Please read the Scripture passage before the homily.
Several weeks ago, I attended a conference on evangelization, on preaching about the death and resurrection of Jesus from a person’s lived experience of Jesus. Today’s reading does not start off with good news: no one likes to be told that he or she is dead, decayed and full of stench. This, however, is how Paul starts out. He even includes himself among the disobedient, the depraved, the children of wrath.
What is the good news? Despite having three strikes against us, the good news is that we are still at bat. God, who is rich in mercy and because of his great love for us, has brought us back to life. By grace we have been saved. We are nor rotting, dead people reeking of decay. This is the good news.
No matter how bad we think we are, no matter how ashamed we may feel about our sins and transgressions, God still love us and still looks upon us as united and made one with Christ, the Son of this God.
How does this come about? Dead people can do nothing: we carry them out in coffins for burial. When, however, we were dead in the stench of our sins, God brought us to life in Christ. It is by this grace that we are alive now in Christ. We did nothing because we were dead. It is God who has done everything. This is God’s gift to us. This is the grace that saves us.
This, then, is the good news. This is God constantly seeking to have relationships with us. We are not dead, but alive by God who wants to enjoy our company.