Homily Outline Combining Resources

Homily outline combining resources: Nothing is Impossible for God.

• Life’s “it can’t be done moments”
• Ever had the opportunity to help a child do something for the first time?
  • like when you helped remove the training wheels from the bike,
  • or sitting at the kitchen table helped solve that seemingly unsolvable problem?
• In such moments, you probably heard the familiar: “I can’t”
  • “I can’t ride without my training wheels;” “I can’t solve this problem.”
• Do other “I can’t” moments come to mind right now
  • not someone else’s, but your moment of feeling inadequate or incapable in the face of what is inexplicable or imposing?
• There are challenges in life that seem overwhelming;
  • everyday problems that seem unsolvable;
  • suffering that feels impossible to overcome.
• Each of us will be challenged to overcome what seems impossible:
  • grief from losing a loved one like Martha and Mary
  • issues of justice, like violence, racism, or the climate crisis.
• Yet, nothing is impossible for God.
• Jesus does the seemingly impossible, raising Lazarus from the dead.
• Jesus does not step in the tomb to perform the emergency procedure CPR;
  • rather, Jesus stands outside the tomb and says, “Lazarus, come out”
  • a voice crying out to restore life.
• As that command echoed inside the tomb, miraculously and instantly, Lazarus walked, breathed, and lived again.
• For others death was final, but not for Lazarus this time.
• While Jesus may have wept, showing the grief of a true friend, his call to Lazarus reveals that God has power over death.
• Most of us want to be able to explain things.
• Did you take a physics course in high school or college now long forgotten:
  • maybe all you recall is the name Albert Einstein.
• Physics is the science of matter, motion, energy.
  • It is the discipline that seeks to explain how the physical world works at its most basic level.
• Today some physicists challenge the standard laws of physics through the “Constructor Theory”:
  • Transformation or change is defined by them as a task; a constructor is the entity to carry out such a task.
• This theory posits a relationship between the possible and impossible tasks,
  • It looks to answer questions that are not yet being asked,
  • It is rewriting the laws of physics in the language of impossibility.
• As physicist Chiara Marletto states, “Declaring something impossible leads to more things being possible.”
• Disciples are called to do the seemingly impossible.
• The gift of God’s Spirit gives us as disciples of Jesus the opportunity to do the impossible.
• Great physicists have an insatiable curiosity that animates their scientific pursuits: a desire to find answers.
• Authentic disciples must similarly live with a curious faith that emboldens us to believe that God can do the impossible.
  • We hold onto hope, even when the answers we desire don’t come.
• In the face of what seems impossible, disciples share the good news that God is able
  • As those who “are in the Spirit,” God shares with us the possibility to restore those who feel like they can’t
  • Faith moves us from the feeling of “it can’t be done” to the firm conviction of Martha: “I know he will rise” (Jn 11:24)
• Maybe we won’t literally raise people from the dead like Jesus did; but we can help others discover for themselves that
  • newness of life is possible
  • restoration is possible
  • healing is possible.
• With the gift of the Spirit, the impossible can become possible for disciples willing to try.