Homily for Sunday, February 18, 2007

(Corinthians 15)

A skull may scare us. But it also may provoke us to think. A famous painting at the Smithsonian Institute shows Mary Magdalene fingering a skull. From the look on her face she seems to be pondering what life is all about. “Do we live for pleasure?” she apparently asks herself, “or is there more to life than that?” In the second reading St. Paul does not have a skull but holds in mind the image of the first man. He is going to provide an answer to Mary’s question.

Paul calls him Adam. The name means man. There are no pictures of him. But his image resides in each of us. Our genetic make-up very closely resembles his.

Adam comes from the earth. In fact, the name A-dam literally means from the earth. He and, therefore, we as well share characteristics of other earthly creatures. We hear, see, smell, et cetera in similar ways as bats and buffalos. Other kinds of animals may even surpass us in these capacities. But none puts them all together better. We cannot fly like a bird but we have invented the airplane. We cannot lift many times our own weight like an ant. But we have developed levers, pulleys and the hydraulic lift. Along with Adam we are the crowning achievement of God’s creation.

Again like other earthly creatures we mess up. In fact, often our debasements like our accomplishments supersede those of animals. Examples abound. One particularly worrisome human failing was reported a couple weeks ago. A survey found that 42 percent of Internet users between 10 and 17 years of age have viewed on-line pornography. Never mind that most often they did not intend to see it and did not call it up. Children’s attitudes toward sexuality are still distorted by it. Being the kind of beings they are, no doubt many return with friends to view more and varied images. For such crimes as pornography, humans have merited the destruction that will be pronounced on us this Wednesday. The priest will impose ashes on our foreheads with the sobering words, “Remember, man, that thou art dust and to dust you shall return.”

But God has given us a second chance. Paul calls this new opportunity, the “last Adam.” He is, of course, Jesus Christ, born of the Holy Spirit to redeem us from sin. As the first Adam was able to pass on his image through genetic code, the second Adam gives us his spiritual life through his death and resurrection. Spiritual life empowers us to transcend earthly tendencies to sin. We resist entanglement in pornography. If we cannot shield our children from all Internet abuse, we are enabled to model for them a caring sexuality.

More than anything else, the promise of heaven spurs us on. Yet in our society, we are often reticent about heaven. Perhaps life in the United States is so full of opportunities that we are reluctant to imagine the life to come. Yet for Paul, the Corinthians, and still for much of the world today hope of heaven brings consolation for the struggle on earth. We strive to carry out the commands of Jesus in the gospel today so that we may obtain his heavenly image. To love our enemies, to give to those who ask, to forgive our offenders become our transport to heaven.

One of our favorite images of Jesus is the Good Shepherd. In one portrayal he retrieves a lamb from entanglement in a thorny bush. That lamb, of course, is we ourselves as earthly creatures. The entanglement is Internet porn or hatred of enemies. Jesus is there to rescue us. He is always there.