The Kingdom That Has Been Prepared
Matt. 25:31-46
By His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia
10 March 2024
The Church believes that “the present form of this world is passing away” (1 Cor. 7:31). We look forward to the Resurrection of the dead and the life of the age to come. We look forward to Christ “coming again in glory to judge the living and the dead,” who wants to include us all into His Kingdom. And His Kingdom has been prepared from the foundation of the world” (Matt 25: 34). God's Kingdom is eternal life. It bestows the possibility for people to know the Father through the Son. To become children of God, receiving the spiritual gift of adoption. To have fellowship with Christ in the mysteries of the Church and through our fellow human beings. And to leave behind all corruption, all sin, and even humanity’s ultimate enemy, which is death. But God’s Kingdom will not include all people. For life in proximity to God comes as a result of a person’s free choice. And there are, and there will continue to be, people who will not accept it.
As we read in the Gospel of the Last Judgment, on Meatfare Sunday—the third Sunday of the Triodion, in preparation for Great Lent—there are three criteria for participating in God's Kingdom. Love towards our brothers and sisters, which reflects love for Christ Himself; kindness; and righteousness according to God. Our love for our brothers and sisters is expressed through works. It is feeding those who hunger, quenching the thirst of those who thirst, clothing those who are naked, visiting the sick and prisoners; namely, the sharing of our life and existence with all the marginalized of the world, with all those who are struggling, with all our suffering and deprived fellow human beings.
The words of Christ sounded strange in His day, as they were addressed to a world characterised by indifference towards their fellow human beings; by brutality toward those who did not conform to the doctrines of the powerful; and by a self-sufficiency of those who thought they were expressing the law of the true God. Christ's preaching overturns the standards of His day. Anyone who does not see Christ Himself in their fellow human beings does not inherit eternal life. Eternal life is not inherited by anyone who does not show respect, and does not value the uniqueness of each person, regardless of their social standing, education, limitations, ethos of life. Eternal life will not be inherited by anyone who thinks it is enough to believe and follow the external rituals of religion, without opening their heart to every person, righteous or sinful, irrespective if they believe or not. Has there really been a change in today’s world?
The criterion of love brings with it goodness of heart. In order for a human person to love, their existence needs to have moved beyond the fortification in their ego, in their rights. To have cultivated an ethos of giving and sacrifice. And this does not come without kindness. Kindness sees the need of the neighbour as being more important than their own personal needs. Kindness springs from a heart that has forgiven the other for their failure to have the food they need, the goods, the companionship, the acceptance of society itself. It is easy to blame the other person for not trying hard enough, and to think that this is reason why God has not given them what He has given you. But kindness comes from a humble soul. From the one who is conscious that Christ is everywhere.
Love springs forth from a sense of God’s righteousness. Justice begins with gratitude to God for giving us the gift of existence, all of us without exception. And God is righteous because He created us in His image. God is righteous because He allows us to complete His work, by offering to others what they do not have, whether it is in material goods or in terms of support and standing by their side together with them. And when it is not in our hands to help, let us pray. Thus, we experience God's justice and make it ours in the Church.
The ethos of the prepared Kingdom is for all of us a constant reminder of what Christ asks of us, in order to defeat death. Through practical love, kindness, and God's righteousness, we are called to endure in a world that is becoming more and more lonely. In a world that believes that, thanks to the Internet, it has abolished distances, without feeling that it has closed itself in its self-centred ego. In a world that does not wish to see Christ. So that we can hear His voice saying to us, “Come you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you”.
As we read in the Gospel of the Last Judgment, on Meatfare Sunday—the third Sunday of the Triodion, in preparation for Great Lent—there are three criteria for participating in God's Kingdom. Love towards our brothers and sisters, which reflects love for Christ Himself; kindness; and righteousness according to God. Our love for our brothers and sisters is expressed through works. It is feeding those who hunger, quenching the thirst of those who thirst, clothing those who are naked, visiting the sick and prisoners; namely, the sharing of our life and existence with all the marginalized of the world, with all those who are struggling, with all our suffering and deprived fellow human beings.
The words of Christ sounded strange in His day, as they were addressed to a world characterised by indifference towards their fellow human beings; by brutality toward those who did not conform to the doctrines of the powerful; and by a self-sufficiency of those who thought they were expressing the law of the true God. Christ's preaching overturns the standards of His day. Anyone who does not see Christ Himself in their fellow human beings does not inherit eternal life. Eternal life is not inherited by anyone who does not show respect, and does not value the uniqueness of each person, regardless of their social standing, education, limitations, ethos of life. Eternal life will not be inherited by anyone who thinks it is enough to believe and follow the external rituals of religion, without opening their heart to every person, righteous or sinful, irrespective if they believe or not. Has there really been a change in today’s world?
The criterion of love brings with it goodness of heart. In order for a human person to love, their existence needs to have moved beyond the fortification in their ego, in their rights. To have cultivated an ethos of giving and sacrifice. And this does not come without kindness. Kindness sees the need of the neighbour as being more important than their own personal needs. Kindness springs from a heart that has forgiven the other for their failure to have the food they need, the goods, the companionship, the acceptance of society itself. It is easy to blame the other person for not trying hard enough, and to think that this is reason why God has not given them what He has given you. But kindness comes from a humble soul. From the one who is conscious that Christ is everywhere.
Love springs forth from a sense of God’s righteousness. Justice begins with gratitude to God for giving us the gift of existence, all of us without exception. And God is righteous because He created us in His image. God is righteous because He allows us to complete His work, by offering to others what they do not have, whether it is in material goods or in terms of support and standing by their side together with them. And when it is not in our hands to help, let us pray. Thus, we experience God's justice and make it ours in the Church.
The ethos of the prepared Kingdom is for all of us a constant reminder of what Christ asks of us, in order to defeat death. Through practical love, kindness, and God's righteousness, we are called to endure in a world that is becoming more and more lonely. In a world that believes that, thanks to the Internet, it has abolished distances, without feeling that it has closed itself in its self-centred ego. In a world that does not wish to see Christ. So that we can hear His voice saying to us, “Come you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you”.