When our Saviour was speaking to His disciples, they asked Him many questions. (Pause...let's stop for a minute and ponder on that. God came to earth, in the form of a Man, and people, like you and I, were able to ask Him questions! It's hard for our minds to hold that, and yet in the New Testament we can enter into it.)
We know from the Gospel of St. Matthew (chapter 25) that one of the things our Saviour taught the disciples, and us, was about His Second Coming, that is, the time when He is going to return to earth in glory. That will be the end of this earth as we know it. He said that there is a Kingdom prepared for us, even before the foundation of the world. And we know from other parts of Scripture that He wants us all to be with Him in that Kingdom. And we also know that we all have free will, to choose that or not. (And that's what this life is all about.)
Our Saviour explained to His disciples that when He comes back to earth, that will be the time when, like a shepherd divides his sheep and his goats, so too will we be either among the sheep, who will enter His Kingdom, or among the goats who will not. Giving us an explanation of what (people) sheep do and what (people) goats do, He told us that those who visited Him when He was sick or in prison, and fed Him when He was hungry and clothed Him when was naked, will enter into His Kingdom, and they who did not do these things, will not. Then both sides will ask Him (since He was only on the earth, as a Man, for 33 years) "When did we see Thee hungry or naked and did or didn't do these things?" And He answers: "Inasmuch as ye did it (or did not do it) to the least of these My brethren, ye did it (or did not do it) to Me."
In the writings of the Orthodox Church we come across a very beautiful analogy--that the Scriptures are like the ocean, one can see it from the shore, or one can wade in it, or one can dive deep down and see many amazing wonders.
When we look at this Scriptural passage on the surface, it's obvious that we should be kind and caring to our fellow human beings, and especially those who are in need and suffering.
However, we all know from experience, that when we have the Great Commandments not in the right order, sometimes even our best intentions to carry this out do not go well. We even end up in places that are not godly or God's will or maybe even our life is in danger. So, how is this Scripture to be understood? And how does it tie in to what we've been trying to learn about loving our selves the right way and then loving our neighbor?
One of the Saints and Fathers of the Orthodox Church, St. Symeon the New Theologian, left us many beautiful writings. When he is commenting on this Scripture he dives deeper into it, and says:
"Whatever you do to yourself, He [Christ] counts as though He undergoes it Himself and says, 'As you did this to the least one, your soul, you did it to Me.'"
(The italics are mine because I couldn't contain myself; isn't that beautiful?! )
That means that the very least of the brethren is each one of us! Our immortal precious soul is the least of the brethren (we have to put on humility to get this) AND, it's each of our souls that is hungry, naked, thirsty, in prison, sick....and so our first priority is to love God, by showing love to the least of His brethren, our own sick, lonely, hungry soul.
Paradigm Shift!! Isn't that a total game changer?? (In this great perplexing journey of life, which is not a game at all.) In order to love God, we have to love the least of the brethren, and that is our own soul. By learning to love our own soul in the right way, we learn both how to love God and our neighbor.
What a beautiful and relieving thing it is to realize that we don't have to accomplish great things in a worldly way, we don't have to be superwoman or perfect at everything we do, we don't have to live a luxury life to impress someone, or even be paragons of virtue. We don't have to be "the best" at anything. Except, the best friend to our own immortal soul.
How do we do that?
If you're still interested, and I hope you are, please continue with The Three Commandments Part IV.
**St. Symeon lived c. 949—March 12, 1022 o.s. For those who would like to read the rest of the homily, the quote is from: St. Symeon the New Theologion: The Discourses, Chapter IX, On Works of Mercy, top of page 154 in our edition.
We know from the Gospel of St. Matthew (chapter 25) that one of the things our Saviour taught the disciples, and us, was about His Second Coming, that is, the time when He is going to return to earth in glory. That will be the end of this earth as we know it. He said that there is a Kingdom prepared for us, even before the foundation of the world. And we know from other parts of Scripture that He wants us all to be with Him in that Kingdom. And we also know that we all have free will, to choose that or not. (And that's what this life is all about.)
Our Saviour explained to His disciples that when He comes back to earth, that will be the time when, like a shepherd divides his sheep and his goats, so too will we be either among the sheep, who will enter His Kingdom, or among the goats who will not. Giving us an explanation of what (people) sheep do and what (people) goats do, He told us that those who visited Him when He was sick or in prison, and fed Him when He was hungry and clothed Him when was naked, will enter into His Kingdom, and they who did not do these things, will not. Then both sides will ask Him (since He was only on the earth, as a Man, for 33 years) "When did we see Thee hungry or naked and did or didn't do these things?" And He answers: "Inasmuch as ye did it (or did not do it) to the least of these My brethren, ye did it (or did not do it) to Me."
In the writings of the Orthodox Church we come across a very beautiful analogy--that the Scriptures are like the ocean, one can see it from the shore, or one can wade in it, or one can dive deep down and see many amazing wonders.
When we look at this Scriptural passage on the surface, it's obvious that we should be kind and caring to our fellow human beings, and especially those who are in need and suffering.
However, we all know from experience, that when we have the Great Commandments not in the right order, sometimes even our best intentions to carry this out do not go well. We even end up in places that are not godly or God's will or maybe even our life is in danger. So, how is this Scripture to be understood? And how does it tie in to what we've been trying to learn about loving our selves the right way and then loving our neighbor?
One of the Saints and Fathers of the Orthodox Church, St. Symeon the New Theologian, left us many beautiful writings. When he is commenting on this Scripture he dives deeper into it, and says:
"Whatever you do to yourself, He [Christ] counts as though He undergoes it Himself and says, 'As you did this to the least one, your soul, you did it to Me.'"
(The italics are mine because I couldn't contain myself; isn't that beautiful?! )
That means that the very least of the brethren is each one of us! Our immortal precious soul is the least of the brethren (we have to put on humility to get this) AND, it's each of our souls that is hungry, naked, thirsty, in prison, sick....and so our first priority is to love God, by showing love to the least of His brethren, our own sick, lonely, hungry soul.
Paradigm Shift!! Isn't that a total game changer?? (In this great perplexing journey of life, which is not a game at all.) In order to love God, we have to love the least of the brethren, and that is our own soul. By learning to love our own soul in the right way, we learn both how to love God and our neighbor.
What a beautiful and relieving thing it is to realize that we don't have to accomplish great things in a worldly way, we don't have to be superwoman or perfect at everything we do, we don't have to live a luxury life to impress someone, or even be paragons of virtue. We don't have to be "the best" at anything. Except, the best friend to our own immortal soul.
How do we do that?
If you're still interested, and I hope you are, please continue with The Three Commandments Part IV.
**St. Symeon lived c. 949—March 12, 1022 o.s. For those who would like to read the rest of the homily, the quote is from: St. Symeon the New Theologion: The Discourses, Chapter IX, On Works of Mercy, top of page 154 in our edition.
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