The Love of The Father for All His Children


Judgment Sunday (Meatfare Sunday) Sermon by Fr Ted Toppses
3-10-2013

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

'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.'

If something happens to my child, it happens to me. The love of a parent can give us the truly amazing understanding that whatever happens to our children happens to us.  Their happiness is our happiness, their sorrow is also ours, and their pain is clearly felt by their parent.  If we feel this way about our own children, how much more can we expect God to feel about each of us, and all of His children?  The problem we face is that we can live this life without looking to help the lowliest of people, and it may be difficult to recognize that they are also God’s Children. We can live our lives and not recognize our first responsibility is to God and all His Children.  If we are committed to live our lives with God, then we must truly understand that to live our faith fundamentally includes helping even the lowliest of people.

 Imagine if we have someone who loves us and says they follow us and yet rejects our children, does not help them or even does them harm.   Can we say a person loves us and yet rejects our children? 
In today’s Gospel we see how harshly we will be judged if we do not help those in need, and how blessed we can be if we help the lowliest of people.

Let us review today’s Gospel from St. Matthew 25:31-46
The Lord said, "When the Son of man comes in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, O 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 welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.' Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal 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 welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, '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?' Then he will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.' And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

In a world where the soul of a person can be awake and earthly life can take on new meaning, we can be truly free because of our faith in Christ.  We are free to walk towards or away from the light. One may ask why we would walk away from the light, and yet we often do.  The sinful tendency is part of our fallen nature and yet we are all called to the light through the image of God created in us.  This image is restored in us by Christ. 
In order to truly follow the light of God we must understand that God dwells inside of us and all other people.  We are his children and from today’s Gospel lesson we learn that it is imperative that our faith is lived only in the Light of the Love of God which shines on all people.  If we truly have God’s Light and love in us, we will understand that we can only live our faith and keep this light if we share it. 

If we do not share God’s Light in us, we are actually rejecting the light and walking away from God.  If we move away from God in this way we will be filled with darkness.

We must remember the Lord insists, in His Judgment of our Love and Faith for Him, that 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.'   He does not ask what we did for those who are nice to us, nor for those whom we like, but “the least of these my brethren”.  This is the true challenge of living our faith and not simply accepting it intellectually.
May we live our lives faithfully, loving each other and even the lowliest of people!  May we live our faith by caring for each other and especially the least of God’s children!  May we hear the blessing that God would say to us “'Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”.
Amen.