In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. Last Sunday we learned from the parable of the prodigal son that God is extremely patient with us and that his compassion and love for mankind is immeasurable, that he is ready to accept every sinner who returns to him in repentance. But today in the Holy Church is Judgement Sunday, a reminder of a complimentary truth. Yes, no one is more patient than God, no one is more merciful than him, but he will come again to judge the living and the dead.
And this is a day that no one should take lightly. We read in the canon of repentance the following words, “I think of the awful day, and I weep over my evil deeds. How shall I answer the immortal king? How shall I a prodigal dare to look at the judge, O gracious Father, only begotten Son and Holy Spirit have mercy on me?” Others and sisters, the Holy Apostle Paul tells us in his epistle to the Hebrews that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
For this reason at every divine liturgy we pray for a good defense before the fearful judgment seat of Christ. And this morning I’d like to offer what according to the Holy Father, and in fact according to Christ himself, is our greatest defense before the fearful judgment seat. In chapter 7 of the Gospel of Matthew, Christ says, “Judge not, lest thou be judged, judge not, lest thou be judged.” There’s a beautiful story from the prologue of Oakrid about a monk who was lazy and careless and lacking in his prayer life, but throughout his entire life he never judged anyone. On his deathbed he was full of joy.
His fellow monks asked him, “How could you die so joyfully with all the sins that you’ve committed in your life?” He replied, “I now see the angels who are showing me a page with all of my sins, and when I said to them the Lord said, ‘Judge not, lest thou be judged, and I have never judged anyone, and I hope in the mercy of God that he will not judge me.’ The angels then tore up the sheet of paper with all of his sins. When the monks heard this they marveled and they were greatly edified. You might think to ourselves, ‘Wow, what a loophole! All I need to do is avoid judging anyone.’ But this is way easier said than done.
We know from our own life experience that not judging is one of the most difficult things to do. Just think about this morning, for instance, our interaction with family, the drive over to church, the people we see here, how many times have we cast judgment without even realizing it. Rather than being vigilant over ourselves, we focus our attention on other people and what they’re doing or saying. We see their faults and we overlook our own.
We desire to correct others rather than ourselves. We play the judge when it comes to other people’s sins, but we play the lawyer when it comes to our sins and we use every excuse in the book in order to make a defense for ourselves. St. Paisius of Athos once said, ’If you want to help the church, it is better to try to correct yourself rather than be looking to correct others.
If you manage to correct yourself, then one small part of the church is immediately corrected. Naturally, if everyone did the same, the body of the church would be in good health. But today, people concerned themselves with anything but themselves. You see, judging others is easy, whereas working on yourself takes effort.’ St.
Isaac the Syrian in one of his homilies speaks about the danger of curiosity. He says that we should not be curious about the lives of others because more often than not, curiosity causes a person to fall into judgment. Not only is it a waste of time, but it brings confusion to our heart and disturbs our soul. The constant exposure through social media today amplifies this temptation.
People’s personal lives out there, we often make comparisons and then we sin by envy. We fall into despair or we judge the people that we see. This online curiosity has consumed the lives of so many people of all ages and has distracted them from the one thing that is needful, their relationship with Jesus Christ. We can’t pray for 15 minutes, but we can be on our phone or tablet or in front of the TV for hours on end, the average daily screen time in America is seven hours.
Lord have mercy. A man who truly loves God will watch over his own self. He will accuse himself rather than examine and accuse and condemn others. He will seek to know more about himself than others.
We judge our neighbor because we make no effort to get to know ourselves. The one who seeks to know himself, his shortcomings, his sins and transgressions has no time to see them in his neighbor. During our own sins we never think about the sins of others and then he adds, “The tongue of one who judges is more foul than hell.” Let me end with a brief thought on this morning’s Gospel and suggest that the reason our Lord condemns the goats and sends them into the eternal fire is because they cast judgment on who, you might ask, on the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and the prisoner. How did they cast judgment when they decided that they were not worthy of their attention?
That they were not worthy of their love and their care? That they were beneath them and not deserving of compassion. But they are precisely the people that Christ identifies with, the poor, the hungry, the vulnerable, the lonely. Christ says, “Truly I say to you, as you did it not, to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.” St.
Porphyrios taught that whenever you look at others, no matter who they are, tell yourself that it is Christ looking at you through their eyes. So rather than judging people, we are called to see Christ in them, and we are called to serve them in humility. And in this way, my beloved family, we prepare for ourselves a good defense before the fearful judgment seat of Christ. In the name of the Father, end of the Son, end of the Holy Spirit, amen.