The Parable of the Last Judgment in Matthew 25 can confuse us into believing that our actions will save us. Our judgment isn’t about the works that we do, our ability to love others as if we are loving Christ. Even our giving to the Church should be out of love for God and not out of duty.
My brothers and sisters, we just heard what might just be the greatest blessing of the gospel. Christ has told us exactly how the judgment is going to take place. We call this day Judgment Sunday. The story, the parable is very familiar. It’s the sheeps and the goats, “I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, or they didn’t.” And those who are on the right hand of God, the righteous, are confused. “When did we see you hungry? When did we see You naked?” But because they served each other with love, they were able to see Christ in other people. And it was those who were suffering in the fire of hell in their hearts where they were extra confused. “Wait a minute,” they said, “What do you mean we’re on the left side? What do you mean we’re the goats? What do you mean we’re the troublemakers? When did we see you? Show us just one time,” the people say to Christ, “Show us just one time where we saw you in need and didn’t help you.”
They were confused. And Christ says, “Well, if you didn’t do it to the least people, then you didn’t do it to me.” And my brothers and sisters, we confuse this parable about actions. We think that if we simply feed the poor, we’re going to make our way into heaven. I got news for you. Non-Christians feed the poor. Atheists feed the poor. The government… Well, the government even feeds the poor. So it’s not about the works that we do, it’s about our hearts and it’s about our love. And I find many times that people get wrapped up into this parable, and it isn’t that we shouldn’t do good things, we should do good things, but we should do them because we love people. Our goal, my brothers and sisters, should be that if we see a hungry person, we love them as if we are seeing Christ hungry.
Now, here’s what it does not say in the gospel. I’m going to look just to make sure. Nope, it doesn’t say it. I was hungry and you gave me a dollar. Nope, it doesn’t say it. It’s not about giving people money. It’s about loving people and serving them. And I put in the bulletin a challenge for all of us, to change the way we think about our church. We tend to think about our church as a charity. We get tax-deductible receipts for the donations that we make. We write off the donations because our church is, according to the government, a tax-exempt organization. And we tend to think of the church as a charity. And I have heard people say, wait a minute, father, when did the church need something and we didn’t give it? Sound familiar? It sounds just like the gospel. You see, it’s not about if we give, it’s about why we do it. You see, my brothers and sisters, we give to the church, not so we are giving to the church, but so that the church representing Christ in the world can serve other people.
We don’t give to the church just for light bills and air conditioning. Although in the summer of Florida, the air conditioning is nice. But we must start giving because we love as if we are serving God and not ourselves.
The people this morning’s gospel, they were trying to justify their behavior. We didn’t do anything wrong. Remember, back to the parable of the prodigal son. It was the brother who didn’t do anything bad who was the one judged and in hell. And in today, again, it was those who didn’t see people as if they were looking at Christ. They were the ones that were judged and burning in their hearts.
So that’s our challenge, my brothers and sisters. Begin to look at other people as if we are looking at Christ. And if they need us, we help them. That doesn’t mean enabling bad behavior. We don’t give money to drug addicts. We give food to those who are hungry and we help those who don’t know how to have a better life. Our world is filled with people who need help on how to live a better life. And we have it. We have the greatest life on the face of the earth. We have the Orthodox Christian life. Nothing is better than the Orthodox Church and our way of life, and yet we keep it to ourselves as the people who kept the food to themselves simply because we don’t see Christ in other people.
So as we begin fasting tomorrow, today is the last day for us to enjoy a little meat, the last day for that bacon cheeseburger. But don’t fast just to follow the rules. Fast to change your heart, so we can see other people as if we’re looking at Christ. And then he will say to us, “Come unto the right side. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of time.” Because we have the love of God, not in our minds, but in our hearts and in our actions. And we serve other people. Glory to God for all things.
