Sheep and Goats

No, I'm not talking about my plans for a farm.... HA!

I was thinking about the gospel last night at Mass, the separation of the sheep from the goats in Matthew 25. 2 thoughts crossed my mind.
First, does this strike anyone else as painfully long? I have always wondered why Jesus didn't just "sum-up" the point. To the sheep, "When you saw me hungry you gave me food, when you saw me naked you clothed me" etc. To the goats, "You failed to do those things." That would have made for much easier listening. However, when I pointed this out to my husband he was quick to remind me that Jesus did not speak for the sake of listening to His own voice, but rather to drive a point home. We need the repetition to really get it sometimes. Ok, he's right, but I still think it's a long gospel.

Secondly was the actual content of the reading. In this translation, Jesus called the sheep JUST. Now the definition of Justice is giving someone what is due to them. Jesus was using the example of being JUST as being "blessed by my Father." I thought that was interesting - we don't know anything else about His sheep, who are contemplative nuns, who are missionaries, who are parents, priests, theologians; who donated their time and talent to the Church, who ran a soup kitchen, who taught others about Christ. Only that the ones He called sheep give others that which is endowed by our Creator.
So I left thinking "how am I doing?" which is a good result of the gospel.