TEXT: The Holy Gospel According to Saint Matthew 25: 31-46

Many try to soften the Gospel message these days, declaring that it is only good news, not bad news.  The Gospel is good news, the (Greek, euangelion, meaning "good message").  Still, this good message of salvation has a terrible negative side to it.  It means the destruction of evil and sin and sinners who have refused to repent from sin and believe the Gospel for themselves.

We, as proclaimers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (be we priests, deacons, religious or other laity), do no good for anyone, if we fail to warn our brothers and sisters of the coming judgment of God. King Jesus warned his hearers on the mountain of Olives to the east of Jerusalem.  We have the warning today.

Saint Gregory Nazianzen said -- "Believe... that he is to return, glorious and illustrious, to exercise judgment on the living and the dead, not indeed in his former fleshly form, not yet without a body, but with a body more August and more divine such as he alone knew."  (Oratio, 45, 4th century)

31  "When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.

Have we any understanding of what this issue of the Throne of Jesus means?

Let us keep in mind this is the Logos, the Word of God who spoke the universe into existence, the Creator, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, (cf. Colossians 1).

Consider the matter by studying the scientific evidence as to the immensity of the universe that  (we think) still expands at a rate of nearly 93,000 miles per second in every direction.  We "think so," because the light reaching us from those furthest receding galaxies is believed to be over 15-20 billion years old, perhaps older.

In addition to this, the Lord Jesus created all of these stars, numbering somewhere between 200-400 billion in our Milky Way Galaxy with their several planets per star.  Moreover, The King of the Universe also created the 200-400 billion other galaxies with their 200-400 billion star per galaxy.  Now, none of these stars, except the Sun, perhaps, could be reached in our life time, unless we had the ability to travel at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second).

That is a big universe and the King made it.
We (the little people of the Earth) are on a small, and somewhat fragile, planet that completely circles around our medium sized Sun every 365 or so days (a star that may burn out in a mere 5 billion years,  a little "drop in the bucket" in eternity).

These facts alone express some of the magnitude of WHO Jesus is in terms of this Judgment mentioned here and the gravity of his Throne.

But, does this make you and I think that this One true God, revealed in Jesus Christ in the Holy trinity, is somehow impersonal?

The Gospel tells us the immense and awesome God we speak of as God is NOT impersonal at all.

Saint John tells us in the Gospel of John 3:16-21. RSV,

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God.

Jesus has made God, the Holy Trinity VERY Personal.

There is good news...

God became the Man, Christ Jesus.  Immanuel.  We enter Advent next Sunday knowing this to be our Faith.

The fact is this for Christians and the whole world, whether they want to believe or not.  Listen carefully, as I whisper this -- "Christ... is ... the... King."

Men may think they are in control of our destinies, but, Christ is the KING!

It says, "all the angels with him."  His glorious Throne was seen by three holy men, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and St. John in the Revelation.  All three of these men were on their faces before God declaring their own wretchedness, as dead men.

Dare we ever believe so foolishly that we will simply "waltz" up to this August Throne of Jesus Christ the KING to "argue" with God and make debate with him over how righteous we are in ourselves?

The bad news comes to those who arrogantly defy God’s Majesty as KING.

Our KING is --  Holy, Holy, Holy, the whole Cosmos is filled with his Glory!
I like the Hebrew words in Ezekiel... "q’dsh q’dsh q’dsh --- q’vod" -- meaning "Set apart, set apart, set apart ... (Gravity, Heaviness), Glory."

(EXAMPLE ::  There are four fundamental forces in the physical universe: the weak atomic force, the strong atomic force, the electromagnetic force and then there is the fourth, gravity.  I can affirm to all that NO ONE to this very day in the world of physics understand anything about Gravity as a force.  Without gravity in the physical universe... nothing would work at all.  The gravitational force is an absolutely necessary fundamental force for this universe.  None of us can understand either the spiritual Glory of God, nor can we ever understand this gravity (Glory) of God Almighty.  All we know is that there are four HIGH Sepaphin who declare this Glory day in and day out for eternity, never tiring of the concept at that Throne!)

In glory, we cannot comprehend it except to simply believe it to be so, as we are called upon by Gregory of Nazianzen above.

But listen to the destiny of ALL nations!

32  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, 33 and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left.

ALL will appear before that Throne of the Glory of Jesus to give an account and be judged.

I want to be on the RIGHT SIDE.  How about you?

34  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;
35  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,
36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.'
37 Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink?
38 And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee?
39 And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?'

Some may object that this speaks of a salvation based upon our works?

Well, works come from real Faith, because real Faith is our cooperating with the Grace of God who works in and through us.  St. Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:8-10, RSV  -- 

"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God not because of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

This statement of Jesus Christ our KING emphasizes our dependence upon the grace of God that we might WALK in works and love God and our neighbor through our ACTIONS of welcome, visiting, feeding the hungry -- Christ the King, who Personalized God to us in the Incarnation.

Immanuel walked with us working the works of God.  Now, we are called to cooperate with God’s Grace and walk the works spoken of here.

Is there any question as to what the King means?

He explains his intimacy with our situation and how the little things matter the most, infinitely so, because nothing, not the smallest action, the smallest work misses the attention and scrutiny of the Blessed Holy Trinity ... nothing my beloved, nothing at all.

40  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.'
41  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;
42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
43 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.'
44 Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to thee?'
45 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.'

Now, we have the bad news of the Good News.

46  And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Who are the righteous?  Those that follow Jesus and their faith bears fruits, their talents are multiplied, their actions show who they really are, new creation in Christ Jesus.  (II Cor. 5:17)

Who are those who go to eternal punishment?  They are those who bury their talent in the dirt, forget who they are and become selfish, acting as if they never knew God at all.

The time for decision is now.

Let is follow the example of Mary, our Sanctissima who was crowned Queen of those angels that will surround that Throne, and love the King supremely day by day in faith that produces through the Holy Spirit works fitting for the repentance we have found in God Alone.



Deus et Sanctissima.