From Caesar to Christ

Homily for the Second Sunday of Advent, Year C
Baruch 5.1-9 Psalm 126 Philippians 1.4-6, 8-11 Luke 3.1-6

Today, in the first year of the presidency of Barack Obama, in the land that is arguably the successor to the Roman Empire as the most powerful nation in the world; not many people remember Tiberius Caesar. He is little more than a name in the history books, a subject to be studied by a chosen few academics, and perhaps the subject of a statue or two in the city of Rome. Today, when Benjamin Netanyahu is Prime Minister of the State of Israel for the second time and Mahmoud Abbas is in his fifth year as President of the Palestinian authority, both people governing portions of the land of Judea and Galilee; Pontius Pilate and Herod are remembered by Christians, but not because of what they accomplished as leaders, but because of the role they played in the death of Christ. Today, in the tenth year of the presidency of Bashar al-Assad of Syria, the successor in the land Philip the tetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitis, Philip is only remembered as the brother of Herod the King. Historians have no record of the life of Lysanias, the tetrarch of Abilene. And in the fifth year of the pontificate of Benedict XVI, the 264th successor of Peter as Bishop of Rome, the religious leaders Annas and Caiaphas are only remembered with contempt by Christians for their role of the death of Christ, and they are little remembered at all by their fellow Jews.

Most of today’s world leaders, like their predecessors of old, will be nothing more than objects of historical inquiry just a couple generations after their deaths. As it will be for most of us. Some people may have buildings or schools named after them, ensuring at least some longevity to their name; most of us will be remembered fondly by those who know us, by family and friends. But in two thousand years? Even the history books and the family stories and the genealogies will be mostly forgotten. The Caesers and the Herods and the US Presidents and the leaders of the world’s nations may leave a certain legacy, but eventually time moves on, other leaders and other civilizations arrive and grow, and the past simply becomes the past.

So what’s the point? Why go through life trying to make a difference in the world or in our families if we’re pretty sure that, not too long in the future, our names will be forgotten? But there is one name whose influence and presence has not diminished in two thousand years; one person whose life story continues to be told in great detail and whose birth and death are marked by billions of people each year. Not even John the Baptist or the apostles or the Virgin Mary have had anywhere near the influence of this one man. But that’s because he is not just a man, he is God himself. Even if they don’t realize it or publicly acknowledge it, all the people rushing around shopping and going to concerts and planning family get-togethers are doing so because of the birth of this one man. The name of Jesus will never fade away, it will never be relegated to history books, because it is a living name. And as long as there are people who take his name and make it their own – as long as there are people who become Christian in name and in action – Jesus Christ will never become an object of the past. A life well lived and remembered is one in which we take on the name of Christ, the only lasting name there is, making it our own and becoming his hands, his feet, his voice, and his presence in the world. Without Christ and his birth and death and resurrection, each of us would be forgotten. But through Christ, in many different ways known to God alone, we will live forever.