Love and Hell

(Matthew 25:31-46) (Sunday of the Last Judgment)

“When I think of the multitude of evil things I have done, I, a wretched one, I tremble at the fearful day of judgment; but, trusting in the mercy of Thy loving-kindness, like David I cry unto Thee: Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy.”

We’ve been singing this at Matins over the past several weeks. It is sung after the reading from the Gospel, in the place where, ordinarily, we’d sing, “Having beheld the resurrection of Christ…” It follows the hymn, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy; and according to the multitude of Thy compassions, blot out my transgression.” It signals a change in tone, a different mood, which is being introduced as we draw near to the start of Great Lent. It is particularly appropriate today, with the reading from St. Matthew’s Gospel about the Last Judgment.

“I tremble at the fearful day of judgment.” We should be afraid; we should be very afraid of that day. We need to remember a truth that, all too often, it seems, contemporary Christianity doesn’t want to talk about; or, only talks about it in the wrong way. Hell is real; and people will suffer unspeakable torment without end for all eternity there. But, apart from saying to someone else, “You’re going to burn in hell for all eternity, you heretic!” – or something like that – we don’t often talk about the reality of Hell. Maybe that’s because, deep down, we know that, if we found ourselves in that place of torment, there would be no one to blame except ourselves. Hell is real, and people will suffer there for all eternity – not because God sent them there; but because they chose to go there.

Last week, we heard of the incredible love of the father for his Prodigal Son; and for his elder son, as well. We learned that we are meant to know that the love that our heavenly Father has for His children is of the same quality; that, as soon as we, His prodigal children, make the turn towards home, by our repentance and the confession of our faults, and our desire to be restored to Him, He runs to meet us, and to welcome us home. It is because of His love for us that He forgives our sins. Now, as we hear the parable of the Last Judgment, we need to understand that what is at question here is our response to God’s love for us. Do we love God? Do we love those made in His image? This is important, because the separation into those who will stand at the right hand of our Lord, and those who will be sent to His left, is directly related to our love.

Please take some time this week to contemplate the reality of God’s love for you. He has given you life; and more. He has given you what you need to save your soul; and more. He has given Himself; and what more can anyone give? He has called you into existence because of His love; and desires to share that love with you, with each of us, with all of us; now, and also for ever, in a life without end. Forgive, me, please, brothers and sisters: There are not words powerful enough to speak of the great depths of the love that our God has for us.

It’s important for us to realize that we are loved by God; for love calls forth love. When we realize how greatly God loves us, love for God should arise in us in response; and it is this love that moves us to desire to do what is pleasing to our Beloved – to love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. It is love that moves us to desire to become vessels of God’s love; and, when we yield ourselves to Him for this purpose, we are filled with love, not only for God, but for each person who bears the image of God. It is this that leads us to feed the hungry, to give the thirsty something to drink, to welcome the stranger, to clothe the naked, to visit the sick, and those in prison.

On the other hand, when we respond to insult or injury, or being mistreated by others, with anger, with pride, or with self-righteousness, we are not responding from love – and it’s the absence of love that blinds us to the needs of others, and keeps us from performing acts of mercy for them. When we have love only for ourselves, and not for others; when we only grudgingly give of our time and resources – all of which have been given to us by God in His love – to meet, not our wants and needs, but the needs of others, we are not acting from love; and it is this that will place us on the left hand of the Lord, where we will be told to depart from Him into the everlasting fire, the torment without end that will be Hell.

Brothers and sisters: The great and terrible Day of Judgment is coming. Hell is real; and those who have chosen a way of life marked above all by love of self will suffer there for all eternity. Where will you be told to stand? On the Lord’s right hand? Or on His left? Let us, while we can, choose to be vessels of God’s love, and love one another, even as He loves us, and died for us, that we might live in love with Him; now, and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.