In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ.
Glory to God. There is a lot to be worried about
in the world these days. It's always been that
case. We just know things faster and more broadly
nowadays. There's no need for me to list the
things that are so troublesome. You know them.
And we each have our concerns. Our minds are
now fixed, or should be fixed, on what we just
heard about the Judgment Day. You know, there's
times when I know when I used to direct a choir.
The gospel would be read, and at the end of the
liturgy, honestly, I didn't remember what the
gospel was. I was so preoccupied. I don't think
that can be possible today. We're all going to
remember those words that we heard Jesus say
in the parable. We meditate today on a coming
event that many, many people either don't know
about, Or try very hard to forget. Even we kind
of get distracted. It's meat fair. Meat fair
Sunday. We don't call it judgment, last judgment
Sunday. We say meat fair. We'd rather focus on
that part. But we need to focus today, our attention,
and all week, all week, on what the Lord said.
Because the devil does everything he can to make
sure that people either don't think about the
coming judgment, or don't know about it, or have
a false idea about it. The church is a place
of judgment. The liturgy is a time of judgment.
Not the kind of judgment that you and I do to
people. We condemn them, we don't like this or
that. Or the kind of judgment that we sometimes
feel. Let's forget that kind of judgment today.
The church is a place of judgment. Why? Because
judgment is when God sets things right. He makes
things to be the way they're supposed to be.
This is why we sing at the liturgy. The Lord
looses the fettered. The Lord... Makes wise the
blind. The Lord sets aright the fallen. The Lord
loves the righteous. He sets the prisoners free.
He feeds the hungry. He raises the dead. He gives
hearing to the deaf. All that the Lord said he
was going to do in that fourth chapter of Luke
when he picked up the reading from Isaiah. And
he said, the Lord has anointed me to do those
things. That's judgment from God. Judgment from
God is setting everything right. The Lord shall
be king unto eternity. Our God has understanding
without measure. So don't think he doesn't know
exactly what's in our heart. Great is our Lord,
and great is his strength. And of his understanding,
there is no measure. Chapter 25 of the Gospel
of Matthew, which we just read from, that chapter
concludes with this parable. Jesus was teaching
to his disciples. He was teaching to those who
were close to him. He was speaking to the inner
circle. He wasn't looking for converts to warn
them about the coming judgment. He was teaching
to his disciples how to make things right. He
didn't write an essay. He didn't submit an op
-ed for the Jerusalem Post about social action.
He wasn't advocating a government policy. We'd
like the government to take care of these six
things that we heard Jesus said to do. But Jesus
didn't say to do that. He said for us to do them.
What he did was he gave answers to the final
exam of life ahead of time. He had only just
finished the parables of the ten virgins, the
wise five and the foolish five. And he had just
finished the parable of the talents. A man gives...
five talents to one, three to one, and one to
another, and goes away. And when he comes back,
in both stories, both stories, the master comes
back and expects the servants to be ready. That's
what Jesus is teaching about in this gospel.
The servants are to be watching. The servants
are to gain interest on the talents they were
given. He expects a return on investment. Some
visible sign that they're disciples. We're called
his disciples. We call ourselves his servants.
We come up to communion. We say, you hear, the
servant of God, so and so, partakes. That's because
we've been washed. We've been sanctified. We've
been justified. We are members of the church
called the body of Christ. which St. Peter says
is the pillar and the ground of the truth. He
is the vine. We are the branches. We sing we
have seen the true light. We have received the
heavenly kingdom. We're singing at the end of
liturgy we have found the true faith because
God has given us everything. Are we more loved
because we've been given everything? Are we more
loved than other people by God? No. Are we special?
No. The Pharisee in the temple thought he was.
The older brother in last week's parable thought
he was. We're not loved more. God has given all
this to us for a purpose, which is for us to
do something. To bring His love, which is what
justice and judgment is about, to the world.
You can't do it unless you have it. This parable
spells that out, what it looks like. Yes, we're
taught that he's going to come again with glory.
And all the angels and the hidden secrets of
our hearts are going to be made clear to us and
to everyone. And he will come with glory. And
we'll be raised from the dead. Either the resurrection
of life, as he says in chapter 5 of the Gospel
of John, or the resurrection of judgment. It's
our choice. We are taught that he will come again.
And those that have done good, says Christ, will
be on his right hand, the sheep. Those that have
done evil, on the left. We have this knowledge,
so we have hope, and we have understanding. We're
reading this parable to prepare ourselves for
Lent, which prepares ourselves for Pascha, which
prepares ourselves for our own death and our
own resurrection and entry into the kingdom.
I hear this gospel, and I don't feel good about
it. This is not a feel -good Sunday, where you
hear a message and you feel, edified and comforted
by the priest. What's it that Father Michael
used to say? The person given the sermon should
comfort the afflicted and afflict the comforted.
I'm the guy with the one talent. I need to fix
that. That's what I get from this story. I'm
the person that doesn't see Christ. in those
miserable people that are the least of these
my brethren. I'm the person that's lacking in
love for my neighbor. Heck, probably lacking
in love for my friends. Sure, I can bring my
old clothes, tattered, to my close St. Vincent
de Paul or Catholic charities. Actually, I have
my wife take them for me. I don't even do that.
I can bring canned foods to a food bank. Sure,
I can read the Bible. I can fast during Lent.
I can come to church every pre -sanctified. But
I need to fix those other things in my heart
that Jesus is expecting me to do. He's shown
me mercy. So I have to show mercy to others.
I have to show up. In person. It's interesting
that in this parable, do you recall what those
on the right hand and the left, the sheep said
to Jesus? They were perplexed. They said, how
is that? Lord, when did we see thee hungry, naked,
and imprisoned? When did we see thee? We don't
remember. We don't understand what you're talking
about. Those on the left hand said the same thing.
Basically saying, if we had known it was you,
of course we would have done that. And the Lord
will say to them on his right, what you have
done for the least, you have done for me. It
turns out that they fed clothed, visited, all
those six things and more, and loved, not because
they hoped to see or they saw Christ in a miserable
person. We don't see them. They weren't motivated
by fear of punishment of the judgment. Could
it be, as I pondered on this parable, That we
only become true sheep, true disciples of the
Lord, the merciful Lord. Those on the right hand
inheriting the kingdom of heaven. When tears
of repentance flow from our eyes. When we have
forgiven those that hate us and have hurt us.
When we fall down in sorrow for our sins. When
we fall down in joy because Christ's hand is
upon our head, forgiving and comforting us? When
the Lord sends his river of fire of love into
our heart, could it only be then that we're true
disciples? And then, lo and behold, what's amazing
is that we become the presence of Christ to others
because we have what we need from him. It's not
so complicated. This gospel is not so complicated.
What we need to do is not so complicated. It's
easy to see the least of these, our brethren,
isn't it? Right there, all the time. Father Alexander
Schmemann says in his little homily on this,
in his wonderful book, Great Lent, which I encourage
all of you to read and read again. Christian
love is the possible impossibility to see Christ
in another person, whoever he is, and whom God,
in his eternal and mysterious plan, has decided
to introduce into my life, be it only for a few
moments, not as an occasion for a good deed or
an exercise in philanthropy, but as the beginning.
of an eternal companionship in God himself. Remember,
brothers and sisters, the judgment is God setting
things right. He asks us to participate. If we're
going to live a normal Christian life, we're
going to start now. And then we're not afraid,
but we say, Lord Jesus, come quickly.