Image by DreamDigitalArtist at Pixabay
The Dogs and the Cats is based on Matthew 25: 31-46.
The Sheep and the Goats
One sign a parable might need retelling is that its original allusions are now flying right over everyone’s head. It’s not that we don’t understand the basics of the parable. But why sheep? Why goats?
To people in the modern West, there’s nothing obviously good about sheep. There’s also nothing bad about goats. If anything, people use ‘sheep’ or ‘sheeple’ as an insult and admire the goat for its independent nature.
Symbolism
In the Bible, the House of Israel is often linked with ‘sheep’. But being scattered ‘like sheep without a shepherd‘ was not a compliment. Domesticated sheep without a shepherd are in trouble. In Matthew 9:36, Matthew describes Jesus as feeling sorry for the crowds because they are ‘like sheep without a shepherd’.
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