Let’s imagine for a moment that it’s summertime in Phoenix, and it’s hot – that’s not so very hard to imagine, is it? Now let’s imagine you’d like to take a trip and get away from the heat, so you decide to go to Flagstaff. Now let’s imagine that you don’t know the way to get to Flagstaff. You have two options: you can make some preparations; or you can just hop in your car and get on the freeway and hope for the best. You might, indeed, make it to Flagstaff; but, on the other hand, you might just as easily wind up in Yuma – and find it’s even hotter than it was in Phoenix, which you left to try to get some relief from the heat.
Or suppose you wanted to get away from the heat by going to San Diego – that would be my choice! Once again, you could plan your trip; or just hop in your car and get on the freeway and hope for the best. But who knows? If you haven’t planned properly, maybe your car isn’t up to the trip, and the next thing you know, you’re broken down on the interstate in the middle of the day in the middle of the desert, and the best you can hope for is that the tow-truck will come and bring you to the closest town – which, given the luck you’re having, will be – you guessed it – Yuma.
Well, whether you realize it or not, you are making a trip – right now, even as we speak. All of us are on a journey through life; and where we will spend eternity depends on the decisions and actions we make while we are here. Are you planning ahead for the trip? Or are you just drifting along, hoping for the best, hoping to wind up in paradise, instead of in a place that’s really hot? It needs to be said: hell is real, and people will find themselves stuck there, and it’s only because of the choices they’ve made during the journey of life.
Today’s reading from the Gospel according to St. Matthew gives us all the “roadmap” we need to plan for our trip. The road to paradise is the road of ministering to the needs of others: feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, and those in prison – in other words, reaching out in love to those in need. The bottom line? It is putting love in to action; because, if we do not love our neighbor as we love ourselves, we are not likely to take the time and effort and resources needed to minister to the needs of others – we’ll be too busy taking care of ourselves. That is not, we know, the road that we should travel – but all too often, that’s the road we seem to choose.
If the heart of the matter is love, where do we find that love? We must begin by remembering the source of love – that is, God. It is God’s love that has called us into being, so that we might share with Him in a relationship of love. It is God’s love that makes possible our salvation, for God shows His love for us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. When we respond with love to the love of God – loving the Lord with all our heart and soul and mind and strength – we become vessels filled with love, which can be poured out on behalf of those around us. God’s love flows through us to those around us; and it is by that love that we feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, clothe the naked, and visit the sick, and those in prison.
So we have the roadmap – the way of love. But we also have to be prepared, so that we don’t break down while making the trip. That’s where the Orthodox way of life comes in: prayer, and fasting, giving alms and offerings, struggling to replace our sinful passions with virtues; and loving and caring for each other, and for those who still dwell in darkness and the shadow of death. Prayer brings us closer to God, and lets the reservoir of love be refilled. Fasting gives us strength, and teaches us to say “no” to our appetites; not just for food and drink, but for every pleasure, and especially for those before which we are weak. Giving sets us free from our attachments to this world, and helps us to see that we are not the owners of the good things God has chosen to entrust to us; rather, we are the stewards of that wealth – and when we understand this, then it becomes easier still to use these blessings for the benefit of the hungry, and the homeless, and the sick, and the suffering.
Brothers and sisters: You are making a journey as you go through life. The road ahead leads either to paradise, or hell. The choice is yours: which way will you go? May God bless us all to choose as His love has chosen for us: to be with Him, in love, forever.
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