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.