Act III of Salvation's Drama (Sunday homily)

 As you know, the other priests and I have invited you along 

on a four-week exploration of God’s plan of salvation,

working with Father John Riccardo’s book, Rescued. 

To review, we started with God’s loving act of Creation.

Because God wanted humanity to be partners in love, 

not merely robots, he gave us freedom,

which we misused, and that brought the crisis of sin and death.

In Father Riccardo’s words, that is when Creation was “Captured.”

Now we come to Act III: The Crisis deepens and the Rescue begins.

And the question for this week is, 

With the devil having captured this world, where is God in all this?

As you’ve heard, the readings for the past two Sundays 

have looked forward, not to Jesus’ birth, specifically, 

but to the eternal kingdom his birth heralds.

Advent is about Eternity, and Christmas 

is the great down-payment toward that Eternity.

But we don’t skip over what comes in-between.

On the way to his throne, the King will go 

from hearing “Hosannas” to hearing, “Crucify him!”

Jesus didn’t come just for a coronation, but for a battle.

John the Baptist’s arrest and death foreshadow this.

We might wonder, why did John send his followers to Jesus to ask:

Are you the one? 

John wanted those disciples to meet Jesus, 

and to hear his answer for themselves.

And since John was facing his own death, 

he was seeking the encouragement we all need.

So, what does God do in the face of evil and corruption?

He shows up as one of us.

Here’s an astonishing truth of our Faith.

God was and remains entirely free – he has all the options.

He can fix this world with a snap of his fingers, as it were.

So, why not?

For the same reason he didn’t make a Creation 

that couldn’t be wrecked.

God didn’t create us to be cogs in a perfect machine.

He created us to be partners in a Cosmic Drama, a work of art, 

that is still being completed.

Yes: we’re a big part of the problem.

And God chooses to make us a big part of the solution.

Notice in Jesus’ answer to John’s disciples, 

Every sign of God in action is about healing human beings.

People who can’t walk, can’t see, who are alienated and oppressed.

People who are given up for dead but God wants to bring to life.

Now: there’s a detail here that isn’t obvious.

Obviously, only God can really do all these things.

And yet: these are things Jesus says – to the Apostles – 

that they will do. He didn’t say it in today’s Gospel, but he’ll say it later.

And that mission continues in those of us who are little apostles.

Each of us is sent to bring the Good News.

That’s not just a feel-good statement; it’s a great responsibility.

So, the natural question is, how?

Ultimately, the liberation we’re talking about 

can only be God at work through human action and human cooperation.

You know what I just described there? That’s what a sacrament is!

And it is what the Church is; what we are called to!

God at work through human action and cooperation.

You bring an offering of bread and wine to the altar.

The priest takes it up in his hands,

But only Christ can make his saving death on the Cross present here!

Then, back to the human level: Jesus invites each of us to take part.

The Mass is all-powerful whether anyone shows up or not;

Yet Jesus wants you here to be united to his offering.

And he sends us to draw others by the sign of his power at work in us.

Jesus didn’t need anyone to help with the Cross. 

And yet what he say? Sit back and watch?

No: he said, take up your Cross and follow me.

In other words, God’s Rescue, God’s Remedy, was all his own idea;

And it is all his generosity and power.

And yet, remarkably, he chooses to bring you and me into his work.

There is a deep mystery involved 

in God choosing the Cross as the means of salvation.

Humanity already faced the Cross; that is, death.

God was not content to give us reassuring words.

He came and faced it with us. 

Because of Jesus, Christians have the power to be unafraid.

And that itself transforms death.

Let’s circle back to John the Baptist and what Jesus says about him.

He is the last of the prophets: that’s why there’s “none greater.”

And yet, because Jesus is about to initiate the program of rescue,

John who is so great, will be exceeded by the reality that he heralds!

When Jesus calls John “least,” he’s not diminishing John;

He’s telling you and me about the great glory in store for us!

The Glory that we will both become – and bring.