My kids make fun of me for reading the last page of a
book, first. But it helps me if, before
the end, I know what the ending will be. You can laugh…but just think of your
GPS. First it asks where you’re going…then it figures out the way there. The
same thing is true in Logic: you have to start at the conclusion.
So there’s something nice about the fact that, just at
the cusp of Lent, we talk about the Last Judgment. Keeping that Judgment firmly
in mind will help us to make better choices and have softer, more repentant
hearts all the days of our life from now till their end.
And what does today’s Gospel teach us about the end?
Well, the biggest thing is that the Judgment is coming. Christ tells his
disciples, “When the Son of Man
comes in all his glory, and the holy angels with him, then the nations will be
gathered together.” Take note. He doesn’t say “If” the Son of Man comes, but when. I forget that. I live as if this
life will go on forever...as if there will be no Judgment.
Each semester in my classes, I ask my students to write a
paper on what one change they would make to American schools. You’d be
surprised at the number of papers I get that wish exams would be dropped. I can
understand that. The pressure rises during finals week. Students pull
all-nighters in a vain attempt to cram into a week what they haven’t done in a
semester. They dream of what school would be like without exams.
But think again. Exams focus students’ attention. They
help to keep students from fooling themselves into thinking they’ve learned
what they haven’t. And the students who go through the whole semester with the
finals in mind, usually don’t have to worry so much when the finals come.
When I live without
keeping the Judgment in mind, it’s as if I’m driving with my GPS on with no
destination in mind. I may know where I am right now. But all the work I’m
doing is pointless. It’s like the George Harrison song, “If you don’t know
where you’re going, any road will take you there.”
Not only does the Lord Jesus tell us there will be an
exam…he also tells us what the exam is about. Did we feed the hungry? Did we
give water to the thirsty? Did we visit the ones who were sick and in prison?
Did we clothe the naked, and take in the homeless?
There’s a temptation to say that the Lord is speaking
figuratively here. It can’t be such simple things…such everyday, non-religious
things. What does food, clothing, and shelter have to do with deification?
Shouldn’t he list our praying, our fasting, our religious works? How does
feeding a hungry person deify me?
Metropolitan ANTHONY Bloom points out that the Lord’s only
question on Judgment Day is, “Have you been human in the simplest way any pagan
can be human?” If we have been inhuman, if we have not become human, how could
we possible become divine?
Why does Christ call us to become human, by sharing the
suffering of fellow human beings, by seeing our neighbor in someone who is
different from us? The reason is simply this: because our God became human and
shared our suffering in order to free us from suffering—or rather, in order to
free us for suffering, and for
sharing his suffering by taking on the sufferings of others.
Friends, the Judgment is coming. It can’t be escaped. But
in his love for mankind, our Savior and Judge has given us an advance copy of
the test. Judgment looms. Let us order our lives now, while there is still
time. One day he will come in glory, on the clouds of heaven; but right now, he
hides himself under the poor and afflicted. Let us befriend him now, that he
may know us then. Do good works.
But don’t trust
them. Look at the sheep. “When did we see you hungry or thirsty or naked or
sick or in prison and minister to you?” They don’t remember a single one of
their good deeds. All they know is the grace of the Shepherd who loved them and
gave himself for them.
Judgment is coming. Do good works: serve Christ as he
hides himself in the poor, and he will acknowledge you when he comes in glory.
Do good works, yes…but don’t trust
them. Trust alone in Christ the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the
world…your sin, and mine.
