The Path to Repentance and Renewal

In this profound sermon, Athanasius Wilkins reflects on the themes of separation, service, and salvation as taught in the Gospel. With insights from the Fathers, he urges believers to prepare their hearts for repentance during the journey to Great Lent, emphasizing acts of mercy as expressions of faith. Wilkins calls the faithful to embrace fasting, almsgiving, and prayer in pursuit of a deeper communion with God.

Transcript

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

This Sunday in the Holy Orthodox Church, we reflect on the Last Judgment where Christ reveals his second coming to the disciples. Christ reveals this revelation to the disciples not to satisfy curiosity, but rather to show them and us what it truly means to be a follower of Christ. For the Orthodox Christian, this revelation is sobering as it's perhaps the best reminder of our need for repentance. But it's also a source of great comfort as we look forward to the day Christ returns in his glory—the day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Christ is Lord. As we prepare for our journey to Great Lent, the Church sees fit to place this Gospel before us so that we may take the opportunity to reflect on the state of our souls and reconstitute ourselves to spiritual vigilance.

We're also invited to consider the direction of our lives, to examine how we respond to Christ's presence among us, and to prepare our hearts for repentance and renewal. As the Fathers teach us, this passage draws our attention to three central themes that help us understand what Christ is revealing to us, and these themes are separation, service, and salvation.

We see that when the Son of Man returns all the nations will be gathered before him, and he separates them from one another as a shepherd separates his sheep from the goats. St. Theophylact of Ohrid draws our attention to the spiritual meaning of this distinction by noting that sheep are gentle and fruitful, providing wool for warmth, milk for nourishment, and sustenance for others. They give of themselves, and what they produce is for the life and benefit of the flock. Goats, by contrast, are unruly and unfruitful. They don't provide as much as what is needed for life, and they do not offer anything that sustains others. So the sinners then are likened to goats because their lives remain unfruitful and self-directed. St. Theophylact further notes that goats wander the precipices and dangerous edges, and so too we see that sinners live on the margins, unstable and oriented towards themselves rather than towards God and their neighbor.

We can see that the saints are called sheep because their lives become self-giving, offering warmth, nourishment, and protection to others. They don't lean on their own understanding but rather rely on the Good Shepherd to guide them to greener pastures. The separation then is not arbitrary; it's unveiling what each person has become. And of course, this raises the questions: how does one become fruitful? What does it mean to live a life that is life-giving?

Of course, Christ answers this question by calling us to service. Having revealed how the separation is made, Christ now shows us how this fruitfulness is lived out. He speaks plainly: 'I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink.' And he makes the meaning unmistakable: 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of my brethren, you did it to me.' Here, faith is not measured by intention or sentiment but love made visible in concrete acts of mercy.

St. John Chrysostom presses this truth unambiguously, speaking on this very theme. He says, 'If you cannot find Christ in the beggar at the church door, you will not find him in the chalice.' He teaches that Christ so closely identifies himself with the poor that neglecting the poor is neglecting Christ himself. The Lord hides himself in those who cannot repay us, so that love may be revealed not in words but in deeds that cost us something. As saints show us what this looks like when it is truly lived. St. Elizabeth the Grand Duchess, a saint who was born into royalty and surrounded by privilege, freely laid aside wealth, status, and comfort for the sake of mercy. After profound personal suffering, she founded a convent and dedicated herself to prayer and service and tending to the sick, the poor, and the abandoned with her own hands. Her life was marked by humility, forgiveness, and self-giving love, even at martyrdom.

In St. Elizabeth, we see what Christ calls us to become. A life poured out for others, not seeking recognition, but bearing fruit in love. Yet the purpose of this revelation is not to leave us in fear or self-measurement. The Lord speaks these words not to condemn but to call us to repentance and communion with him. And so, as we turn to the final movement of this Gospel, we are led to consider how the Church teaches us to understand the Last Judgment itself, not as a moment of despair, but in the light of God's desire for our salvation.

And so, we come to the final theme of this Gospel, which is salvation. The Church places this passage before us not to drive us into fear but to remind us why Christ came at all. St. Athanasius the Great so contentiously says, 'God became man so that man might become God by grace.' And so, we see that from the very beginning, God's purpose for humanity was restoration, communion, and life. Christ himself makes this clear when he says to the righteous, 'Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.' St. John draws our attention to the nuance in these words, noting that Christ does not say the kingdom was prepared after our judgment, but rather from the very beginning, showing that God's intention was always to crown humanity with life, not to devise punishment. Judgment then does not reveal a change in God. Instead, it reveals whether we have chosen to live towards what was prepared for us. This is further underscored when Christ speaks of condemnation, saying that the eternal fire was prepared for the devil and his angels. So, we see again that hell was never created for humanity.

The Fathers teach us that separation from God is not something imposed by Him, but something chosen when communion is refused. This is why the Church gives us confession. In the prayer of absolution, the priest prays that the penitent may stand uncondemned before the dread judgment seat of Christ. So even now, in our time, judgment is revealed as mercy so that we may be healed. For of course, Christ reveals all things for our salvation.

So as we prepare for our journey to Great Lent, the Church in her wisdom places this Gospel before us not to instill fear but to call us to repentance. Lent is given to us as a time of reorientation, a season in which we learn again what we must separate from, how we are called to love, and what God desires for us in the end. We're first called to separation. And the Church gives us fasting as a means of separation. Through fasting, we learn to loosen our grip on worldly concerns, on constant consumption, the forces that compete for our attention, and on the anxieties that draw our hearts away from God.

Fasting is not about deprivation but about freedom. It teaches us to desire what truly gives life. And this separation then opens the way to service, and the Church pairs fasting with almsgiving for this reason. Almsgiving turns us outward. It teaches us to encounter Christ in our neighbor. And of course, what we deny ourselves through fasting, we make available to others in love. And in doing so, we serve not only human need, but as the passage shows us, we serve Christ himself.

All of this leads us to salvation, which is nurtured through prayer. In prayer, we stand before God in humility and hope, allowing Him to heal what is broken and restore us to communion. Prayer reminds us that Lent is not a moral project but a return to the God who desires our communion as opposed to our punishment.

So then, as we enter Great Lent, let us fast with discernment, give alms with love, and pray with trust, separating ourselves from what enslaves us, serving Christ and our neighbor, and walking with hope towards the salvation prepared for us. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.