1st Sunday of Ordinary Time - Jan 08, 2022

Jan 8, 2022
More than once I have thought to myself….OMG can’t you just come down here and tell me what I am supposed to do and how to do it?
I also have said and heard it said….why doesn’t God just show up and tell us what to do?]
Here is the challenge we face….God often has, and God often does, and then we turn around and find a way to cast doubt on God.
Our Gospel today is a perfect reminder….Jesus we believe is not only the perfect expression of God, Jesus is also the perfect expression of us.  Fully Human, Fully Divine….
What happens in and to Jesus, can and does happen in and to us.  What is possible in Jesus is possible in us.
And God says:
“You are my beloved, on you my favor rests.  With you I am well pleased.”
And we turn around and discount all of God’s action and say….oh that’s about Jesus not about me!
To which I would say…
See!
It is so hard for us to believe that what is said to Jesus can be said to us….that what is said about Jesus can be said about us…We most often have made Jesus into a super human being…
But that has never been the true teaching of the Church.  Fully human and fully Divine…both/and, not either/or.
The very first thought that hit my mind and maybe hit yours….Oh I am not God! 
True…but I could be/and you could too…if we always chose holiness, which we don’t always do.  But we could!
Three years ago I preached on these exact same readings.  I encouraged everyone to go home, take a 3x5 note card and write those words spoken to Jesus on it and put it somewhere for us to see every day.
Here is mine…I keep it in the bathroom…hence the steam from showers has warped and faded it….but I will put it back….because I am still learning how to believe that it is true.
Who knows,  maybe three years from now we will grasp it a little bit more or a little more deeply.
I take heart in the fact that it overwhelmed Jesus too…he immediately ran off into the desert after God spoke that to him, to try to figure out what that meant  in his life.
I had a supervisor once who used to say…..I am God’s favorite kid….and I always thought that it was somewhat arrogant…but I have come to understand, she was saying what she knew deep in her soul, that she is indeed God’s beloved, just as are each and everyone of us.  We are God’s favorite kid….
Our challenge is to believe it!
Who knows, maybe it’s time for us to fill out a new 3x5 card and put it some place to remind us who we are!