HOMILY WEEK 01 03 – Year I
Faith in Jesus as One of Us:
Optional Memorial of St. Hilary
(Heb 2:14-18; Ps 105; Mk 1:29-39)
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Some students of human behaviour strive to follow the paradigm: Who, What, Where, Why, When and How? when writing on a certain topic. These questions pretty well assure that every aspect of a given topic will be covered.
Some of these questions can apply to today’s readings, as they reveal to us more about who Jesus is, what he does, and how he does it. We are invited to place our faith in Jesus as the Incarnate one who proclaims, heals and prays.
The reading from Hebrews first focuses on who Jesus is. As the Word made flesh, the Incarnate one, he took on our humanity and became one of us in every aspect except sin, all the while remaining a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God. Sharing our flesh and blood led him to accept suffering, humiliation, and even death. This is what the sacred author wants us to believe.
Why Jesus accepted this fate was to help us, the descendants of Abraham, and not the angels. His goal was to liberate us from the fear of death, which is like slavery when that fear holds us in its grip. Not only that, his passion was a sacrifice of atonement for our sins, making things right with God.
The gospel continues answering these questions, providing us with a rich description of the ministry of Jesus centered on proclaiming and healing. He first heals Peter’s mother-in-law, who immediately gets up and begins to serve, teaching us to do the same. Then we are told the whole city gathered at the door, wanting to be healed of their ailments and liberated from demons. Here again, we see Jesus freeing people from slavery to sin and sinfulness – their defects of character and negative attitudes preventing them from being fully human.
Jesus himself then adds the dimension of proclaiming the message to all that he does. That message is all about who he is – the Messiah, the Son of God, the Word made flesh, Saviour of the world, the one who came to redeem and to sanctify, and above all, to inaugurate the reign of God here on earth, in the hearts of those who would believe in him. That is good news indeed.
Why Jesus would do all this is not that evident, and has been the subject of theological debate for millennia. One school of thought, based largely on the comment from Hebrews that his was a “sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people,” led to the popular theological view that Jesus came to earth as a necessary sacrifice to appease an angry God. Many “substitutionary atonement theories” holding that God demanded Jesus to be a blood sacrifice to “atone” for our sin-drenched humanity then developed and held sway for centuries.
According to Fr. Richard Rohr OFM, there is an alternative orthodoxy. He points out that even in the 13th century, Franciscan philosopher and theologian John Duns Scotus (1266–1308) disagreed with this understanding based on retributive justice rather than the restorative justice that the prophets and Jesus taught. Inspired by the cosmic hymns in the first chapters of Colossians and Ephesians and the Prologue to John’s Gospel (1:1-18), Scotus developed what could be called a theory of at-one-ment rather than atonement.
For Scotus, God’s primary purpose was to reveal God’s prodigal, marvellous, overwhelming love for humanity, that we were “chosen in Christ before the world was made” (Ephesians 1:4). Our sin could not possibly be the motive for the incarnation! Only perfect love and divine self-revelation could inspire God to come in human form. God never merely reacts, but supremely and freely acts – out of love. Jesus did not come to change the mind of God about humanity. It did not need changing. Jesus came to change the mind of humanity about God! God is not someone to be afraid of but is the Ground of Being and on our side.
This Franciscan alternative orthodoxy, albeit a minority position, suggests why Jesus came: There is no bill to be paid; there is simply a union to be named. Jesus didn’t come to solve a problem; he came to reveal the true nature of God as Love.
How Jesus was able to accomplish his mission of revealing God’s love is simply his profound and intimate relationship with the Father nourished by times of solitary, contemplative communing with the Father, soaking up the Father’s love. The gospel writers often mention his practice of getting up early, and going out to a deserted place to pray, as does Mark here.
Surely, there is here a very convincing reason for us to do likewise – to develop, according to our own means, a more contemplative practice of prayer, allowing us time to ponder God’s word, soak up God’s love, and allow the Holy Spirit to accomplish in us that which we cannot do on our own. Trying to be faithful to these words, I recently did a monthly Poustinia, a 24-hour time of prayer, resting, fasting and writing – this time close to a warm fireplace in the Oblate cottage at ice-covered Jackfish Lake.
Today we are invited to honour St Hilary, best known for his defence of Christianity against the 4th-century Arian heresy, a position that questioned the nature of the Trinity. Hilary was born in Poitiers, Gaul [France], circa 320 and was already an adult, married and a father when he converted to Christianity. Chosen bishop of Poitiers about 350, Hilary offered a valiant defence of Christianity. In 356, on the advice of Arian bishops, the emperor exiled Hilary to the East. His continued defence of orthodoxy created such problems for the Arians there that they convinced the emperor to send him back to his own diocese. His stay in the Eastern Church enriched his theological writings, and he continued his confrontation with Arianism until his death circa 368. He was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1851. He is patron saint of lawyers.
The Eucharist is our greatest prayer, and one of our best ways to commune with the Father through word and sacrament. May our celebration deepen our faith in who Jesus is, and empower us to carry out the ministry to which he has called us, in whatever state of life is ours.
