Friday 27 December 2013

4th Sunday of Advent 22 Dec 2013 Sermon

4th Sunday of Advent 22.12.13 Incarnation

There have been many heresies in the history of the Church, distorting some point of doctrine. Most of the worst ones have been to do with Our Lord and denying either His divinity or His humanity. These heresies are still active today in various religions, especially those that deny His divinity.

It seems there is a great reluctance to believe that God could be Man or vice versa.

Jesus was always God and at a certain time became Man without ceasing to be God. So from then on He is both.

He took on full human identity; He was not just pretending to be human. He felt pain; He could be tired and hungry; He felt emotions; He even could learn things in His human nature (such as carpentry).

He was fully human and perfectly human. He was like us in all things but sin and it is sin which keeps us from being what we should be.

The way Jesus lived His humanity is the way we should all be following. When He says, Follow Me, that is what He means – Live as I do.

The new humanity means free from sin; we can be forgiven for what we have done and strengthened not to sin again.

Our Lord is the second Adam. He is re-creating the human race in Himself. He is the prototype of a new kind of humanity, a new way of living.

And He came for all mankind not just one race (Jews) nor just white people, or Europeans, not just women (as the men will say), not just children (as the adults will say); not just old people (as the young will say) but every person. Whether they accept or not is another matter, but He claims them as His own.

He is not just a good man, or one more prophet, coming to make a useful contribution. He is entirely above and beyond any other religious figure. He is God Himself coming to join us in one of the greatest moments in human history (along with His death and resurrection).

This is a major turning point in human history much bigger than any of the usual ways that history is marked (like 1066, or Second World War, or French Revolution etc). This one beats them all.

Yet so little understood, and so much underrated.

Christmas is for many simply a chance to relax with family, a holiday period, nothing to do with ‘religion’!

Even for practising Catholics we can keep the usual observances at Christmas but still not realize the depths of what we are dealing with.

He came to His own and they knew Him not.

He became human so we could become divine or at least share in divine nature.

He not only tells and shows us how to be human but gives us His life to work in us, to motivate us, making it possible to understand and to put into practice what perfect humanity requires.

This is maybe more salvation than we want, but there it is. Not everyone wants to be perfect, preferring to keep a few vices; but if we really understood we would be seeking this new humanity that Jesus brings.

We have to realize the potential. So much of Our Lord’s coming has remained only as potential, still on the shelf. We have to dig deeper and discover the possibility for what this could mean for the human race.

Many hide from Him fearing what He might want from them; but really we should be rushing out to meet Him. There is far greater happiness in being with Him than against Him.

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