We have reached the third of our Pre-Lenten Sundays, preparing us for the great battle that awaits us all, that starts next Sunday…when we wage war against the devil, as we approach the glorious victory of our Lord’s Resurrection from the dead. Thus far, the Church has given us these wonderful reminders of how to prepare for the battle that awaits us in the example of Desire from Zacchaeus, Humility from the Publican and Repentance from the Prodigal Son. Now today, just one week before the start of our campaign, we are reminded of the dread judgment seat of Christ: The reminder that there will be a moment when the books of our hearts will be opened, and we will take our place among the sheep or the goats for all eternity.
As I was thinking about the reality of the Judgment this past week, my thoughts came upon a familiar routine that parents of young children have to go through, almost on a daily basis in the midst of Michigan winters. There have been times when we would enter their room and see these semi-toothless smiles coming from the crib, with a face that is completely caked in drainage from their noses the night before! What would we do? We would clean them up, and then take that little rubber ball out of the closet, hold them down against their will, and went to work cleaning out their noses.
When children are getting their noses clean, they will spend those thirty seconds screaming, kicking, and flailing…as if they are undergoing a vicious torture from their parents. If we are seeing this entire scene play out from the child’s perspective…it is torture! “Why would my parents hate me so much, as to do this to me?!” But when we look at things from a mother or father’s perspective, this unpleasant action (although it is met with fear and trepidation) is ultimately done out of love for our children. We don’t want to see them become sick, so out of love for them, we do what is necessary to keep them healthy and to keep them breathing
When we as Christians hear the hymns and read about the dread judgment seat of Christ, we sometimes view it more like children who see the rubber ball coming out of the closet, on its way to punish us for the sickness that we have brought on ourselves through our own sins. But from the Father’s perspective, just like that rubber ball, the knowledge of the judgment that is to come is unbelievably necessary for us if we are to remain healthy, pure, and in the image of our Creator.
The gospel this morning, describes for us what we must do in order to end up on the right side of the judgment, and it can be summed up in one vivid reminder of why we as human beings were created: To serve. We were created from the very beginning…to serve. We serve first and foremost God, which is the reason why we are here performing the Liturgy. But in a close second, as we read in Matthew 25 that we were created to serve each other! But from the very beginning of time, starting with the very first human beings in Adam and Eve, we have forgotten that! Instead of serving God and each other in paradise and in a life of blessedness, we have set up our entire lives around learning to serve ourselves!
“I will visit the sick and those in prison…but only if I have time, and it doesn’t interfere with my social life."
“I will give to the poor and to charity…but only if I have enough for myself to live comfortably.”
“I will come to serve God in the Divine Liturgy and other services, but only if it doesn’t interfere with __________”
It is amazing our backwards our thoughts can sometimes be!
Next Sunday, just before we transition to the Forgiveness Vespers, the hymns that we will hear will quite vividly paint a picture for us, of how dangerous it is to live of life in service to ourselves. The Church gives Adam a voice as he groans with tears when he realizes the blessed life that he had lost. Those hymns, coupled with the reminders we get about the dread judgment today, serve as a warning for all of us of the self-inflicted devastation that awaits all those who live contrary to how we were created.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we begin the battle of Great Lent next week, let us be cognizant and aware of our failings. Keep a sharp eye trained on the “icon of the dread judgment” Let it serve, not only as a reminder, but as a motivation for all of us, to not fall into devil’s snare, but rather to lift up our lives to God and to each other.
During these pre-Lenten Sundays, the Church has given us everything that we need to be successful: Humility, repentance, and a reminder of what awaits those who serve themselves. As we enter this holy period of fasting, armed with our virtues, the Matins service for the Sunday of the Judgment gives us our battle cry when we hear:
“Daniel the prophet, a man really beloved, when he saw the power of God cried out: “The court sat for judgment and the books were opened.” Consider well my soul, do you fast? Then despise not your neighbor. Do you abstain from food? Then do not condemn your brother, lest you would be sent away into the fire…there to burn as wax. But rather…may Christ lead you without stumbling into His Kingdom…unto ages of ages Amen”