Sunday of the Last Judgment - 2020 Fr. Lawrence Margitich

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.