Robert Barron - You Can't Save Yourself
Peace be with you. Friends, we come to this first Sunday of Advent to the liturgical New Year. And I've said this before, but advent's a time to get back to basics, like an athlete returning to the basic training. Some of the most fundamental truths of our faith are on display in these readings, and so once again, it's good for us to enter into that space. Can I suggest to you we start with that familiar advent hymn? We're going to be singing it now for the next four weeks all over the Catholic world. It's an ancient hymn by the way. Oh, come. Oh, come Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel that mourns and lonely exile here until the Son of God appear.
See, until we get into the spiritual space opened up by that hymn, we are not understanding advent. And more to it, we are not understanding Christianity. So again, listen. Oh, come. Oh, come, Emmanuel. It's a cri du coeur as the French say, right, it's this cry of the heart, asking Emmanuel, God with us, to come. You see, the clear implication is that whatever problem we have here, it's not one that we can solve. We're beggars. We're asking Emmanuel. Come, come. And do what? And ransom captive Israel.
Now, people being captured and held for ransom, that was a common experience in the biblical world. People would travel sometimes long distances, and there'd be thieves and robbers and kidnappers who would take them to their distant country and hold them for ransom. Now, imagine that situation before communication and all of that. You've been captured. You've been taken to a distant land, and now you're being in chains. You're held captive. What can you do to save yourself? Nothing, except to cry out. "Come, come someone to save me". Maybe they've sent a message way back to your city or your country asking for ransom. All you can do is beg and hope.
Captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here. Think of someone held for ransom. They're exile. This very exactly describes the spiritual space we are all in. You want to know what the enemy of Christianity is? It's the view that, "yeah, I've got problems. Sure. But I can solve them with enough psychological insight, with enough virtuous practice, with enough social reform. If we just straighten out the political situation, make the economy better, whatever it is, I can save myself from my dilemma".
That's an ancient, ancient heresy called Pelagianism by the way. And like most ancient heresies, gnosticism comes to mind, which is massively on display today, Pelagianism is alive and well. Everyone admits they got problems. I don't know anyone who thinks he or she's living in complete utopia. But a lot of people up and down the ages till the present day think, "I can solve it. I can deal with this myself somehow". That view... And St. Augustine saw this, it was one of his signal accomplishments. That view is the enemy of a salvation religion like Christianity. The assumption behind Christianity is the dilemma that we're in, the problem we're in is not one that we can solve. Rather, we need grace. We need a power to come from outside of our dysfunction to set it right.
Kierkegaard, the great Protestant philosopher, got this right when he said, "Christians don't look for a teacher". All kinds of people look for a teacher. "Oh, a teacher will teach me some great spiritual truths, will straighten me out psychologically, and then I'll be okay". No, no. Christians don't look for a teacher primarily. They look for a savior. They look for a savior. "Oh, come. Oh, come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel". I can't save myself or ransom myself.
Now, can I suggest to you, ransom and all that is the image the Bible uses, but I think one that we can get our minds around very easily is addiction. Many, many of us are familiar with the phenomenon of addiction. When you're addicted to whether it's alcohol or it's to drugs or it's to sex or pornography or to power, think of all forms of sin are really forms of addiction. When you're caught in addiction, what can't you do? You can't save yourself from it, right? Think of the 12 step programs. Many listening to me have been through those or know someone who has. The key move in all the 12 step programs is to admit your powerlessness and to turn your life over to a higher power. Right. That's born of Christianity, everybody. That insight, that's born of Christianity. That's an anti-Pelegian insight.
If you say, "Look, I'm powerless over this addiction. And the more I try through my own efforts to make it right, the worse I'm going to make it". No, no. Oh, come. Oh, come Emmanuel. Turn your life over to a higher power. Only in that way are you going to be saved. Can I share another image with you? And I just a few weeks ago as I recorded these words, I was at a conference and Father Mike Schmitz was speaking as well, and he used this image I thought was really good to this point.
He said, "Imagine a young kid growing up in a family that's deeply dysfunctional. There's emotional violence, there's even physical violence. There's this argument and there's depression, and it's just an unhappy environment. But the kid notices across the street there's a family. Mom and dad are there. There's laughter coming from the house on the front yard that the kids are playing sports with each other and with their parents. In the midst of his deep unhappiness, he looks across the street to this very happy family, and longs, longs that he might be part of that family. Well then one fine day, the father knocks on the door of this kid's house. He opens the door and there's the father of this beautiful family who says, 'Do you want to come live with us?'".
That's an image, if you want, for what redemption or salvation is like. See, we human beings are in a dysfunctional family. This is exactly what the doctrine of original sin teaches by the way. Sin affects all of us like a poisonous atmosphere. So there's the particular sins that we commit, that's true. But see, original sin names this environment of sin that's been there from the beginning of the human race, and that conditions us, infects our minds and our wills and yes, even our bodies willy-nilly. But we're not in control of that. It's like we're born into this dysfunctional family. Oh, come, oh, come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel. I can't ethically operate my way out of a dysfunctional family. No, someone's got to come. Some grace has to come from without and invite me to share a higher and a better life.
See, to get this principle, everybody, is to get Christianity. And advent is the season where we're meant to get in touch with our dysfunction, our deep need for grace. See, only then are we ready for the coming of Christ? See, as long as I can save myself, "Well, oh yeah, Jesus, what a great ethical figure from long ago and a exemplar of a good life and someone I admire". Well, then Christmas turns rapidly into the silly, superficial foo-foo that we have in our society, of Santa Claus and presents and la-di-da. But see, Christianity, Christmas is all about a captive people, unable to save themselves who are longing for the coming of the savior. See, until we get into that space, we're not going to get it.
Now, let me share a couple things from the readings for this weekend which are on this point. Here's from the Prophet Isaiah which is our first reading. "Behold," he's speaking to the Lord, "you are angry and we're sinful. All of us have become like unclean people. All our good deeds are like polluted rags. We have all withered like leaves. Our guilt carries us away like the wind". You say, "Oh, what a pessimistic view". That's not pessimistic. That is the realistic view of someone who's living inside of a dysfunctional family. It doesn't mean that there's nothing good at all going on within the human reality. That's not the case, but he knows in his bones he can't save himself, that even the best of his actions are affected by sin, and so he cries out. Listen to this now from the same passage of Isaiah, "There is none who calls upon your name, oh Lord, who rouses himself to clinging to you".
Now, that's a good advent attitude. What can we do to this time? Call out his name. "Help me. Save me. Emmanuel, come. Come. I can't do this myself". Now, with that in mind, listen to Paul. See, St. Paul got everything I'm talking about today in his bones. It is the heart of his teaching. Listen to Paul as he addresses the Corinthians, "Brothers and sisters, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ". Karis is Paul's word grace. Christianity is not a religion of karma, not a religion of self-promotion or accomplishment. It's not a Pelagian project. Christianity is a religion of grace. Free gift. See, what Paul is saying is, this grace that we need and that we long for has come to us in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Open yourself to him. Surrender to him. Accept him. He's the free gift of grace to sinners. He's like that father knocking on the door of the kid in the dysfunctional family and saying, "Do you want to come live with us"?
Grace and peace. Listen to Paul now as he unfolds this teaching, "I give thanks to my God always on your account. For the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus, that in Him you are enriched in every way". It's not the richest of my moral accomplishment. I try to work my way out of dysfunction, it's not going to work. But I've been graced by Christ and thereby enriched in every way. Now, one more quote here to tell you what this looks like and feels like concretely. "God is faithful. And by Him you were called into fellowship with His son, Jesus Christ, our Lord". So you say, "Okay, I guess I get it. We're caught in a dysfunctional family. We're in addiction. We can't save ourselves. We can't lift ourselves out of it. We got to say, come, oh come Emanuel. All right, I get it. And then the claim is that the grace has come. All right, so now what do I do"?
Here's my answer, everybody. It's based on 40 some years of studying Christianity and trying to live the Christian life. Here's the answer. Go where he is and stay there. "Wait. Wait. So I'm messed up. My life's not going well. So the answer isn't like deeper psychological insight"? Mm-mm. I mean it's fine. That's fine if you can get it. "The answer isn't greater moral accomplishment"? Uh-uh. I mean, that's fine and we can get there. The answer is, go where he is. Accept Him. Listen again. "Move into fellowship with his son". Okay, now we're in a Christian space. The grace of Christ has come, the word's gone out. Enter into that space. And you're going to find, listen to me now, you're going to find your whole life now transformed, not through your efforts, but by your fellowship with Him... "May that same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus," Paul says. He also says, "It's no longer I who live. It's Christ who lives in me".
Go where he is and stay with Him, and you'll find now your whole life revolutionized. You will begin to burn with that same fire that's in Him. That's called the fire of the Holy Spirit by the way. What's advent? It's just this time of the realization of our captivity. That's very important. See, if you think there's something just superficially wrong with your life, you're not going to get Christmas at all. It'll become la-la foo-foo. You have to get in touch with your dysfunction and your incapacity to save yourself. And then from the depth of your being, you can say, "Come, come Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel". Fall in love with Christ. Stay in love with Christ. Find fellowship with Him. That's our salvation. And God bless you.