I remember one of my good friends telling me once about when she started bringing her then new-boyfriend (now-husband) to mass every Sunday…

Weeks went by, and she began to notice that when they all stood up to say the Creed, her boyfriend… even though he wasn’t Catholic, and wasn’t even really Christian at the time… was also saying all of the words of the Nicene Creed: “I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God…”

She was very intrigued by this, so one day, after mass was finished, she decided to ask him about it. “Why were you saying those words?” She never beats around the bush. My friend Eileen is a very direct person… she’s the friend who basically told me right to my face: “You’re gonna be a priest.” So she’s very blunt. And so she asked her boyfriend this very important question: “Why are you saying those words? …Do you actually believe them?”

And he didn’t really know what to say in the moment, except that he wasn’t really against anything he was saying… he wasn’t opposed to anything in the Creed… but my friend again told him very clearly:

“Well, I don’t want you just to say the words. If you believe them, great… but I don’t want you just to say them for my sake!”

And thanks be to God, this (and many other moments of grace) kicked off this journey for him, until he eventually was received into the Catholic Church and is now saying the words of the Creed AND also actually believing them every single Sunday!

Praise God! ….THAT’S amazing!!!

This story connects very obviously with our second reading on this First Sunday of Lent, where St. Paul says in his Letter to the Romans: 

“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord AND believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

So if you confess with your mouth (if you say the words) AND if you believe — if you have faith — that Jesus is Lord, and that God really did raise Him from the dead… THEN you WILL be saved! 

It’s both/and. 

Saying the words AND then actually believing them is the key… 

It has nothing to do with just going through the motions, checking a box, or jumping through a hoop of flame…even though sometimes…if you’ve tried to get a sacrament in the Catholic Church, sometimes it feels like that, doesn’t it? Oh, I just have to do this paperwork… I have to check these boxes… I have to jump through this hoop… go to these classes, do this thing…

But really — Everything hinges on whether or not we actually believe! 

“For if you do not believe that I AM,” Jesus says, “you will die in your sins.”

Ok that’s pretty intense right? But faith… real, actual belief… is absolutely essential. Personal faith… is ESSENTIAL.

But then we have to ask:

What does it mean to believe?

Faith, we know, is one of the three theological virtues — the others being Hope and Love. And in fact, this whole Lenten homily “series” I’ll be looking at it through those lenses… the first 2 Sundays we’re going to be looking at it through the lens of Faith, and then we’re gonna move on to Hope, and then we’ll finish with Love. But Faith is the first theological virtue, and it is a supernatural gift that God gives us to be able to assent to and come into agreement with everything God has revealed to be true. 

We can’t create faith for ourselves, can we? No! We cannot convince ourselves to believe and have faith… and we can’t make anybody ELSE to believe and have faith either.

Faith is always a gift! It’s always a miraculous gift!

So… if you have faith today — if you really believe in the Lord — then remember: That did not come from you. It’s a gift from God! So we need to ALWAYS give thanks to Him for that gift! We cannot take it for granted!

But what exactly do we believe?

Well, all sorts of things… but at the most basic level, we believe a story.

And not just any story — but THE story. The STORY of stories that every other good story is ultimately rooted in, points toward, and is inspired by.

I’m talking about the Story of God’s Salvation.

That is what St Paul was actually talking about in our reading, if you caught it. It was a little bit subtle. He said: “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart —that is, the word of faith that we preach.”

He’s using a technical Greek term that is often translated as “word” … the “word” of faith. But the Greek term used is “rhēma” which could also be translated as “message.” — So, let’s try reading that again:

“The message of faith is near you, in your mouth and in your heart —that is, the message of faith that we preach.”

What was the “message” that Paul preached whenever he showed up to a brand new city full of people who had never even heard of Jesus?

His message was NOT a set of doctrines about God or about morality. It also wasn’t a philosophical argument about how the universe worked. That stuff came later… 

But his initial message was a STORY.

He shared a story!!!!

“I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received,” Paul says in another one of his letters, “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures; that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.”

THAT’S the message — the “rhēma” — the WORD — that we preach!!!! It’s the simplest distillation of the Christian story! It’s what we say we believe every Sunday in the Creed! — Jesus died for your sins, he was buried, and then he was raised.

This same sort of thing is happening in our first reading from the book of 

Deuteronomy, where Moses is again doing what…?

He’s SHARING A STORY!

…He was sharing the story of how the Hebrew people went down into Egypt, where they were then oppressed… forced into slavery! But then the LORD heard their cry… He saw their affliction! And with “terrifying power and great signs and wonders,” God delivered the people and brought them up out of Egypt into a land “flowing with milk and honey!” God brought them into the Promised Land!!!

This was the story that all the Israelites were to share with their children, and hand down from generation to generation — as a testimony… a remembrance of what God accomplished for them!

And we know that Christians immediately saw in this story as a foreshadowing of what Jesus did for us — He freed us not from Pharaoh, but from the Devil, who tried tempting Jesus in our Gospel today. Jesus freed us from his clutches, from all sin, from even death itself!

But here’s the most amazing thing about the Christian story — cuz there’s no other story like it.

Because the Christian story has the power… to make people believe.

That’s right. It sounds kinda crazy, but it’s actually true.

Whenever we tell THIS story — when we share THIS message… the message itself contains POWER to bring about real, personal faith.

This is really good news for us, because whether or not someone believes our message has absolutely NOTHING to do with how well we deliver it, or how persuasive we can be…or how impressive we make ourselves seem. 

No.

The power is actually in the Message itself.

Whenever we share the story of salvation — we can trust that God shows up, the Holy Spirit is activated, and people will have the chance actually believe it… 

People’s souls will come back to life. Sleepy, drowsy hearts will wake up. …God pours out the GIFT of faith whenever this story is shared.

That’s pretty crazy, but it’s also 100% Scriptural.

“Faith… comes from what is heard,” St Paul says, just a few verses later in the same letter (Romans 10) we heard from today!

What is heard?

THE MESSAGE… THE STORY….

The sharing of the Story of Salvation actually inspires and makes possible the supernatural gift of faith! That’s why Jesus gave us the Great Commission:

“Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

He’s saying: Get out there and share the story!

How can we possibly expect people to believe in Jesus today if we do not share the Story? Who’s gonna tell them? Who’s gonna share this Message?

I’ve got news… It’s you.

And if you don’t do it, nobody’s gonna believe.

That’s our job! That’s our MISSION! And that’s our PRIVILEGE as Christians!!!! It’s AWESOME! We get to share the STORY?

And what’s the story?

The Story has just 4 basic parts…

1. God created you and everything else in this world GOOD.

2. Sin unfortunately wrecked that GOODNESS.

3. The Lord is SO GOOD and SO merciful that He wanted to do something about this mess… so He sent His only Son, Jesus. Who died on a Cross to free us from our sins. And then He rose from the dead. And now he’s offering ALL us — absolutely every single person to find life in His name alone.

4. And now… you have a choice. You have a choice to respond…

Do you believe the STORY? Do you want to be a PART OF THIS STORY????

I don’t want any of us to just go through the motions… I don’t want any of us (INCLUDING MYSELF) to just stand up here and say the words every Sunday…

Do we actually believe?

St Paul’s words will always ring true:

“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord AND believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”