4th Sunday of Advent: Salvation means being human

The First reading and our Gospel give us a great contrast of characters, and point to a truth of Jesus’ Incarnation and Salvation.
King David was the greatest of Israel’s kings.  Yet he began as the lowly seventh son and the shepherd boy, not destined for anything.
God raised him up to become the King who would unite all the tribes of Israel.
The great King who then got lazy, arrogant, petty.  The man who would go back and forth with God, pious and righteous, and then a bloody man defying all.
Isn’t David the archetype of the human condition?
Mary, and Joseph, humble people as well, chosen and raised by God to bring forth the promise of God into the world.
They remained faithful to the end who endured much.
They are the ideal human persons; the potential of us all; the archetype for human nature.
Salvation means being truly human.
Salvation means being truly as God, since we are created in God’s own image.
The incarnation reveals to us that God surrenders Godself.
It is humility.  It is love.  God is love.
Ideally, we are always as Mary and Joseph.  
We are always on board with God’s plan.  We surrender our own selves to Love, to something greater than our own personal goals.
Maybe it’s just me, but too often it is the King David that is more active.  We grow too content, too comfortable, too possessive.
Too much energy given to power as the world defines it; into ego.  Too much attachment to things, ideas...
This creates so much suffering in our world, in our lives.  It creates too much divisions between ourselves.  
Read the full story of David; of his family.
How many stories have I heard of siblings fighting over the inheritances; no longer speaking to each other.
People caught up in their own dramas, own desires, they don’t see the hurt in others who want to love them.
People wanting all the world to conform to their own way of thinking and doing things...
Yet, the story of David is also that God never abandoned him, but always called out to him.  God sent the prophets to David and his descendants calling them back to their relationship with God…not always with happy results.
God never abandons us either.  God is with us!  Not with prophets...
In Christ, we know this.  
Through Christ, we know that God never stops loving us, not matter what.
Christ is our liberation to take risks and love!
Christ is our freedom to let go of how the world tries to define power and strength, and to accept the path of detachment, humility, of surrender.
Christ is the way to seek forgiveness for our mistakes, and to forgive others, and to move forward.
He is the courage to walk out into the darkness and go; to trust.
Even as the Angel departs from us.
Imagine how much anger, poverty, sadness could be eased in our lives and the people around us...when we choose to love, choose to forgive, choose to hope.
I wish being human was easier…

And maybe it is… when we keep Christ in it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

19th Sunday. With just a little faith...

Image
Parents, you are amazing. Each day you wake up and walk into the chaos of life with those special little somethings. Each day you walk into life and make choices, with little preparation, with those kids that are inherently bipolar: angels in one moment, in another, even Satan would be scared of them. Again, there is little prep; there is no easy app for parenting. I will repeat again, I do not mind noisy kids in mass; noisy adults I do, you all know better, but kids…please bring them and have them here. Parents thank you for bringing them and for having the courage and faith to be parents. Recently a friend asked me about depression. He asked me to describe what it is like. I could only give my experience: it is like a fog. It is being so overwhelmed by everything and feeling everything, and lacking the ability to take a step forward, to make a choice. There is no movement, only stagnation. It takes a lot of energy to be able to make a choice, to take a step. Earlier this week I w
Read more

22nd Sunday Following the Messiah

Image
My first car was a 1977 chevy nova, v-6, two doors; under the hood there was so much space. I got it the summer before my sophomore year in college, so I was 18-19. I wanted to change the oil so my dad told me how to do it. He said when I change the filter, hand tighten first, then give a small turn with the wrench, do not overtighten it. Me, being a college man, and knowing everything, gave it a good strong turn and thought well done. Several months later, it was time to change the filter again. I could not get it off. I tried and tried. My dad noticed and came to help. He told me that I had cranked it hard the last time didn’t I. Yup, with a degree of shame. He worked to get that thing off. My Uncle who lived nearby saw the commotion, He came and helped. It took them a long time, and what they did was eventually pound through the tire jack, and twisted it off that way. I learned my lesson; I felt a lot of shame on that one. Being able to hold in tension or conflicting ideals signifie
Read more

2nd Advent - Finding our way in God's Love

Image
Many years ago a friend living in Texas came up to visit me in Fernley. This friend had been born and raised in the city. Anyway, I had asked him what he would like to do and he wanted to go geocaching. Okay, I thought it is March in Northern Nevada, fun! But we went, found a cache located near Lahontan Reservoir, and so we drove out there. I parked the car near the cache and the gps device told us the cache was about 500 feet away. I looked around and had a sense of where it would be, on this hillside. My friend became worried: worried that we would get lost. I said not a problem. What if we lose sight of the car? I looked around, it was Nevada sage, no tree for miles; and again we were only going 500 feet up a hill. I said we will be fine, we will never lose sight of the car and we won’t get lost. We didn’t. I have been lost in the wilderness once. It was scary. I was in Northern New Mexico, in a thick forest and it was an overcast day. I was by myself, and nobody knew where I was, a
Read more