Sunday of the Last Judgment

(Matt. 25:31-46)

We are continuing in our journey toward the start of the Great Fast… Over the past two weeks the Church has been putting before us lessons which call us to a proper understanding of how we can make the most out of our Lenten efforts. We heard of the Publican and Pharisee, which showed us the difference between a heartless and prideful fulfilling of the Law vs. a heartbroken and humble falling-down before the mercy of God. Last week we heard the parable of the Prodigal Son which not only gave us an illustration of repentance, but also showed us the self-alienation of the dutiful son, who would not go into the feast because of his wounded pride. One of the most remarkable things about that parable was that it was not so much about the deeds and misdeeds of the sons, as it was about the character of the father and the nature of his steadfast love.

Turning now toward this Sunday of the Last Judgment, I would like to share some reflections from Metropolitan Anthony of Sorouzh. He writes:

Today, on our preparation journey towards Lent, we have come to an ultimate stage: we are confronted with judgement. If we pay attention to it, next week our spiritual destiny will be in our own hands, because next week is the day of Forgiveness.

The link between these two days is obvious. If we only could become aware that all and each of us stand before the judgement of God and the judgement of men, if we could remember and realize with depth, wholeheartedly, in earnest that we are, all of us, indebted to each other, all responsible to each other for some of the pain and the heaviness of life, then we would find it easy, when we are asked to forgive, not only to forgive, but, in response to this request, to ask for forgiveness ourselves.

It is not only by what we do, not only in a way by what we leave undone, it is by this extraordinary lack of awareness, of our responsibility, of all we could be to others, and to do to others, that we do not fulfil our human calling. We could, and we should, on all levels and for all men, and beyond men for the whole world which is ours, be a blessing and a revelation of things great, of things divine.

If we only could remember this, and this is why the judgement is not only a moment when we are confronted with a danger of condemnation; there is in the very notion of judgement something great and inspiring. We are not going to be judged according to human standards of behavior of decency. We are going to be judged according to standards which are beyond ordinary human life. We are going to be judged on the scale of God, and the scale of God is love: not love felt, not an emotional love, but love lived and accomplished. The fact that we are going to be judged, that indeed we are being judged all the time, above our means, beyond all our smallness must and should reveal to us our potential greatness. And the parable which we have read today can be seen in those very terms: men are judged by Christ, in His parable, on humanity (the humanity to which we are called). Have these men coming before the judgment seat of Christ been human or not? Have they known how to love in their hearts first, but also in action, in their very deeds because, as Saint John puts it, one who says that he loves God and does not love his neighbor actively, creatively is a liar. There is no love of God if it is not expressed in every detail of our relationship with men, with people and with each person.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this is the essence of the question that will be put before us at that dread day of judgment: Have we loved Christ? Have we loved one another?

We will stand on that day before He Who is Love Himself and He will look upon us to see if there is love within us, to see if our lives have shown forth that love to God and to others.

Every encounter with Christ – in our prayer, in reading the Scriptures, in the needs of the person right before us – every encounter with Christ is a judgment. The judgment of Christ is a revelation where we are fully exposed to the reality of who we are, what we think, what we desire.

And that is why Christianity is so deep, so all-encompassing. The judgment of Christ cracks open the deepest recesses of our being and seeks to find whether that Light and Love can be found there.

As we approach the season of Great Lent, let us recognize the criteria by which Christ will judge us. It will not be a checklist of all the do’s and don’t’s that we tend to obsess about in our spiritual life. There will be one measuring stick by which Christ will judge us… Did you love Me?

If the reality of who we are, what we think, and what we desire is focused on Christ; focused on loving Him to the best of our ability; focused on removing those shadows from our life that block out the Light we so ardently desire… Then all else will fall into place. ‘Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all things will be added unto you.’ That hunger and thirst for righteousness, born out of love and gratitude to God, our loving Father, will then express itself in doing the right thing and rejecting what is sinful. All these things will be born out of our love for Christ.

May we strive with all our being to live our lives in such a way that when we stand before our Lord and He asks us, ‘Have you loved Me?’… we may reply with all sincerity and purity of heart, ‘Yea, O Lord, you know that I love you!’ And may we then be blessed to hear those most precious and longed-for words: ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant… Enter ye into the joy of your Lord.’ Amen.