During Advent, the priests of the diocese have been encouraged to preach on the kerygma. In case you missed one of their homilies or wish to reflect on the topic further, we are reprinting similar content here. You can access Parts 1 and 2 through our online archives.
Last week was kind of a downer, with all that talk about toil and suffering. But we had to get through the heavy stuff in order to arrive at the real heart of the Gospel, the victory of Jesus Christ over sin and death. This week, having just celebrated Gaudete Sunday, when the priests wear rose-colored — not pink! — vestments, we can focus on why we should always give thanks to God for what He has done.
The in-breaking of the Kingdom of God
There’s a verse that sometimes gets sung or spoken at the beginning of Mass, which is called the Entrance Antiphon. The one for Gaudete Sunday comes from Philippians 4 and says, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near.” That short verse distills the whole narrative of salvation history: God drawing ever nearer to His People.
It’s worth pressing into this point further. Because Christianity has permeated culture in various ways for the past two millennia, we can take for granted the nearness of God. In other words, we can forget His “otherness,” the fact that He is utterly transcendent, completely beyond us in every possible way. As created beings, we have no access to God on our own.
With the Incarnation, though, God draws near to us in way that we could never have imagined, in a way that can’t be exceeded. The almighty God — the Creator of the universe, He who is
existence itself — became man.
Though he was God, Jesus knew what it was to be a helpless child, utterly dependent upon a mother and persecuted by political powers. He knew what it was to live in anonymity, obedient to his parents and Heavenly Father. Jesus, the second Person of the Trinity, knew betrayal and abandonment, allowing Himself to be insulted and falsely accused, to be tortured and crucified.
We should be scandalized that God would do these things, that He would be humiliated in such a fashion! And yet, thus does God reveal the depth of His love for us.
In the same moment — and paradoxically for us — God reveals His omnipotence. As St. Paul says, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1:18). By the very instrument of Jesus’ suffering and death, the Cross, he bridges the gap between Heaven and Earth, between life and death. He is the great pontifex, the bridge-builder between God and man.
Here’s where the Good News gets even better: What Jesus did for all of humankind, he did for individuals as well. He didn’t come solely to redeem the human race, but specifically, to redeem you, to redeem me, to redeem even the most detestable person you can think of. In the words of our bishop, the whole Christ event is a cosmic rescue mission that arises not from what we deserve — which is nothing — but from God’s infinite and humble love.
So although I deserve punishment, the Lord grants pardon. Although the wages of sin is death, Jesus offers eternal life. He who was and is God, offers His life out of obedience to the Father, in contrast to our disobedience. On that Cross, He reveals the depth of His love for us, which knows no limits, and He shows us that He’s always with us, even when we feel nothing but pain, sorrow, and abandonment. And from that Cross, Jesus destroys death itself.
Again I say, rejoice!
Thanks to Jesus, sin and death have no power over you! We all die, but death can no longer hold us. Yes, we grieve for our loved ones, but with hope, because we no longer fear death. There’s a beautiful prayer spoken at the Mass of Christian Burial, where the priest says, “Indeed, for your faithful, Lord, life is changed not ended, and when this earthly dwelling turns to dust, an eternal dwelling is made ready for them in Heaven.”
The same goes for sin: It no longer has power over us. With God’s grace, we can break free from bad habits and overcome addictions. We can be forgiven and healed. Most importantly, we can love as God intended us to love from the beginning.
So, the in-breaking of the Kingdom of God began in a particular way with the Incarnation, but it didn’t stop with the Ascension. The Scriptures, the Sacraments, prayer and meditative reading, actions of love and service —these are all portals through which Jesus breaks into our lives and continues to give to us His very self as the antidote to cure and save us. Rejoice, then, for you once were dead but have come to life again; you were lost and have been found.
If you’d like to get a copy of Bishop Hying’s booklet, reach out to Sarah in the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis at sarah.stout@madisondiocese.org or 608-821-3045.