Sunday of the Last Judgment 2025

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

1 Corinthians 13 · chapter mention

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.