Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to Jesus Christ.
In every Orthodox Church, throughout the entire
world, on this particular day, this Sunday, which
we call the Sunday of the Last Judgment, based
on the Gospel reading you just heard, from chapter
25 of St. Matthew. It's good for us to remember
that this teaching comes just before Christ's
arrest. The Lord deems it essential that he teaches
his disciples before his suffering about the
five foolish virgins and the five wise virgins,
about the judgment that is to come, about the
lost coin. and finding it about the prodigal
son and the older brother, about the publican
and the Pharisee. These are stories for us to
remember because those characters, publican and
Pharisee, prodigal son, older brother, on the
negative side of the ledger, those characters
lack something essential, and that's what this
gospel is about today. This is one of the last
things our Lord taught his disciples. So let
that gain for us a little bit of immediacy for
us. We heard that the Son of Man, the great shepherd
of our salvation, Jesus Christ, is coming in
glory and power revealed to all creation. This
is what's called in Greek the parousia. We say
the second coming as if... Christ is somehow
gone, but the life of the church, he's present
or else what are we doing here? Where two or
three are gathered together in his name, there
I am in the midst. But he will come in that way,
it says, in power and glory. And after being
resurrected, all mankind will be judged. By Christ
himself, the good shepherd. And he will carry
out this judgment, as we proclaim in the Creed,
when he shall come again with glory to judge
both the living and the dead. So this Sunday,
again, is called the Sunday of the Last Judgment.
We have one week before Lent starts. It's strange,
but we affirm, and we believe it, That this judgment
is going to be carried out by the Jewish carpenter
from Nazareth. And he will be the judge of everyone.
In every time, in every place, in every situation
they may have lived, and whatever circumstances
that they lived in. The church tells us that
those who will have been judged, listen to this,
this is from St. Basil, will not even think of
appealing the sentence. For in the divine light,
the whole truth, and that's what we seek so much,
the truth of Christ in our life, the whole truth
of their condition, the state of their hearts,
will be apparent. And judgment passed on them
will seem entirely just. St. Basil says, those
who will be condemned will be in complete agreement
that the judgment passed on them was altogether
just. We hear hymns about the judgment and the
hymns very well, I think, reflect our fear, our
dread, our hesitation, our doubt. Like, maybe
say, some of us say, this is too much, really.
Some may ask, why do we, why do we have to be
judged? Life is hard. There's tragedies, difficulties,
illnesses. Some of you have lived through terrible
circumstances in your life. Not of your own making.
Maybe there were abusive parents and poverty.
Maybe you're thinking, it's not fair for God
to judge us. Why does Christ judge us? Because
he is the son of man. Great is our Lord and great
is his strength and of his understanding there
is no measure. We heard that three times just
a moment ago. His understanding, there is no
measure. Let that sink in. As we ponder on this
awesome day, let us remember the first coming
of Jesus Christ. His coming in weakness as a
child. A complete human child, born in a cave,
needing help from his father and mother to survive
every single moment of every day. Having no place
as he grew older to lay his head, as he himself
said. And he was hungry. And he was thirsty.
He said, I thirst. He was betrayed. He was mocked.
He was imprisoned. He was oppressed. He was crucified
by the powers and authorities of this world.
God honors and God recognizes human weakness.
And he himself took part in that. He shares our
flesh and blood that way. He was also the least
of these, my brethren. So, so, how we act towards
others, Jesus takes that very personally. He
takes it very personally. There are over 100
references in the Old Testament alone about the
orphan and the widow and the poor, the homeless,
over just Old Testament. This is why we are judged.
This is why we are judged. And why? Those who
are downtrodden, they look for the resurrection
and the hope of judgment because that judgment
will be the setting right of all that is wrong
and broken in their life. And this judgment,
again, will be by the Lord who cares for the
orphan and the widow and the poor. Think about
it. Think about it. We are judged by such easy
things. You heard it in the gospel. It costs
nothing. A colleague of mine relates a story
about a man in his parish. Let's call him, I
don't know, Dimitri. Dimitri was out walking
downtown and there was a man living on the streets
who asked him for help. Do you have anything
you can share? And Dimitri thought about it and
he... He had some money in his pocket, but he
decided, for whatever reason, not to give anything
to this man. And he just said something like,
well, God bless you. You know, it's nice to have
nice feelings about people that are poor and
oppressed, but our feelings don't help them,
not in the least. It's what we do that counts,
right? This man on the street said thank you.
And Dimitri said, I'm sorry I couldn't help you.
The homeless man turned around and walked away.
You know what was on his t -shirt, on the back
of his t -shirt? A picture of Jesus. And Dimitri
slapped his head and thought, what an idiot am
I? I heard the gospel from Matthew 25. It's not
that difficult. However, The criterion, the judgment,
is not about being nice to others. That's kindergarten.
Kindergarten spirituality. We start there. We
must start there. Fine. But that's not what this
gospel and all the others in Matthew 25 are about.
It's not about doing nice things for others,
religious things, by the way, when it's convenient
for us. We're warned about that even. You could
be giving. all kinds of things to poor people.
But what does Jesus say? He says, not everyone
that says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into
the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will
of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say
to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name? And in thy name have we not cast
out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful
works? And then I will say to them, I never knew
you. Depart from me. You that work iniquity.
Does this confuse us? Well, those things that
they did, prophesy, casting out devils, wonderful
works in the name of Jesus, they seem like really
good things to do, but what's the problem? Do
you know what the problem is? St. Paul will tell
you. This is why we read scripture, to get perspective
and understanding. You all know the great hymn
of love. 1 Corinthians chapter 13. If I have
all faith so as to remove mountains but not have
love, I'm nothing. If I give away all I have
and if I deliver up my body to be burned, in
other words, martyrdom, but have not love, I
gain nothing. It's about loving. And seeing Christ
in the other person. The homeless man with the
t -shirt. To see Christ in that man. That's what
Father Alexander calls the impossible possibility.
This change that can happen. We serve and we
glorify the Lord. When we serve. the broken,
the hungry, the thirsty, the suffering, the imprisoned.
For Christ was all of those things. And when
we serve those people, we honor the Lord. Just
as when I kiss this icon, I honor my Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. You serve a person that
is in trouble. You honor your Lord. And this
is what the Lord is telling us. He takes it personally.
And the Lord even elevates this teaching one
more time up. Before he is arrested, he says,
a new commandment I give to you, that you love
one another as I have loved you. And how does
God love us? All of Lent, we're going to ponder
on that question and that answer. We've been
warned. As my father, Father Mark, used to say,
we've been warned what the final exam is going
to be. And we get the answers to. But we still
don't do it. Not all of us. Indeed, we can't
do it the way Christ says to do it, to see Christ
in the other person and to love that other person.
Because it's not as my... One of my mentors,
Father Philip McCaffrey, says, it's not in our
nature to do so. Let's not fool ourselves into
thinking, he says, that we are other than we
are. Sure, we're capable of occasional sacrifice
for others. So are non -Christians. So are most
criminals. As the saying goes, people are defined
not by what they do occasionally, but what they
do consistently. Even the goats, maybe that's
us, are capable of the occasional good deed.
The gospel is given to us now to prepare for
Lent, to remember that Lent is not merely about
personal prayer, about worship, about fasting,
but it's about the cleansing and transformation
of our hearts so that we can see Christ in others
and love them, not the warm. Fuzzy be my friend
feeling. But love like Jesus Christ has for us.
What we need and what Lent will supply to us
if we take it is a new transformed, renewed nature.
The new spirit. And that's exactly what Christ
gives us. His own spirit of real love for real
people. We call him in our prayers what? The
lover. of mankind. And so he is. But it's only
by his spirit in us that he can transform us
into sheep, enabling us, equipping us, inspiring
us to love our neighbor as he himself loves us.
This is the work of the Holy Spirit. And then,
on that day, that awesome day, when the Lord
appears in glory, Then those on the right, the
sheep and the parable, will meet Christ. And
they will see him in the light of his glory face
to face. Just as at Pascha we say the hymn, grant
that we may perfectly partake of thee in the
never -ending day of thy kingdom. And they will
shine with divine uncreated light and be united
with Jesus Christ. And as it says in the scriptures,
then the righteous will shine forth as the sun
in the kingdom of their father. This is why we
are judged. because we will finally become what
we are created to be. What God is by nature,
we will become by his grace. To our Lord, who
offers us this challenge, to be mindful of every
day, every encounter, to him be glory and honor,
now and ever, to ages of ages. Amen.