Gospel-Homily for First Sunday of Advent (2025)

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There Is a Catch.

One day, God appeared to Moses and declared, “I want to be your God. What do you think?” And Moses replied. “What can you do for us”? And God answered, “You and your nation are all slaves. I can persuade the Egyptians to give you your freedom papers. Next, I will provide protection from your enemies, since you have no weapons to defend yourselves. Then, as you travel through the desert, I will give you food and water. Next, I will give you property. I will give you not just land, but prime real estate. You will grow rich food in your vineyards, and your cattle will multiply. You will grow rich and powerful and become a nation over all the other nations. So what do you say, can I be your God”? So, Moses said, “Okay, I guess, but what is the catch?” God said, “There is one catch. You have to trust me. It is going to get rough. You will have doubts, and you will at times have no idea why or how. But in those moments, you have to trust Me.

Similarly, God appeared to Abraham and said, “I want to be your God. What do you say? And Abraham replied, “What can you do for me?” God said, “You are a wandering nomad with no possibility of having a child and no land. I will give you descendants more than the stars in the sky, and I will give you land. You will be the Father of many nations. How about it?” So, Abraham enthusiastically responded, I am all in, but what is the catch? You have to trust Me.” Many years later, immediately after Abraham’s wife died, he did the math. He had one kid and one piece of land, a plot in the cemetery. This is the moment one could have strong doubts. Have I been duped by God? Am I the victim of a sham? Yet, it was in this moment that Abraham became the Father of Faith.

God comes to us today asking, “I want to be your God.” And we respond, “What can you do for us?” God tells us, “I can send you, my Son. He will take away your sins and missteps, give you wisdom to live a life that will be rich and fulfilled, and offer you eternal life. What do you say? And of course, we respond, “I am all in.” If that is your response, then you must remember, there is a catch.