Christmas: Holiness of Life
God Calls All to Holiness
Luke 2:22-40
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. December 27, 2020
Dorothy Day was a Catholic writer and activist. She started her career as a journalist, but is best known as a co-founder of what would be called the Catholic Worker Movement. The movement was centered around houses of hospitality where people could come to live off the street. They ran soup kitchens, hosted times of teaching, held prayer together, and ran farms. The goal was a personalist revolution, Not a revolution through the state. Each person would love another person, and from there a new world would be born. When you read some of their earlier writings it’s hard not to be taken up in their fervor. “the Sermon on the Mount will be called practical” Peter Maurin, another Catholic Worker once wrote, “when Christians make up their mind to practice it.”
Dorothy Day was both a beloved and reviled figure, in her day. She had a clear love for the poor and for Christ, matched with a pugnacious attitude. And she was not afraid to pick sides. Since her passing there’s been a movement among Catholics to have her recognized as a saint. I, of course, make no position on that either way. But I am reminded of one concern of hers. She is quoted as saying, “Don’t make me out to be a saint. I don’t want to be dismissed that easily.”
That line is characteristically Dorothy Day, and it says something about the way we treat those we call saints. We need to be careful not to put saints on a pedestal. If we put them on a pedestal it’s just one more way we dismiss their witness. Dorothy’s discomfort with being called a saint is that we might then say, “well that’s all well and good for her. She can do that. But I’m no saint.” Loving the poor, that’s for the saints. Daily prayer, that’s for the saints. Holiness of life, that’s for the saints. Me, I’m never going to be a saint. All I can do is get by. I suppose we do that to all heroes. They’re heroes because they’re heroic. As for myself, well, I’m just a guy.
The truth of the matter is that every saint is just another person. They have no innate abilities or qualities that you or I lack. A saint is a saint by the grace of God. Holiness of life does not come from our heroic will or good breeding, but simply by the grace of God. Why should we think otherwise? Salvation is by the grace of God, not by our works. And what is holiness of life but living out the grace of God? God has given us a gift, as we celebrate this Christmas. That gift is Jesus Christ. We show we have received that gift, we respond to that gift, when we live holy lives.
John Wesley struggled earlier in his life because he didn’t quite grasp this point. He dearly desired to have holiness of life. He wanted to be like those we might call saints. And so he engaged in rigorous disciplines. He mapped out his day so he had a certain amount of prayer time. He budgeted his income so that the most of it went to the poor. He worked and worked and worked, because he thought holiness of life was something that came by great effort and he was going to expend that effort. But when he had that famous experience at Aldersgate, when he felt his heart strangely warmed, what he recognized was that Jesus died for him, even him. God will use our discipline, and use our efforts. But it’s never our efforts that win holiness of life. It is always, entirely, the gift of God.
Holiness of life is not something withheld for the select few. Holiness of life is something that is offered to everyone. It is not about the efforts we might expend as much as our willingness and humility in receiving. God calls us to be his own. Will we accept the call? The Father wishes to adopt us, will we be so adopted?
Even Jesus is every bit a human being as you or I. It is easy for us to read the gospels and say, “well yeah, but he is God.” I can never love my neighbor the way Jesus loves, I can never love God as Jesus loves. While it is true Jesus is God, Jesus is also entirely human. Jesus knew our pains. Jesus knew our temptations. And Jesus had to grow.
This morning we read from Luke’s gospel about when Jesus is brought to the Temple. There Anna and Simeon offer blessings and prophecies about what will take place. This Jesus, this infant, will be the cause for the falling and rising of many in Israel, Simeon says. He will bring about the redemption of Jerusalem. A sword will pierce his mother’s heart. But this amazing infant is still an infant. And being a human infant sacrifice is made according to the Law. That is why Mary and Joseph are there. Being an infant he may be held in Simeon’s arms. And being an infant, “The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.”
Jesus, too, was once held in the arms of another. Jesus, too, wore diapers. Jesus, too, had to grow up. Jesus was not a super human. Jesus was every bit human, human to the bone. And this human knew no sin. This human had holiness of life. This human unites us to God through the cross. So that by him we too, merely human though we may be, may also know his holiness. May also know his love. May also know his life.
Let us not dismiss the saints, as if their example were only good stories to tell. God calls all of us to be saints. God calls all of us to be like his Son. And it’s not impossible. Nothing is impossible with God. All of us may be as joyful, happy, peaceful, and loving as Jesus. All of us many experience the love of God.