Not an endearing term: Homily for Thursday, December 11, 2025

Let’s face it. We are broken. And we can feel pretty bad about our brokenness. The terms the prophet Isaiah uses are not very endearing. But the good news of Advent is that Jesus comes to save us. And we are never too broken that Jesus cannot save us. Readings for Today.

Not an endearing term

We don’t need to work hard at looking for brokenness. It’s all around us. We know that mental health issues are growing exponentially. We look around at our world and we see so many who are poor without the basic necessities of life. We see so many who live in fear that perhaps they will be deported or perhaps they will not have health insurance enough. We look in other parts of the world and we see so much violence. It’s impossible to list the number of countries that are dealing with conflict. We see that people’s lives are being destroyed by personal actions, domestic violence, sexual assault. Putting it simply, we are a mess.

Now, there are two extremes to avoid when we think about brokenness. One, of course, is to think that we are so broken we are beyond hope. The other is to compare ourselves to everything else around us and say, “Well, I’m not beating my wife. I’m not causing a war. I’m not creating fear. I’m okay.”

Isaiah in the first reading reminds us that we are broken. And he uses very graphic terms to describe our brokenness. Worm, maggot, things are not well. You know, there’s no way you can take the word maggot and turn it into a term of endearment. Imagine the brokenness of a relationship if the husband said to his wife, “Oh, my little maggot.” Like, that just doesn’t work.

But Isaiah doesn’t only say that. In fact, that’s a very small part of our first reading. He talks about what God is going to do to save us. And what the gospel reminds us is that this has been God’s providence all along.

John the Baptist did not appear out of nowhere. He appeared directly because of the providence of God. The plan that God had from the very beginning when we sinned. Sending his son so that there’s hope for us. Andrew Carl might like to think that he pulled us out of the gutter. But the reality is, that’s what Jesus does. He takes us and recognizes our sinfulness and pulls us to something more than we could possibly have imagined.

And that, in fact, is the season of Advent. That in the darkness, Jesus is the light. When we had no other hope, Jesus became our hope. When it seemed that all was lost, Jesus told us we are found. Where is it that Jesus longs to touch your heart? To show you how deeply you have been saved.

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