Catholic Homily for the Second Sunday of Lent, Feb. 28, 2021. Readings: Genesis 22:1-18; Romans 8:31-34; Gospel of St. Mark 9:2-10. Theme: If God is For Us, Who Can Be Against Us?
In today’s second reading, St. Paul gives us a powerful message that we would do well to never memorize:” If God is for us, who can be against us?” But to make this bold statement a motto to live by requires confident trust, which I am sure you will agree, is somewhat of a challenge for most of us. We see this kind if trust dramatically acted out in the first reading about Abraham and his son, Isaac. Right up to the end, the elderly father is confident in God, that he will provide a way out of the sacrifice-situation. And we see a lesson in trust again in the gospel. Soon after Jesus foretells to his disciples his impending arrest and death, he clearly reveals his glorious divine identity to them so that when his Passion does come, they can recall just who he really is and keep trusting in him.
So, it seems to me that God is calling us through today’s readings to trust in him as a Father who always has our best interests at heart, even if we can’t see it that way at the time. And that’s not easy for most of us to do! But you know, whenever I think of this, I can’t help but recall the many summers I spent with my kids at the swimming pool. There was always that first time - when each one was barely out of diapers - when they would be standing at the edge of the pool just dying to jump in but too scared to actually take the plunge! And there I would be in the water, my arms outstretched and saying to them, “Come on, jump! Daddy’s going to be right here and catch you. Just look at me and not the water and jump! It’s going to be fine!”
I think this is very much what St. Paul is trying to tell us as well. He’s emphatically trying to assure us that trust in God is the best choice for us, and that it makes a lot of sense based on our past experience of his love. He’s trying to boost our confidence by reminding us that it was God, after all, who sent Christ into the world as our Savior. So, it’s foolish to think that he cares little about us. And he reminds us that it was Christ himself who not only lived for us but also died for us and who never stops praying for us before the Father in Heaven. So, why in the world would we not put our trust in him? What more can he do to show us his undying love and protection? It’s kind of like St. Paul saying, “Come on, take the plunge and trust in God your Father! Jesus is right at his side ready to catch you. Just keep your eyes fixed on them and not on the troubles in life. It’s going to be fine!”
But as we all know, it’s a very hard thing for us to trust because so often our relationship with God, if we realize it or not, is based more on us being in control. We can’t seem to let go of our need to direct the events of our lives and just let God be God. And even when we think we are praying to God, sometimes we are actually trying to broker a deal with him. Thinking that we can sway his mind or dictate the trajectory of events we might be tempted to say something like: “if I do such-and-such a thing for you, then you do this-or-that for me.”
However, Christianity does not see God this way at all! We who are baptized into Christ see and experience God as our Father, who knows our needs and is waiting for us to just ask and trust. Jesus devoted so much of his preaching and teaching to this truth, trying to get it into our heads!
One time, to prove this point, Jesus took a child into his arms as said that unless we become like little children we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. He was not calling us to be childish, but childlike. He made little children our role models of trust because that’s a child’s default way of living. They are typically rather oblivious to the threats that are around them and simply enjoy life within the safety and security of their parents’ love for them. That’s precisely how God wants us to be in our relationship with him.
We need to take the advice we heard from God the Father in today’s gospel and listen to Jesus! Listen to what he is trying so hard to convey to us by both word and example
And actually, that brings me back to the memory of being with my kids at the pool. When they stopped listening to their fears and focused on listening to me, and took that first plunge into the water, they experienced that it was safe and learned to trust me. In much the same way, once we stop listening to our fears - whatever they might be - and listen to Jesus the Beloved Son, and actually start jumping with trust into the arms of God, then we’ll start to experience for ourselves the truth of those consoling words we heard from St. Paul: “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
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