3rd Sunday of Lent - God Made You for More!

Greetings!  Here's the homily I preached for the 3rd Sunday of Lent - it was to the participants on the Teens Encounter Christ retreat #544 at Beckman Catholic High School.  Just remember - God made you for more! 

READINGS:

1^st Reading: Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15
Resp. Psalm: Ps. 103:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11
2^nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12
Gospel: Luke 13:1-9

FOCUS: God is relational; He cares about our wellbeing, and wants us to experience new life. 

FUNCTION: Grow in your relationship with God through regular times for prayer.

          It’s a blessing to have all of you here this weekend!  As we’ve said, none of you are here by accident.  You are here because God has a purpose for you and because He’s the One who called you here – because He wants to reveal His love to you; because He wants to draw you closer to Himself, and because He knew you before you were conceived and while you were still in your mother’s womb, and He has created you to be His beloved child.  You are not an accident – no one is an accident in God’s eyes – and you are not here on accident. 

          I know it sounds rather cliché, but God has a plan.  Do I know what that plan is for you?  Unfortunately, no, I don’t – I’m not God; I don’t know what God’s plan for your life is per se – but I do know it’s good!  It’s so good!  I know it’s better than anything you can possibly think of or imagine – because He knows us better than we know ourselves, because He created us.  The Bible even tells us that all the hairs on our head have been counted – God knows us that well!  And because He created us, He also has a plan for our lives – a plan for greatness.

          The world, however, would have us be mired in mediocrity – you only need to look at the contents of reality TV shows to understand that fact.  These shows don’t call us to be great and heroic and strong and virtuous; they just call us to be so-so or unique or odd or funny.  Think about it – is there anyone on these reality TV shows who’s a good role model?  I’m sorry if you like some of these shows, but I don’t think so.  A lot of the people on these shows are just – well – weird.  Sorry, no offense to Honey Boo Boo fans. J  When I see these shows, I often stop and think to myself, “Surely God made us for more than all the ridiculous stuff happening on here!”  And it’s so true – God has made us for more – for so much more than the ridiculousness of life as it’s depicted on reality TV. 

          What am I getting at?  I’m getting at the fact that God and the world have two very different visions for our lives.  God wants us to reach our full potential and become truly great people, but the world would have us settle for having fun and not really pursuing anything terribly worthwhile.  If we follow the voice of the world, we’ll end up in spiritual chains, like the Israelites ended up being slaves in Egypt.  But just like He did for the Israelites, God also wants to draw us out of our slavery to mediocrity – a spiritual slavery we allow ourselves to be drawn into by listening to the voice of the world instead of the voice of God – and lead us into spiritual freedom.  God wants to break the chains that bind us and lead us into a new and better life.

          In the first reading, God looked on the slavery that His chosen people had to endure while in Egypt and said, “I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers, so I know well what they are suffering.  Therefore, I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.”  In so many ways, the Jewish story of the Exodus is also the Christian story of what God has done for us in Christ!

          Think about it, how did Jesus’ public life begin?  After He was baptized, He was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by Satan.  We hear that story on every First Sunday of Lent.  And after He returned, He started His public ministry.  The first words of Jesus’ public ministry were these – “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (See Matt. 4:17).  Did you know that the “promised land” that God led the Israelites to through the desert is a foreshadowing of the true Promised Land – the kingdom of heaven – where God wants to lead all people who are willing to follow and believe?  So the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry is practically a summary of the real meaning of the Book of Exodus – repent of your slavery to sin, because God wants to lead you to heaven!

          God did it back in the days of the Book of Exodus, He did it at the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, and He wants to do it again now.  He always wants to lead us out of spiritual slavery and into spiritual freedom, because He’s a God of relationships, a God of love.  God is intrinsically relational by His nature – He is a community of Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: three divine Persons living in perfect unity as one God.  And because God is relational, He always calls us into relationship with Himself.        

          In the first reading, when Moses asked for God’s name, how did God identify Himself to Moses?  God said, ‘“I am the God of your fathers,” he continued, “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.’”  The fact that God referred to Himself in relation to Moses’ forefathers means that God is a God who wants to establish relationships with the people He’s created.  And that’s exactly what God wants to do in our lives.  But in order to establish and grow in a relationship with God, we need to examine our other relationships; for instance, getting too wrapped up in the world doesn’t help us deepen our relationship with God and our relationships with others can keep us from growing.  And so now’s a good weekend to think about our relationships – which ones help us get closer to God and which ones keep are keeping us away?

          Trust me, I know that’s a tough examination.  But you have to know this: God loves you SO MUCH MORE than anyone else – more than your parents, more than your boyfriend or girlfriend, more than anyone.  And as much as you’re looking for fulfillment, the only one who will fulfill you is the One who made you.     Earlier this afternoon you signed the Book of the Covenant and made a profession of faith as a sign that you’re ready and willing to make a commitment to Christ.  I’m not saying that’s always going to be easy or fun; in fact, it may be one of the hardest things you’ve ever done.  But if we never did things that were hard, would we ever grow? 

          Dear friends, God wants to take you places!  God wants to lead you out of the chains of mediocrity and into spiritual freedom.  And so I encourage you to embrace the freedom the Lord wants to offer you.  I hope you’ll take the chance – starting here and now – to turn to God in prayer and grow in that relationship that God wants to form with you.  I know your life will be better for it.