No Ordinary People

Homily for the First Sunday of Advent, Year A
Isaiah 2.1-5 Psalm 122 Romans 13.11-14 Matthew 24.37-44

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We Christians are pretty ordinary people. We have regular jobs and families, we work hard to make ends meet, we struggle with temptations and failings, but we always try to be the best person we can be. It’s a pretty ordinary existence, not much different from anyone else we might encounter along the way. But, on the other hand, there is something about who we are as Christians that is not ordinary. We are different, or at least we should be.

Take Aurelius, for example. Aurelius was a pretty normal person, by the world’s standards. His mother was a Christian, but his father didn’t really have anything to do with God or church. Aurelius’ mom wanted her children to have the same faith that she did, but it really wasn’t that important to them. Aurelius, himself, didn’t have much time for God. He was busy with school, where he was a good student, and with his friends – and he had a lot of friends. He and his friends liked to have a good time, and they enjoyed what you might call the things of the world. By age 18, Aurelius had fathered a child outside of marriage. He loved the child, but he wasn’t really sure whether he loved the child’s mother. But they moved in together and lived together for many years, although they never got married. Eventually, Aurelius moved to a bigger city where he could get a job that paid more money and came with more prestige. He was living a pretty ordinary life by the world’s standards – it was the kind of life that everyone around him wanted to have – he wasn’t tied down by marriage, but he had the benefits of a regular companion; he had a secure job that gave him the money and power he needed to enjoy life; and with no religious faith, he wasn’t held back by things like prayer, morality, and the prospect of eternity. He was living the good life. Or so he thought.

Over the course of several months, Aurelius started to get restless with his life. He had everything he needed, he was living the way society said we should live, but something wasn’t right. Something was missing. One afternoon, while sitting in a garden reading, he heard a voice say: “Take up and read.” He wasn’t sure if the voice was just inside his head, or maybe from some kids who were playing in the yard next door. But there was a Bible sitting on the table next to him, so he picked it up, opened it to a random page, and starting reading. This is what he read: “Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and lust, not in rivalry and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh” (Romans 13.13-14).

That moment changed his life. Over a period of time, Aurelius learned more about this Jesus and what it meant to become like him. He learned that Christians are ordinary people who are not content to let the world control their lives, but instead they let Christ be in control. He learned that the emptiness in his heart came from the fact that he was making decisions based on what satisfied his own desires – he didn’t really think about anyone else. And he learned that no matter what his past life had been like, Jesus could transform his heart and give him the grace and strength to become a Christian – not just an ordinary human being, but an extraordinary child of God. And that’s exactly what happened.

By the way, this is a real story. Aurelius was born in northern Africa in the middle of the fourth century and after his conversion to Christianity became a bishop and one of the most important theologians the Church has ever known. His last name was Augustinus. We know him better as St. Augustine. Anyone can be a saint. But to do that, we have to change. We can’t be content with the ordinary. We can’t be content with the world as it is. We must “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.” This Advent, may our lives truly be changed.