Fourth Sunday of Advent - December 18, 2016

Homily for December 18, 2016

Advent 4

Incarnation

 

            Back in 1995, Joan Osborne released a song called “One of Us” in which she asked, “What if God was one of us? Just a slob like one of us?” (Anyone remember that song? It did make #2 on the Top 40 back in ’95…). That song always bothered me, and not just because she called God “a slob” – but rather because she was asking a question that had already been answered.

            God DID become one of us. That is precisely what the Incarnation means. God took on human flesh. That means that God was happy, He was sad, He got hungry and thirsty and tired and lonely, God went to parties, God had friends, God played games and laughed, God suffered and was rejected and died. We call Him “Emmanuel” – God with us, as the angel says in today’s Gospel.

            Why is this important? Because there was a fatal wound within human nature. You and I suffer under the effects of sin – original sin, our personal sin, and the sins of others. This wound of sin is a part of our nature – we were made for eternal happiness with God, but our wound has disfigured that. So Christ had to take our nature in order to remake it, refashion it, restore it to its original beauty.

            Back in the mid-1800s, there was no cure for the disease of leprosy. Those who contracted that disfiguring, deadly disease were sent away into leper colonies in order to die in isolation, surrounded only by those who have that disease. The Catholic Church was moved to help, but had trouble finding volunteers who would go work with the lepers. Many people wanted to help from afar, but who would go and actually live with them – live like them – to offer them medicine and aid?

            Finally, a Dutch priest named Fr. Damien de Veuster volunteered to go. He traveled from Holland to the Hawaiian island of Molokai, where the largest leper colony was located. For sixteen years he ministered to them – he brought them medicine, cleaned their ulcers, ate food with them. Unlike many others who wanted to give help from afar, Fr. Damien was willing to get his hands dirty and actually live with the people. Eventually he succumbed to leprosy himself, dying in 1889. He is now St. Damien of Molokai, one who put love into action.

            In the same way, Jesus did not come to save us from afar. His name, “Jesus”, means “God saves” – His mission is to save us. But not by sitting on a distant throne, giving us instructions. No, He knew that He needed to become one of us – to heal our human nature from the inside out. Just as St. Damien was able to win the hearts of his people by living alongside them, so Jesus Christ lived alongside us in every way. He was truly human in every way, but without sin.

            What does that mean, practically? When we suffer, we are often tempted to say, “God, You don’t know what I’m going through!” You don’t know what I’m going through when I have physical pain! When I’m lonely! When I’m afraid! When I lose someone close to me! When my family doesn’t understand me! When my life doesn’t make sense! We are always tempted to cry out, “God, where are you? You don’t understand!” But the Incarnation means that He does understand – because He has been there. There is nothing we can go through in this life that Christ hasn’t gone through. Are you grieving? So did Jesus. Are you tired? So was Jesus. Are you in pain, afraid, lonely? So was Jesus. He entered into the mystery of humanity – ALL of it, the good, the bad, the ugly – so that He could redeem it.

            We hear that word a lot – “redeem” – but what does it mean? Well, let’s look at another thing we redeem – coupons! My mom used to clip a lot of coupons; I remember often seeing her going through the paper, seeking to save 50 cents or 75 cents on boxes of cereal or pounds of meat. A coupon is something that, in itself, is worthless – it’s just a piece of paper. But if you redeem it – if you bring it to the checkout counter at the store – it becomes valuable, as it saves you money.

            Jesus came to redeem us – take our lives, our joys, our sorrows, our relationships, everything - from being meaningless to being richly valuable in the sight of God. Now, because Jesus took on flesh, our daily activities have meaning, because, united to Him, we are able to become saints by them. Going to school or work, when united to Christ, can help us grow in holiness. Suffering, when we offer it up to the Lord, becomes a means of sanctification. Our struggles become opportunities to grow in virtue. Everything we do becomes a “living sacrifice”, a small step along the path to holiness, because in Christ our lives have been redeemed. Our lives have gone from “meaningless accidents of chance” to “meaningful, because we are loved and destined to love.”

            All of this is possible only because Jesus took on flesh, entered into the messiness of the human condition, and redeemed it, elevated it, and made it holy!