When I sat down to work on this homily I was greeted by the headline in the NY Times , “U.S. Military Seeks to Expand Raids in Pakistan” as if bombing raids by U.S. Drones were not enough, and then I encountered an op-ed in the same paper saying there is “Nothing Left to Talk About” between Israel and the Palestinians and that negotiations had lost all energy or hope.
And we all know, we needn't look as far as Afghanistan or the Middle East to find much that is discouraging about the human race.
In Jesus' own time and prior to it events were not any more encouraging—At the time of Jesus' birth—Herod slaughtered a village of innocent children. The Jews had been under the rule of foreign powers, enslaved in Egypt, enduring exile in Babylon and during Jesus' own time lived under the occupation of the Roman Empire.
In looking for our salvation—for the in-breaking of God into our lives—we might have hoped for something pretty dramatic. We might be seeking salvation by hoping for a way out of our human condition. But God does not destroy our nature to redeem it. God does not enter human history by crashing into it or bursting on the scene forcing us to be subject to God and God's will. God instead chooses the only way that makes sense given who God is—God chooses only love—God chooses simply to love us—to join us.
Through Jesus God closes the gap between the human and the divine not by destroying our human nature but by taking on our human nature and condition. “Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call him Emmanuel which means “God is with us.”
This is not an abstraction or something happening out there. Jesus who reveals to us the divine in his human person shows us that our human condition which appeared wholly reject-able is instead wholly embraced. God longs to be with us, and just as God was fully realized in human flesh in the person of Jesus, God longs to be born in each of us and to be present in us.
Our condition is redeemed and the best news is that we do not need to be other than what we are to be loved. We don't have to less human or more perfect to be loved. There is hope for us all. The divine abides in us and abides in each person we encounter. Jesus saw this when he said, “ I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me drink...”
Each person then is radically important. The radical importance of each person—might seem similar to the narcissist individualism of our own culture but it is in fact the antithesis of it. We find what is possible for us—by looking to Jesus, who is the fullness of the divine—embodied in the human person. He chose love—God—over everything, even when it meant letting go of his own life.
This is the opposite of individualism. It is the love of the other and it makes union possible. Jesus showed us how to move out of our isolation and desolation—and as Dorothy said, “We know him in the breaking of the bread, We know each other in the breaking of the bread and we are not alone anymore.”
I have struggled with the concept of dying to myself. In many ways I have not wanted to die to myself and I have certainly feared losing myself. But I have come to understand that in dying to ourselves we do not join some unified blob or become part of the BORG. History does not march on in some mechanical way. God does not want subjugation but only love.
And God created us as colorful, loveable and ridiculously eccentric individuals. My dad always used the expression, “He is a character.” or “She is such a character.” We love or characters or sometimes they may drive us crazy but this is what makes life fun. None of us loses our individuality in joining together, but we become the body of Christ—like a beautiful symphony with various strands and themes or a lovely tapestry of different colors woven together or a motley crew of Catholic Workers or even simply this gathering here tonight where all are welcome.
The Good News of this story is that there is a place for each of us. In fact the body is not complete without every darn one of us. And if there is a place for each of us here, if each of us has God's life within us then there is a place for each homeless person and giving shelter or food to each of them is giving it to Christ. There is a place for each Israeli and each Palestinian and giving a home to each Israeli and each Palestinian is giving it to Christ and there is so much to talk about.
There is a place for each Pakistani and each Afghan and they need to have their home and control over their own home and in giving it to them it is once again giving it to Christ, God alive in each of us.
Our promised salvation does not end human suffering but it invites us to take every opportunity to love, to give birth to God in this otherwise seemingly forsaken world. Each moment we give birth to Jesus the world is in some way saved anew. And every moment is an opportunity for this.
We do not need to do this by ourselves. We are never alone. Jesus has shown us the way. We need only to look to him. He did not deem divinity something to be grasped at but took the form of a slave. He chose a different path than the Sadduccees who were the great pragmatists of his time—the wealthy Jews who sought to conserve their wealth and power through compromise with Rome. He instead invited the rich man to give away all that he had and to come follow him.
He chose a different path than the Essenes who solved the problem of Jewish identity in Roman occupied Israel by withdrawing from society. He instead entered into life with others to bring healing and to preach the Good News of salvation.
He chose a different path than the Pharisees who loved the law but perhaps loved it more than their neighbor—He said, “Woe to you pharisees, you lay a burden on your brothers and sisters but do not lift a finger to help them.”
He chose a different path than the Zealots who advocated violence, even armed rebellion, to rid Israel of Roman oppression and instead saw faith even in the Roman soldier who asked him to heal his daughter.
We are called –“To love our God with our whole heart, our whole mind and our whole soul and to love our neighbor as ourselves.” We are thus invited to join God in this work of salvation and we celebrate that it is possible that this can be done even in the likes of us.
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