There's no "One-upping" the ONE who has Come Down!

Listen to homily
Praise the Lord! In a recent Sport Illustrated article, Brett Favre said this:
“The funny thing is it's not about the touchdowns and the big victories. If I were to make a list, I would include the interceptions, the sacks, the really painful losses. Those times when I've been down, when I've been kicked around, I hold on to those. In a way those are the best times I've ever had, because that's when I've found out who I am. And what I want to be.”
What? Not the touchdowns and big victories? The interceptions, the sacks, painful losses too? Did Brett eat some bad craw fish or something?...the best times when he's been down and kicked around? Holding onto these? Has he gotten sacked one to many times? Maybe....or maybe he's really on to something.
We've all been in that situation. Surrounded by friends, family, perhaps a neighbor in conversation, we try to “one-up” the next guy. This isn't more apparent than in a group of teenage guys telling stories of how they survived flipping a jeep or evading authorities while doing something really stupid. Or a group of fathers reminiscing with one another in the living room about days long ago, before the responsibilities of marriage. As they hold on to their “bruskis” and hold on to past memories of rambunctious pre-married days of glory. Exaggeration is just a means of embellishing the truth so as to appear as the one with the most “manchisimo” as the Hispanics say. Or for the ladies out there, not to leave them out on this elemental condition of being human. Sharing stories, dare I say of gossip, scandalizing one another by whispering woes of another's misfortunes or mistakes.
How is it that in most of these superficial and often benign conversations, the revealing of hurts, wounds, and vulnerabilities never show up? I'm not denying the fun and importance of sharing our stories and sure, embellishing the truth sometimes to get a few laughs and break the ice. But underneath these thin guises of insecurities are real stories of battles fought—sometimes won, most often than not, lost. Wouldn't it be a strange world if we would get together at these informal stages of conversation and unveil the things which are the most honest, raw, and real emotions of our lives? If we would reveal to others with complete candor the unmistakably broken lives we live? Yet, this is not the way it is in the world is it? Especially not in front of others. There is an undeniable fear we all have of sharing with others the true stories of our lives. We dread the revelation of our brokenness and pain because we feel deep down that it will only be met by misunderstanding and the deaf ears of insensitivity and maybe even disdain from others. We share our glory stories, but all too often never want to share our horror stories.
So this is the way the world works huh? What is stranger then, the way this cruel world of ours works or the way that God works? Christmas is then the most strangest of times because God does the exact opposite with Himself than most of us do in these routine conversations and approaches to life. How's that you might ask. Simple. God doesn't triumph his greatness and tout his grandiose transcendence. God doesn't hold back his vulnerabilities and weaknesses and keep himself at bay so as to not reveal his own true identity. No! God works in a much stranger realm of reality and this isn't any more apparent than during Christmas time!
God could easily, as we find in other world religions, stay far away; not sharing in the condition of human insecurities. But he is a God who refuses to fall into the fears of the world. Christianity is the only faith that makes the bold proclamation that God becomes man! God inserts himself into the human condition through this baby Jesus. God does not demand that his story be told through grand exaggerated “one-upping.” Rather, God does a “one-downing” by coming to us in all his meekness and vulnerability. In doing so, God gives to us a way to live, a way of being that is radically different than what we've been conditioned to live. God becomes for us even the meaning of love itself. For there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friend. In a day and age of pluralism, we think that that all world religions are the same. They are not because of the simple fact that God became so vulnerable that he was willing to put himself into a cruel and heartless world. For us, we must show strength and respect the fear of our lives that says we are not to become vulnerable ourselves. God crushes this premise by loving so intensely our human condition that he becomes human for us to reveal to us what it means to be truly human.
Think of this Christmas story! During the night, God sneaks into human time behind the dark enemy lines of terrestrial power. Among the Herods and Ceasers of the world, among the lies of human glory, God reveals His own glory by traversing the countryside hidden in the virgin's womb and protected by the humble strength of his step-father's care. Threats of the harsh world surround him at every turn. Yet, like a secret covert operation, God decides to put himself in harms way to reveal his glory and majesty. And others hear about this story. The shepherds who kept the flock at night are guided by the light of angels. The three wise men, guided by the light of a star are brought to this underdog king to offer gifts of gold, frankincense, and muhr. And we, emerging from our houses of security 2007 years later are brought through the snow to St. Pius X Parish by our SUV and minivan's florescent lights and streetlights of modern paved roads. And most importantly, God leaves the place of glory to come to the ground—he humbles himself to become man.
And we know this story don't we? We know it all too well. That's why the Church is full this evening. We know that we can't share the secrets of our hearts with others because of the fear of rejection or denial. We know that in this cruel dark world of ours, that vulnerability and weakness is not a valued commodity. We know almost instinctively that there is a place were we can place this hurt and rejection of our soul on an altar to have it sacrificed and made new through a divine exchange with God. I don't know what you're bringing this evening. Heck, your family and friends may not even know what you are bringing.
But you know what....God does. God knows what we want to say to him so why don't we say it? Why do we think that what we have can't be said? God is not going to react to our pain, vulnerabilities, weaknesses, and sin like the superficial friends at the bar! God can completely, sincerely, and truthfully empathize with us because He loves us so much that He was willing and continues to be willing to become for us enfleshed. God continues to unveil his humanness through time by allowing us to participate in the continual enfleshing of himself through the Eucharist. You see, the altar of sacrifice is an extension of the small altar which we call the manger. Jesus, the babe born in Bethlehem, Bethlehem which means, “house of bread.” The baby who was laid in a feeding trough, continues to become bread for us breaking through our walls of insecurity.
I see the desire of the human heart to share these pains in the sacrament of confession. If I could only convey to you that there is nothing to fear. Being a priest for these eighteen months have given me a privledged glimpse into the deep desire of the human heart to share truly monumental struggles. If I could just tell you how much I experience the miracle of Christmas almost every single day when someone is moved to finally become vulnerable. Have we made this move? If we haven't what's holding us back? Do we not believe that what God has done this Christmas is true? Are we afraid that God can't love us despite what we have done?
God has conquered the dark reign of sin and death. Through the ages, Jesus Christ has become for us the Savior of the world! God has chosen to live so he could die and give us new life through this cross. From the crib to the cross. From the sky and into our soul, Jesus Christ has been revealed to us by God's plan to make all things new. And all he asks of us is whether or not we are willing to trust him this Christmas and accept his love into our lives.
“The funny thing is it's not about the touchdowns and the big victories. If I were to make a list, I would include the interceptions, the sacks, the really painful losses. Those times when I've been down, when I've been kicked around, I hold on to those. In a way those are the best times I've ever had, because that's when I've found out who I am. And what I want to be.”
Let's be honest, we've all been down and at times kicked around. Let us not believe that it is the touchdowns and big victories of life that need to be touted and flouted around, but the painful losses. God becomes victorious not by parading his grandness and powerfulness, but exemplifying his weakness and embracing the condition of vulnerability. Remember the next time we find ourselves trying to “one-up” the other that we need not do this with a God who has “one-downed” us by becoming enfleshed, by loving us so radically and strangely that He became like us. As God became like us, let us become like God for others by accepting the truth of God's love this Christmas. And what do we want to be? What are we supposed to be? We will only become what we were fully meant to be by embracing our losses. To know our biggest victories come at the hand of our most dire defeats. It may look like God really lost during his time on earth, but boy did he ever really win! He decidedly became victorious to allow us to become our victorious ourselves both now and forever.