Father Michael's homily titled 'Doorway to Hope' focuses on the Feast of Christ the King and the parable of the last judgment from Matthew 25:31-46. He emphasizes that parables should be read as such, not as moral fables. Moral fables, like Aesop's, present a binary of reward for good and punishment for bad, but parables offer deeper, more complex insights.
He warns against using this parable for 'blood and thunder' preaching, which instills fear rather than love. He cites 1 John 4 to support his view that fear and love are incompatible in Christian teaching.
Father Michael then contextualizes Matthew's Gospel, written 40-50 years after Jesus' death, during the turmoil following the destruction of Jerusalem and internal Jewish conflicts over Jesus' identity as the Christ. He notes that Matthew's account, influenced by oral tradition, reflects less concern for logical consistency and more for provocative, imaginative teaching.
The core of the homily is the interpretation of the parable as a proclamation of the Kingdom of God. This kingdom, according to Matthew, is not revealed through orthodoxy, doctrine, or law, but through care for others, especially the suffering and oppressed. This care is an expression of participation in God's being and fulfills the depths of humanity.
Father Michael posits that caring for each other is a fundamental human intuition and failing to do so indicates a pathology. Love and life are of God, while hatred leads to death. He concludes that judgment and accountability are not just punitive but are doorways to hope, saving humanity from descending into the abyss.
