(Please read the Scripture passage before reading the homily.)
Why did God become human? Some think this was Plan B, what God had to do after Adam and Eve sinned and messed everything up. So God would have to come down to earth to die for us and atone for Adam’s sin.
I do not believe that. I think that having to invoke a Plan B means that we sinners had the power to force God to change God’s plans. If this were true, then we would have been more powerful than God since we had made God change God’s plan.
This passage of the Gospel tells us that “God did not send his Soon into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” I would call this a far cry from Plan B. I think it is more like the Original Plan.
God made us in God’s image and likeness. God created through the word God spoke. When God took on human flesh, God showed us God’s true image. Jesus is the face of God, made human. The human Jesus came to teach us, to show us, how we are supposed to live as humans. He is the masterpiece, and all of us apprentices have to imitate him. He wrote the book on how to be human. He is the model for us to so that we can know how to do it well.
The Son of God came to save because he came out of love, not out of anger. He brought healing in his wings. He is the smile of God. He is the bridge uniting us to God. Because we have sinned, by his coming he brought reconciliation with God. By showing us how to be a perfect human, he brought us into his own divine life. We are saved and not condemned.
This is the purpose of Jesus’ life. He came as life and resurrection. His whole life brought us life and his life included his dying. He came as part of the Original Plan and Plan B never did exist. He did not come because we made God change God’s plan or mind. He came because God had always planned to create us in God’s image and likeness and to send Jesus. When Jesus came, he came out of love and not out of anger. He came to save and not to condemn.
This is the good news of the Gospel. This is good news for us. We have always been loved by God and God is never angry with us. We always show God the likeness we carry of God’s Son. We have a strong family resemblance to God because we belong to this family.
I think we can safely discard the notion of a Plan B and stick with the Original Plan.