Matthew 25:31-46 (Gospel)

The Lord said: When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 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, but the goats on the left. 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.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You 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, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ 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, 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?’ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

During the previous two preparatory Sundays we were reminded of the Mercy of God to the penitent tax collector (the Publican) and the prodigal son. Though, also of those who put impediments to this mercy…

This, third preparatory Sunday, as we hear the name of it – it’s the Sunday of the dread, awful and final Judgement of Christ, and we are reminded of the just retribution too… as if it already happened…

Especially if we would read only the first part of the parable:

The Lord said: When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 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, but the goats on the left.

However, we keep reading on and we find out, that there is something very much unexpected, and not only for the unjust (not good), but also – to the righteous and kind…

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.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You 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, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

The essence of the understanding of the Last Judgment, as the holy fathers of the Church saw it, is that the final fate of each of the people is determined not only by our attitude to the things divine (and fearful), but to the things usual and… that might seem profane (and meaningless) … Not only what is happening here in the temple, but what is happening on our way to the church, our daily life…

The Last Judgment, at which the sheep are separated from the goats, begins here on earth, right where we live every day!

Every time that we see our rightness, our correctness, — and the flaws of others… and have a righteous wrath (anger) against such…

In the perfect world the perfect or good people do not thirst or are not in the prison, and everyone has a family and a home…

Somehow, however, when Christ came into this world he would say, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

A meeting with a person in need or in distress is a meeting with Christ,

In other words, it is meeting with what is meaningless for the world, so much everyday, which maybe IS our life…

It is a Terrible Judgment, so as to either judge such people (is that actually to judge ourselves?) or to help them and have mercy on them (or is it to give chance to God to give us mercy?)…

Again, this is a terrible judgment, if we prefer to judge!

Why don’t we have compassion to them. They are the least of His brethren, because just like Him, they remind us that the world is full of evil. That no one can live good by doing only good in this world…

On this reason the life is not good for them (yes, in a way because they are part of this world). On this reason the life was not good for Christ, Who chose to voluntary become part of this world.

A good reason to be closer to such people. As some our writers used to say – to be closer to the real life…

Besides, He came for the sick and suffering, fully associated Himself with them! Became one of them! He is not a king for now.

So, let us lay aside our lives cares during the Great Lent, and receive the King of all, Who comes invisibly to us, for now, in the persons of the least people of this world. Amen.