Sunday of Meatfare; Sunday of the Last Judgment

In the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today, we are anticipating the beginning of our great Holy Lent, a time when we prepare ourselves, and as a community, we prepare to enter into the glory of His resurrection. This preparation is outlined from Sunday to Sunday with various themes. As we anticipate the beginning of Great Lent, today we have the Gospel on Judgment, and it is a very, very powerful Gospel.

It says, "When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit upon the throne of His glory, and all the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand and the goats on the left."

We can immediately see the image. Are we going to be sheep—submissive and obedient? It's a very beautiful image because when the shepherd tends his flock of sheep, there are no tethers between the shepherd and the flock. The sheep follow the shepherd wherever he goes, and they do this with obedience and instinct. There is a power and beauty in the idea of the shepherd and the flock. Of course, the goats are very active; they are rebellious and want to go off and do their own thing, as it were. So here we are: Are we going to be sheep or are we going to be goats?

The Gospel continues, "Then the King will say to those on his right hand, 'Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me.'"

This is so beautiful because the Savior is identifying with the hungry, the thirsty, the strangers, the naked, the sick, and those in prison. The Savior is the image of perfect and abundant love and compassion, and He reveals this compassion to us.

He says, "Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you as a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you? Or when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say unto you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it unto me.'"

So we see that our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, who is the ultimate shepherd, identifies with those who are without—those without food, comfort, and shelter, and those who are sick and infirm. Again, this reveals His compassion and His love that shines upon us. It also hopefully stimulates us to think about ourselves and what we do in relation to those around us, how we see one another, and how we help those in need.

The Gospel goes on, "And then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not take me in, I was naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.'"

"Then they also will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison and did not minister to you?' And then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did it not unto me.' And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal."

This is a very sharp and penetrating Gospel. It is a Gospel that, in many ways, is hard for us to hear and very difficult, I think, for us to fulfill. One of the issues is that we, as a society, have been profoundly separated from those who are in need. We don't see—at least in most places where we live—those on the streets suffering or those in need of food. I think it's part of our psychology that, even when we notice them, we turn away from that need. And if we see the need, we don't know what to do or how we are going to meet this need. We are really under judgment for this.

The way society has developed in our times has separated us. Obviously, there are whole strata of income, education, and profession. And then, of course, there are those who do not have large incomes, great skills, or fine educations. It seems that they have slid off into this realm of neediness, unnoticed. I think one of the great miracles of the Holy Orthodox Church is the communities that can be gathered. These communities should be, and I think are, to a large degree, filled with people from all different stations and walks of life. Here, within the context of the community, we have the ability to reach out to one another, to embrace one another, to gather one another under our love and into our deep concern. This is very beautiful.

Blessed with a little bit of old age, I remember earlier times in the communities where I lived. They were diverse communities. Obviously, there were people of great wealth who were able to separate themselves, but in general, in the towns that I lived in, people lived together. I remember this very clearly from living in Orange, New Hampshire, one of my favorite places from my childhood, which is filled with so many great and wonderful memories. It was a small community, probably about 120 people, with people from many diverse walks of life: teachers, lumberjacks, farmers, and so on. It was very memorable that when a person was in need, whether they were more capable or less capable, people gathered around them. They brought them food and comfort, offered to care for children, and even helped in the barns when, let's say, the head of the household was unable to take care of his cows. It was a very obvious thing. What I remember so vividly is that these were people from all walks of life, yet they lived in community, embraced one another, took on one another's burdens, and helped one another in a visible way. Later on, when we lived in a larger town in Lebanon, New Hampshire, it was very similar. There were definitely poor people in need of every kind, and yet the community rallied around and helped them.

Today, we're separated. There are very clear lines of separation between ourselves and those who are in need, and it requires us to seek them out and help them. And then, of course, we have many other issues. There's actually fear—this fear of those in need. Those who are in need often have such difficulty that they steal from one another and abuse one another, and there's the whole issue of drugs and so on. It seems to me that the decadence of our society, the imagery that we see through television and the internet, has blinded us and filled us with darkness. That darkness makes it very difficult, if not impossible, for us to break out and enter into a life of ministry and concern.

This, again, is the beauty of the church. The church has the ability to grow and to reach out and to embrace everyone. May we, as a community, as we grow and mature, find ways to reach out to those who are in need. If we truly hear the Gospel today, we know this is something we must do. We need to find ways to reach out, and if we spent time and effort at it, I'm sure that we could discover people in our own community who would benefit from our love and care.

In the Gospel of St. Matthew, in chapter 7, he says, "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." The Gospel of St. John speaks of a different kind of judgment: "This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their works were evil." And, "For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son."

In the Gospel of St. John, the Lord also says, "Most certainly, I tell you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life."

Here, the theme with John the Evangelist is quite remarkable. Basically, what he says is that those who hear His word and keep it pass out from judgment. This means that the beginning of our growth in Christ—to lead us to the point of maturity where we can actually reach out to others—begins with the Word of God. We must read and immerse ourselves in the Word of God. If we do this with humility and prayer, then we will be guided along the path of ministering to those who are in need.

Brothers and sisters in Christ our God, as we enter this great and holy pilgrimage of Lent, we must enter into the fullness of prayer and into the words of the Holy Gospel. We have all been darkened, and we have this opportunity to shed those things—those thoughts and feelings—that are at the root of our darkness and to enter into the love of Christ and into the mind of Christ through His Word and through the divine services. What a beautiful thing it is that our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ has called us together to enter into this pilgrimage so that we will truly know who He is in His holy resurrection. Amen.