How Can It Be? (July 7, 2024- 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time)

Have you ever heard the saying, “If something seems too good to be true, it probably is,”?  It may apply to the letter you received saying you have won the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes, or to the email saying you have been gifted a villa in northern Italy.  But some people actually use this saying to reject the Christian gospel.  It seems too good to be true.  

That the all-powerful God who created the entire universe would dignify humanity by becoming one of us seems too good to be true.   That this God-Man would give up His life in unconditional love for us to save us from sin and death seems too good to be true.  And in today’s Gospel, the people of Jesus’ native place cannot believe that He is their long-awaited Messiah.  Although they are astonished by His teaching in their synagogue and by the mighty deeds that were wrought by His hands, “they took offense at Him.”  Why?  Because they knew His family, and they thought they knew Him.  They had their preconceptions about what kind of person their Messiah would be and He did not fit the job description.  That the Messiah would be from their own hometown was just too good to be true.  And Jesus “was amazed at their lack of faith” (Mark 6: 1-6).  

Christianity dares to proclaim that, “Since God became a human being, all creation is holy” (Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.).  God can come to our awareness in and through the normal:   In the sunrise that keeps occurring every day over the Eastern Plains.  In the sunset over the Front Range whose colored cloud arrangements are different every time.  In the flora and fauna that grace our forests.  In oceans and waterfalls, in planets and stars, in the wind, in the people around us, and even in ourselves.

Catholicism dares to proclaim that this God so loves us that He humbles Himself into the form of bread and wine.  Why?  So He can unite Himself to us and to one another, and nurture us on our journey to heaven.  His name is Emmanuel which means God-With-Us (Matthew 1:23).  He is with us in the tabernacle, in the monstrance, on the altar, and in our assembly, especially after we have received Holy Communion.  But some people take offense at this teaching.  Why?   Because it seems too good to be true.

Just because the teaching is rejected, doesn’t mean it’s not true.  It just means that some people are stuck on the question, “How can it be?”  How can it be that our God created us in His image and likeness?  How can it be that our God shed His own human blood for our salvation, and whose fountain of forgiveness is ever flowing towards us?  How can it be that Jesus nurtures us with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, and wants us to share eternal life with Him in heaven?  There is only one adequate explanation:  Because God loves us.

Many people have heard the proclamation that God loves them.  But they fail to see the proof, so they ask, “How can it be?”  The mission of the Church is to love those people so profoundly that they discover the answer to their question in us.   They realize that there is only one explanation for our behavior: God is loving them through us.  This is the most liberating news, worthy of the fireworks which God displays for us in the nightly sky.  It feels so good, so right, it must be true.