Homily for Advent 3 - Part 3 of 4 - Homily Series on the Kerygma

 

Homily for December 19, 2021

Advent 3 – Kerygma 3 of 4

The Death of Jesus Is His Love

 

            About nine centuries ago, a great theologian named St. Anselm wrote a book called “Cur Deus Homo?” – “Why Did God Become Man?” He concluded that the very reason why Jesus Christ took on flesh at Christmas is so that He could die on the Cross.

            Often during Advent and Christmas we don’t think about Christ’s death – but that is the whole reason for God becoming man. He had to have a body in order to die. And He had to die in order to reconcile us to God.

            We’ve been diving into the kerygma – the core Gospel message – during this Advent season. We started out looking at God’s great love for humanity, but our betrayal of that love by sin, which turned us away from God. But God was not finished yet – He provided the solution to our wretched exile. The solution was the Cross.

            But why death? Wasn’t there some other way? Consider this – imagine you were back in school as a student. What would be the consequence if you punched a classmate? Probably detention, maybe getting suspended. But what would be the consequence if you punched a teacher? You’d get expelled. What would be the consequence if you punched the President? You’d get arrested and put in jail. The same action, when done against someone of a higher dignity, requires a more severe consequence.

            Then what would be the consequence if we were to offend God? He who is All-Holy, the Perfect One, the Creator, the Omnipotent and Majestic King? The natural consequence would be death – both physical death, and spiritual death as we would be separated from Him for all eternity. This was the natural consequence for every sin, no matter how small, since it goes against the august majesty of God. It says in Scripture that even the moon, the stars, and the angels are not spotless in the sight of God! Nothing with the least stain of sin can stand in His presence – hence, the consequence of our sin is to be banished from His presence for eternity!

            Consider, too, that God is the source of all life. If sin means turning our back on God, then we are rejecting the Source of Life, and we are instead choosing death. St. Paul echoes this in Romans: “The wages of sin are death.”

            We owed a debt to God that we could not pay back. We needed someone who could pay it – someone who was infinite, since we offended the Infinitely good God; someone who was human, since they had to die; and someone who was perfect, since he needed to offer a perfectly pure sacrifice to God. Where in the world would we find a human being like that? Nowhere. Among us humans, there has never been a perfect person to offer their life as a ransom for man.

            But…God’s love for us is too radical, too persistent to give up on us. Since we could not find a victim that fit all the criteria, He would have to become man! Such reckless love!

To ransom us sinners, He gave away the Sinless One. To take away our shame, He was willing to be spat upon and humiliated. He was willing to take on our weak humanity so that He could refashion the Image and Likeness of God within us.

            There was once a young boy, the only son of a widow, who could be quite troublesome. One day he was very bad, and his mother tried to swat his backside with a belt, but the boy by this time was much faster than his mother, so he ran outside the house and called back to his mother at the door, “You’ll never catch me! I can do as I please!” The poor mother, worn out with the struggles of poverty and raising a wild son, sighed and said, “I feel ashamed of myself for having brought up a son who is so naughty. I must be a bad mother – and so I will punish myself.” And she started to whip the belt on her own back. The boy was so moved at seeing his mother taking on his punishment which he justly deserved, and so came back crying and begging for forgiveness.

            And so it should be for us who behold the Cross. God did not want to chase us down with punishment, so He took the punishment Himself and hoped to win us by love. Will you let Him?

            One profound way to let Him win us by love is through Confession. Next week will be one of our Confession weekends where the Sacrament of Confession will be offered after every Mass. Please come and take advantage of the forgiveness He won for you. It was purchased at a tremendous cost – the cost of the Blood of the Son. It was this Cross that won reconciliation for the human race – and He waits for our response of repentance and gratitude.