right hand,

It represents conscious alignment with divine will.

Your sheep-like qualities,

Kindness,

Compassion,

Service,

These naturally position you closer to your spiritual center.

Whereas the left hand,

It symbolizes unconscious living,

Being out of alignment with your authentic self.

Try to notice which thoughts pull you closer to peace and which thoughts create disconnection.

A good practice is every morning to affirm your conscious alignment.

And you can also visualize moving all your sheep thoughts to your right hand,

Bringing them closer to your heart and releasing the goat thoughts with love,

Knowing that your goat thoughts no longer serve you.

Then the king will say to those on his right hand,

Come you blessed of my father,

Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

And this is the moment when you realize that living from love,

Living from service,

Living from higher consciousness,

When you live from love,

When you live from service,

When you live from higher consciousness,

You are already in the kingdom of heaven.

The kingdom of heaven is not some far off place.

It's not some distant place.

The kingdom of heaven is a state of peace,

A state of love,

A state of joy that has always been available,

That is always available.

So claim your right.

It is your right to live in peace and abundance today.

Stop waiting for that distant reward.

Step into your kingdom now.

It's already there.

It's already around you.

For I was hungry and you gave me food.

I was thirsty and you gave me drink.

Food and drink.

These are the needs of life itself.

So responding to the needs of life itself,

Whether those needs appear in another person or whether these needs appear in a neglected part of yourself,

Because when we tend to others with compassion,

We are nourishing the divine in all beings.

So which or try to notice which part of yourself is hungry,

Is thirsty,

Is lonely,

Which part of yourself needs care.

Act in small ways of kindness and support,

Not only for your others,

But also for yourself.

Then the righteous will answer him saying,

Lord,

When did we see you hungry and feed you?

This is the humility of true service.

When we are not acting from a desire for recognition,

But because love naturally flows from us.

Humility.

In our daily lives,

We can be present to opportunities to serve without seeking acknowledgement.

And we can move towards cultivating a humble heart.

Because love and kindness,

These are a reward in itself.

And the king will answer,

In as much as you did it to one of the least of these,

My brethren,

You did it to me.

And the sentence simply says that every act of love,

No matter how small,

Is a very sacred act of devotion to the divine.

Also the least of these,

These can also represent the most vulnerable or the most neglected parts of our own psyche that need love and attention.

So it's a call to see the divine,

See the divine in ourselves,

See the divine in everyone,

See the divine in everything.

And offer compassion to those parts of ourselves that feel unworthy or unloved.

Then he will also say to those on his left hand,

Depart from me you cursed into the everlasting fire.

Depart from me.

This is,

Or this can symbolize a self-imposed separation.

When we live from fear,

When we live from selfishness,

When we live in judgment,

We create our own suffering.

We create that fire of inner disconnection.

We create that fire of turmoil.

Recognize when you feel separate from love,

Separate from peace,

Separate from source.

Because when we recognize this separation,

We know that we are out of alignment.

And it is a call for us to return to alignment.

Understand that punishment is not divine wrath.

It's simply the natural result of disconnection from your truth.

For I was hungry and you gave me no food.

And this highlights neglect.

Neglect,

Of course in a way neglect for others,

But more importantly neglect of our own spiritual needs.

Neglect of our intuition,

Neglect of our deeper calling.

So we need to be more aware,

We need to be more present.

We need to respond to life rather than ignore it.

It's like I felt tired so I did not exercise.

I felt lazy so I procrastinated.

I felt lonely but I refused to reach out.

I felt sad but I refused to extend love.

Neglect,

Not only of others but of our own spiritual needs.

And these will go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous into eternal life.

Everlasting punishment.

Everlasting punishment,

A very big and possibly misinterpreted word in the Bible.

But everlasting punishment,

It's simply that self-perpetuating suffering that we create for ourselves when we live disconnected from love,

When we are disconnected from purpose.

Everlasting punishment,

When we beat ourselves up daily for not having done what we needed to do in the day.

Everlasting punishment,

When we live in regret about something that we did or did not do in the past.

Everlasting punishment where we continue to play victim in our own lives and refuse to take responsibility and move on.

So everlasting punishment is self-perpetuating.

It's self-perpetuating suffering of living in disconnection,

Of living in regret,

Of living in guilt.

And eternal life.

Eternal life is not the afterlife.

Eternal life is the state of consciousness you enter into now.

Eternal life is when we stop ruminating over the past,

Over an imaginary past and we stop worrying,

Being anxious about an imaginary future and we are able to stay in the present.

That's eternal life.

The eternal moment is now.

Are we living in that eternal life,

In that eternal moment today or are we stuck in that self-perpetuating loop of everlasting punishment?

And this choice is ours.

We can choose to live in the now,

We can choose to live in eternal life,

We can choose to be aligned,

To be peaceful,

To be in harmony with our divine self.

And this shift,

It happens the moment we choose higher thoughts,

The moment we choose higher actions,

The moment we choose higher love.

So this pathable,

It's not about some distant event in time but it's about these constant daily choices that you need to make.

Choices between love and fear.

Choices between peace or anxiousness.

Choices between living life in alignment with your higher self or living life as your lower self.

And this parable,

It invites us to live in awareness,

To see the divinity in all,

To serve with humility and to choose eternal life now through love and compassion.

And we will now go into a guided reflective meditation based on the same parable.

This meditation,

It's about awakening the inner shepherd and discerning and aligning with that concept of eternal life.

Make yourself comfortable whether you're sitting,

Whether you're sleeping,

Simply make sure that you're comfortable.

If it's safe to do so,

You can close your eyes.

If you are not comfortable closing your eyes,

You can simply lower your gaze toward the floor.

And take a deep breath in.

And slowly exhale.

Feel your body relax.

Take another deep breath in.

And exhale.

Let your shoulders soften.

Take another deep breath in.

And exhale.

And move into this sacred,

Into the sacred stillness of this moment.

And imagine yourself standing at the entrance of a great and radiant kingdom.

This is not a kingdom of the world.

This is the kingdom of your higher self.

This is your divine consciousness.

Its gates are wide open.

Welcoming you to step inside.

As you walk through the gates,

Feel the warmth of divine light bathing you in peace and love.

You are safe here.

You are whole here.

You are home.

Take a deep breath in.

And as you exhale,

Release any tension,

Any doubt,

Any fear.

You are entering a space of pure awareness where your higher self sits in quiet sovereignty.

Before you appears a great throne.

And seated upon it is the king.

Your Christ consciousness.

Your divine I am presence.

The king is the shepherd of your soul,

Lovingly observing the flock of thoughts,

Beliefs and emotions that live within you.

Some are gentle sheep,

Nurturing,

Loving,

Aligned with your true self.

Some are restless goats,

Fearful,

Resistant,

Still caught in separation and judgment.

Take a moment to see them clearly.

The sheep are calm,

Peaceful and radiant.

The goats are restless,

Scattered,

Unsure.

Both the sheep and the goats have lived within you.

Both are aspects of your human experience.

But now,

You are ready to choose.

The king speaks softly.

Now is the time to discern.

Which thoughts serve your highest good?

Which beliefs align with love?

Which actions reflect your unity with all life?

Begin to gently separate the sheep from the goats within yourself.

The sheep are your kindness,

Your faith,

Your compassion,

Your trust in divine guidance.

The goats are your fears,

Your doubts,

Your judgments,

Your resentments.

There is no harshness here.

There is only loving awareness.

You watch as the sheep gather to your right hand,

Representing all that is aligned with truth,

Love and spiritual law.

The goats gather to your left,

Ready to be released,

Transmuted or transformed.

Take a deep breath in.

And as you exhale,

Feel the lightness growing in you as you make these choices.

The king turns towards you and says,

Come you blessed of my father,

Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Feel this invitation in your heart.

The kingdom is not far away.

It is here and now within you.

It is peace.

It is joy.

It is wholeness.

You have always belonged to it.

And now you accept your place.

Allow the sheep,

The thoughts of love,

Kindness and unity to multiply within you,

To fill you with peace and certainty.

Breathe deeply,

Receiving your inheritance of divine consciousness.

And whisper softly,

I accept the kingdom within.

I live in alignment with divine love here and now.

The king turns to the goats and says,

Depart from me.

But this is not rejection.

It is an invitation to release what no longer serves.

You are not casting these thoughts into punishment.

You are releasing fear,

Releasing separation,

Releasing false beliefs into the healing light of divine mind.

See them dissolve,

Like smoke rising into the clear sky,

Leaving only clarity and peace behind.

With each exhale,

Release anything within you that feels heavy,

Resistant or unworthy.

Let it go.

Let it go,

Knowing it returns to source to be healed and transformed.

Affirm slowly.

I release all separation,

Fear and doubt.

I am whole.

I am free.

I am one with divine life.

Now standing in the radiant kingdom of your true self,

You realize that eternal life is a state of consciousness.

It is not a distant promise.

You live in eternal life now.

As you choose thoughts aligned with love,

Peace and unity.

You are the shepherd.

You are the sovereign.

You are the beloved child of the infinite.

Breathe deeply and say,

I live in eternal life now.

Divine love guides my thoughts,

My feelings and my actions.

I am at peace.

Take another deep breath in and exhale.

Take another deep breath in and exhale.

Feel your body here.

Grounded in the present moment.

Know that you carry the kingdom within you and you can return to this awareness anytime you choose.

And when you are ready,

Gently move your fingers,

Move your toes.

You can open your eyes and carry this peace into the rest of the day.

So,

What action can we take based on this parable?

And this parable is essentially telling us or inviting us to become the shepherd of our inner world.

To discern,

To align,

To embody.

So,

Practice daily inner discernment.

Start your day as the shepherd of your consciousness.

Which thoughts today are sheep?

Which are goats?

And consciously choose to focus on thoughts and beliefs that reflect your highest self.

Secondly,

Feed your sheep.

Every time you catch yourself slipping into negativity or fear,

Every time you catch yourself slipping towards the goats,

Gently shift.

Shift back to the sheep.

Feed your sheep by affirming truth.

Feed your sheep by kindness.

Feed your sheep by having unity in your thoughts and your actions.

Feed your sheep by engaging in small acts of service.

A kind word,

A helping hand,

A moment spent deeply listening to someone.

These actions help to reinforce your alignment with love and compassion.

So,

Feed the sheep.

Release what no longer serves you.

Let the goats go.

A good practice is at the end of the day,

Spend some time in deflection.

And it doesn't have to be a lot of time.

Even a few minutes will do.

You can ask yourself questions like,

What thoughts,

What fears,

What judgments did I carry today that no longer serve my highest good?

And then practice releasing them.

Whether it's through journaling,

Whether it's through meditation,

Whether it's simply through doing breath work.

Practice releasing them.

And what we are doing is we are releasing them.

We are not rejecting them.

We are releasing them.

Step into the kingdom of eternal life.

Eternal life is not a distant,

Far away place.

Eternal life is the now moment.

Eternal life is the present moment.

Stop living in the past.

Stop living as a victim of your past.

Stop spending time thinking about an imaginary future.

Try to be present in the now because this present moment is eternal life.

So embrace the truth that eternal life is a state of consciousness.

It is not a distant reward.

And live your life with that higher awareness knowing that this kingdom of heaven is within you.

And you have access to it at any time.

The moment you start living your life in alignment with your highest self,

You gain access to the kingdom of heaven which is within you.

And every loving thought,

Every aligned action,

Very important,

Every aligned action,

It affirms your place in the kingdom.

Thank you everyone for being here.

Love,

Light,

Blessings.

Namaste.