Orthodox Sermons & Articles

"When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory" (Matt. 25:31). Today, dear brothers and sisters, we celebrate the Sunday of the Last Judgment. Our merciful Lord has warned us, His followers about the day when He will come again to judge the living and the dead. This day is called the Day of the Last Judgment because after it there will be no more judgments neither on earth nor in heaven; the Kingdom of Christ’s Glory will come to power forever.

What is the reason for this warning? Why did Christ foretell all these things? Did He want to scare us, to draw our attention to Him? Of course not! The only reason for this warning is that He loves us so much that He does not want to loose us because as the Son of God He knows all the consequences of being out of His glorious Kingdom. If we lead our lives irresponsibly and make no progress in our perfection, then we will not be able to enter the Eternal Kingdom of God, because for this to happen we have to WANT to be with Him. However, wanting in it self is insufficient. Our entire life has to demonstrate good proof of this desire.

Today’s Gospel reading emphasizes the necessity of life with Jesus Christ and that this life should be expressed not just externally, but foremost with our true feelings towards God and to our neighbor. Observe the parable of Jesus when he speaks to both sides on the Last Judgment Day, after dividing them into "sheep" (the good ones) and "goats" (the bad ones). For both sides He uses same requirements. For life, which was followed by the saved ones (on the right hand of Jesus), he said: you fed the hungry, gave drink to thirsty, took in a stranger who needed a place to stay over night, gave clothes to the those who needed it, visited the sick in the hospitals, and visited those in prison. For the bad (on the left hand of Jesus), he said you failed: to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to take in a stranger who needed a place to stay over night, to give clothes to the those who needed them, to visit the sick in the hospitals, or to visit those in prison.

Why do you think these definitions will be used on the Last Judgment Day? Simply, because each of us is capable of achieving the above named things. But in order to do so we must demonstrate true love and compassion for our neighbor and the needy. If there is no true love in our relationship for others, we simply cannot fulfill these obligations. So, dear brothers and sisters, the parable is quite clear about who will be called righteous and who will not.

Another aspect of today’s parable is the humility of the righteous ones and the pride and self-satisfaction of the unrighteous. When Jesus will invite the righteous ones to inherit His Kingdom they will humbly state that anything they have done in their lives are not worthy of His attention. They will say it not because they know that these are the proper words to say at that time but because their humbleness is truly a part of their essence. This humility is produced by sincerely following the direction of Jesus, which includes love and compassion for all. A truly righteous person will never consider his or her good deeds as something worthy of a reward; instead a righteous person will rather say that this deed is not worthy of attention.

Now, let’s have a look at the answer to Christ’s chastisement of the unrighteous ones. Note, that they will reject the fact that they were given an opportunity to serve Jesus Christ Himself. They will rather be looking for justification of their deeds (unlike the righteous who feel they have done nothing worthy of consideration). And we can see that the base of their self-justification is their terrible pride, which is directly opposite to that of the righteous. They will answer to Jesus that they would have acted differently if they had seen Him in person and in need. But Jesus shows us that He is in every needy person and if we help that person, we do this directly to Him also. This truth we should keep in our minds, dear brothers and sisters, so that we do the right things in our lives and establish true humility through serving the needy. Jesus Christ Himself witnessed that He came into this world to serve and not to be served. If our Lord did this, how can we not try to copy his actions to the best of our abilities? If we call ourselves Christians or His followers, we have to follow Him in everything including serving others out of love and compassion to them.

Dear brothers and sisters, I have to say a few words about everlasting joy and everlasting punishment, as I believe that this Sunday is the right time to do so. The only thing we need to know and have to remember concerning these two opposing subjects is that it is up to each of us to decide how we will lead our lives. Therefore we are the only ones responsible for our future. While everyone agrees with the fact that everlasting joy exists with Jesus Christ in His Kingdom, many are confused about everlasting punishment in general and in particular about how our Loving Heavenly Father could possibly turn into the "angry" Heavenly Father. Isn’t He true LOVE? Isn’t He unchangeable? Yes, God is true LOVE! Yes, God is unchangeable! The only problem here is within us: we want to put the blame for our irresponsible life on God and very often we make Him appear as though He is angry and not listening to us. Punishment is something WE choose for ourselves, not God.

Our Lord Jesus Christ humbly and lovingly warns us: "My friend, please do not do these things because if you do, you simply will not be able to be with Me and you will suffer from being outside of My presence. Do not punish yourself. Here I am, look at Me and follow Me because My way is TRUE. Be compassionate to the people you meet and love them as much as you love Me."

This is the message of the parable, my dear brothers and sisters. Christ wants us to be with Him. That is why He forewarns us. Why do we still choose the wrong way of pride and self-indulgence? This is the question the Holy Orthodox Church puts to us today for our consideration. If we care about meeting with our Lord, we will leave our pride and start working on our humility through proper life integrated with Christ the Savior.

So, let’s ask ourselves these questions repeatedly, but let’s be sure that we give an honest answer. We need to do this for our own benefit. These questions must be asked not for 10 minutes, not 10 days, not 10 years but forever! Are we so satisfied with this life that we cannot see the eternal one that awaits us? Is eternity blurring and not clear? Read the Bible, especially the New Testament. It contains necessary truths and teachings about this temporary world and the world to come. Every single funeral regardless of religion witnesses the fact that we are not immortal, and that we’ll have to leave the world behind.

So, my dear brothers and sisters, let’s think more about our lives to come. In one week we will enter Great Lent, which is the time when we are asked by Church to think directly about eternity and our place within it. From the Gospel we know that only two options are available for us: eternal joy or eternal punishment. So, let’s choose eternal joy with our Savior over eternal punishment and let’s live accordingly.

Because this parable is so important for us and we sometimes do not realize all of its importance I want to finish my sermon with some speculation.

Just imagine how we would feel, if we heard the voice of the Lord saying: "Why didn’t you listen to My warnings in the Gospel? Why did you choose the darkness over Me? Why did you listen to what the world was saying and not to My words? Why did you have to turn away from the needy ones? I loved you but you did not give Me even one chance to know you because your ear was closed for Me. I was knocking on your door with your conscience but you chose not to open it. Every Sunday you were invited to listen to My words in My Church but you stayed at home and were unwilling to talk to Me in prayer. I am sorry to see you go into darkness, but I came to the earth to die for you, so you would make the proper choice."

This is frightening, dear brothers and sisters, because hearing words like these (or similar to them) will be the precursor to everlasting despair. Our Lord has made it very clear what it is that we must do. Furthermore by His own example he has showed us what was expected of us through His life on earth. While none of us can ever hope to get close to the perfection of the Lord, He gave us a clear example to follow! Our Lord expects nothing more than our sincere best efforts!

Amen.