In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
Judgement is before me and I stand, trembling, with fear. Judgement is before me and I have no place to hide. Judgement is before me and the King is enthroned before me, promising to return to me all I deserve, all I have worked towards, all I have granted to others. And those times in my life where I have said I desire a vision of Christ before me have become as nothing when I stand before Him and all my sinfulness is laid bare. “Woe is me,” says the Prophet Isaiah,
for I am undone!
Isaiah 6:5
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
The Lord of hosts.
I, too, am undone, unmade. I, too, have been called by God for His mission, His purpose. But more than the Prophet, I have been baptised, I have been regenerated from on High, I have been offered the Holy Spirit, I have partaken of the Bread of Life yet am I not only a man of unclean lips but of unclean actions, of unclean deeds, of an unclean heart. And in that moment, if I am not willing to turn away from my wickedness, I shall feel the millstone being hung around my neck (Matthew 18:6, Mark 9:42, Luke 17:2) as His angels prepare the impending doom.
Christ has taught us to pray,
And forgive us our trespasses
Matthew 6:12
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And we get caught up on the word trespass. And we think of accidentally treading on someone’s front lawn as we walk by their house or of taking the last space in a car park before someone who has been waiting longer. But this is not the fulness of the meaning. Our trespasses are our debts, what we owe towards God and we owe towards our neighbour. And what is it that we are owing towards others? The Apostle tells us,
Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.
Romans 13:8–10
For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’
Love does no harm to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilment of the Law.
But lest I protest before my God and Saviour on the Last Day, “I wanted to love, but I did not know what I should do to love,” Christ makes it clear to us today. “Come, O blessed of my Father,” says He to the righteous,
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.
Because our judgement is not based on Church membership, is not based on a number of prayers, is not based on preaching at other people—shouting at them on street corners or in the market places—it is based on our love for them: giving food and drink, welcoming, clothing and visiting. Our Church membership and our prayers are not justifications of our own righteousness, they are calls for us to express our love for our neighbours which in Truth is our love for God.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, none knows the time of Christ’s glorious appearing and none knows the hour of his own dying, before the end let us serve our neighbours in love. Not in a way to earn merit, not in a way to force God to let us into Heaven, but because in the least of these His brethren we recognise Christ, we honour Christ, we bless Christ. Yes, indeed, before Christ we are undone, but Christ has given us the Path by which we may follow Him. And if we follow, if we demonstrate our love for God through our love for our neighbours, the vision of Isaiah will be our vision,
One of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar.
Isaiah 6:6–7
And he touched my mouth with it, and said:
‘Behold, this has touched your lips;
Your iniquity is taken away,
And your sin purged.’
And Christ will then say to each one of us, “Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” For we have this as our guide, “as much as I have blessed others, Christ will bless me and as much as I have cursed others, He will curse me.” My dear brothers and sisters, let us love through service that our worship may inspire us, and inspire others, to ever come closer to Christ our God and be granted membership in His Kingdom.
That we may offer true praise, glory and worship to our Great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who is coming to bring Judgement on the Earth, together with His unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good and Life-creating Spirit. Amen.
Brethren, food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. Only take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if any one sees you, a man of knowledge, at table in an idol’s temple, might he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? And so by your knowledge this weak man is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. Thus, sinning against your brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food is a cause of my brother’s falling, I will never eat meat, lest I cause my brother to fall. Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
— First Corinthians 8:8–13, 9:1–2
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.”
— Matthew 25:31–46