Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 01/16/22 Jesus Changes Things

Episode Date: January 17, 2022

Homily from the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time. Jesus changes shame into joy. There are certain things, certain failures, embarrassments, and shames, that could define our lives. There are certain events that could define our lives in a negative way unless something changes. Jesus can change those things. Mass Readings from January 16, 2022: Isaiah 62:1-5 Psalms 96:1-3, 7-101 Corinthians 12:4-11 John 2:1-11

So a couple of years ago, I got this letter from a young woman, and she described, she said that when she was in high school, she had gotten addicted to a number of substances, but one of the things she got addicted to, she got addicted to heroin. And her senior year of high school, and this kind of marked her whole high school experience, very different than my high school experience, she said that her senior year,

she almost died from an overdose of heroin. And she found herself in the hospital, just alone and broken, and just so full of, I guess, you say it like this, so full of shame. Because as I can kind of make a joke, like, that was not my high school experience. She could not make that joke. She would look at herself and say, this is my high school experience. Not only that, not only was this my high school experience. As she wrote this letter to me, this is how people from my high school knew me.

I was the girl who was the addict. I was the girl who our senior year almost died from an overdose of heroin. And I was just thinking about that. Like, I think about those moments in our lives, I think the way that we want to, oftentimes, the way we want to be remembered is through like the shining moments, right? Like they, you won whatever the thing was. You did that thing. You pulled it off.

You did those moments of victory. Those moments were like, yeah, you came out on top. And too often I think our lives are defined by, not our shining moments, but by our moments of shame. How we see ourselves is not, again, by our shining moments. not by those moments of victory, not by those moments where we actually did the right thing, but by those moments when we failed, but those moments where we fell, by those moments that everyone is going to remember our shame,

unless something changes. And too often our lives become defined by our shame unless something changes, which is one of the reasons I was reflecting on this story, this letter this girl wrote to me because of the gospel today. So I don't know if you noted this, but this is so strange. In John's Gospel, John highlights this miracle of the wedding feast at Cana. And if you know this about Jesus, this is Jesus' first miracle. Jesus' first public miracle.

In fact, John says that. This is the beginning of his signs in Canaan and Galilee. And revealed the Father's glory. Now, what was the miracle? What was the sign? Have you ever thought about this? The miracle wasn't that Jesus healed a leper. Like, that's impressive.

It wasn't that Jesus, you know, someone was blind or deaf and he made them be able to see or to hear. He didn't raise the dead. This was not his first miracle. In fact, John says, revealed the Father's glory. His disciples began to believe in him. What was the miracle? There was no wine, and he made wine. It's almost like a party trick.

Like, what the heck? Jesus, why was this your first miracle? He reveals the Father's glory, because why? Because these kids, you know, these teenagers, that would have been in the first century. These teenagers are having a wedding, and they run out of wine, and he's like, oh, watch this. But it's not that. Jesus is doing something Jesus is revealing

in this miracle Jesus is revealing something he's revealing the reason why he came because if we know anything about the story we actually know anything about the context of this wedding okay we have these two teenagers here in the first century Israel and this wedding is not just something that they're looking forward to like you know we all look forward to

weddings but it's not just something the couple's looking forward to it's not just something that their families are looking forward to this is something their entire village of cana has been looking forward to for not just one year, probably for years. They've been looking forward to this celebration. And I know that if you've ever gotten married or you're planning wedding right now,

you know that it's a lot of planning for like a day or maybe two days. But the Jewish weddings were lasted up to seven days. This celebration, the entire village would come out. And people from around the village would come to this place and celebrate for seven days. And here's the thing. We know the whole idea of Jewish betrothal, right?

They had this year period where the groom and the bride have an opportunity. They spent an entire year preparing for this moment. In fact, the groom, one of his jobs was to make sure that he had a home to bring his wife into. He had to build this house. Not only that, they had to make sure that they had enough for everyone. And here's what happens.

The party starts and they don't. And the party starts and they run out. That's why Mary's line of where she says, to Jesus, they have no wine. It's so powerful. Because if there's anything people are going to remember from the, this wedding is they're going to remember this couple. Oh, that's the couple that ran out of wine. If there's anything that's going to define their marriage, everyone will remember. Oh, we'll call them Jack and Jill. Jack and Jill, oh, I was at their wedding. And you know,

the worst thing happened. The most embarrassing thing happened. The most shameful thing happened is they, you know, there's a Jewish proverb that says, when the wine runs out, the party's over. It's not just a Jewish proverb. That's just a proverb. When the wine runs out, the party's over. When the wine runs out, the joy stops. Imagine, this is the thing that everyone is going to remember about this couple. At their wedding, they're going to talk about this. Oh, yeah, yeah, those two? Remember their wedding?

They ran out. They had no more. And this is the thing, this is so important. Because when Mary says, they have no wine, man, just fill in the blank. Just said they have no more and fill in the blank for all of us. How many of us came tonight and were like, you know, I'm out. I have no more I have no more excuses

I have no more answers like I've tried so hard and I have no more hope I know sometimes when it comes to just live in life it's like I got I got nothing I have nothing except for my shame I tried and I failed

and that's all anyone's ever going to remember when they think of me, all they remember is he was the one who had no more. She was the one who had no more unless something changes. That's an incredible thing. You know, whenever I think of shame in the Bible, I always think of this story. So remember how back in the Old Testament the Jewish people were enslaved in Egypt, right? They were enslaved in Egypt for hundreds of years. And then God sends Moses to say, go to Pharaoh, let my people go.

He does this whole, all these miracles, these plagues. Moses, God leads through Moses. He leads to people through the Red Sea, leads them through the desert. and then when they get to the Jordan River, after 40 years, Moses dies and he hands the reins over to Joshua. And then Joshua leads them across the Jordan River. And they go, remember the story? They go to the city of Jericho.

And they walk around the city of Jericho a couple days and the walls come on tumble and down, down, boogie, wogie. You know that song? Okay, so they lead the Ark of the Covenant around Jericho. And they defeat Jericho. No, Jericho was a city that was impenetrable. It was unbeatable. And they walk around in a couple of days,

and it becomes penetrable and becomes very beatable. And so the people of Israel are like, this is awesome, let's go on to the next city and defeat them. So they go to a town called AI. No, if Jericho was impenetrable, if Jericho was unbeatable, AI is like a, oh yeah, this is like division, I was going to say Division 3, but they're like the JVN high school.

Like we got this. And they go up to AI, and AI is really easy to spell. It's just AI. So they go to AI, and they get trounced, and they get humiliated, they get completely defeated, they have thousands of losses, and they're like, what the heck happened?

We beat Jericho. We're one for one. We turned to AI and we get completely destroyed. Why? Well, what happened was when they fought Jericho, God made some really clear things. I want you to do these things. I want you to not do these other things.

And there's this guy, his name was Aiken. And Aiken, when they defeated Jericho, when God said, don't do some things, he did those things. And so the next battle, they lose because it's one guy, his shame becomes known. In fact, where AI is situated, AI is situated in a valley,

the valley is called the Valley of Ahor. And that's A-C-H-O-R, the Valley of A-H-O-R. And so for generations, actually, for the rest of the Bible, for the rest of the people of Israel existing, the Valley of A-Hore becomes synonymous with shame. Like if someone's going through their darkest hour, you would say, oh, they're walking through their valley of a whore. Because that's what everyone will remember.

That's the only thing anyone can remember is the place of my shame, is the place of my defeat, my Valley of Ahor. But here comes the Prophet Osea. Years after this, Josea says, but here's what God wants to do. God wants to take your Valley of Ahor and change it.

What God wants to do, he wants to take your Valley of Ahor and change it into a door of hope. Because this is what God wants to do. We show up with our shame. And he says, I can change that. I can take your valley of a horror

and change it to a door of hope. I can take your moment of greatest sorrow, of greatest defeat, of greatest shame, and I can change it into the greatest moment of victory. I mean, so back to the story in John's Gospel. Mary says, they have no more wine. And Jesus says, woman, how does this concern affect you and affect me?

My hour has not yet come. Now this is really important, because it's a little Bible study moment here for us. When Jesus says, my hour has not yet come, What's he referring to? In John's Gospel, when Jesus says my hour, he's always referring to a very specific moment. And that specific moment is everything from the Last Supper all the way through his arrest, through his being beaten, through his being scourged through the crucifixion.

That's his hour. That's him giving up his everything for us. And Jesus says, at this wedding, he says, listen, if I do this, this is the beginning of the end. You know, there's a Presbyterian pastor. His name is Timothy Keller. And Timothy Keller, one of the things he's pointed out, he says, he asked the question, what's one thing that every single, single person thinks about whenever they go to a wedding? If you have been a single person at a wedding, this is what you thought about when you went to,

because every single single person thinks about the exact same thing whenever they go to someone's wedding. And that single thing is they think about their own wedding. That every single person, every single single person at any given wedding is like, I like that, mark that down. Like, oh, I like that, Pinterest. Like, oh, I don't like that. Don't do that. Like, every single single person thinks about the exact same thing whenever they go to a wedding, they think about their own wedding. And Jesus is no different. He's at this wedding. And he is thinking about his own wedding. Because from the beginning of Christianity through now, the church has always said that that hour, the hour from the Last Supper,

through the arrest, through the beating, through the scourging, all the way through the crucifixion, that that is the beginning of the wedding feast of the lamb. That is the moment where Jesus says, this is my body for you. This is my blood for you. I am the bridegroom. I'm doing this for you. I don't know if we know this. Why Jesus came? Like why did Jesus become Jesus? Why did Jesus come to earth? Sometimes we think, well, because he's really inspiring. So he came to inspire us. Well, he is inspiring, but did he merely come to inspire? Well, he's really. Well, he's really, wise. Jesus is really wise, so he came to teach us how to live and give us some of his wisdom. That's also true. Jesus is really encouraging. So he knew we'd be discouraged, so he came to give us

some encouragement. All those things are not false, but they're not the reason why Jesus came. Jesus came because he saw us in our shame, and he said, I can change that. Jesus came because he saw us in our sin, and he said, I can save you from that. I can actually the thing that you think, this is going to define my life. This is the only thing I realize in my sin, if I'm left on my own, I am dead in the water. I am so far from God. There is no hope for me. Jesus saw that, he said, but if I show up, I can take that and I can change that. I can change your shame for joy. I can take your sorrow and I can change it. It's rejoicing. I can take your ashes. The first reading says, I can change that into a diadem. That can become your, I can take that

and change it into your crown. So you can imagine. When Mary says, do what whatever he tells you. You can see Jesus. Take this, like, just pause and take this deep breath, like, okay, here we go. Fill up those jars with water because he knows. From this moment, the hour has started. From this moment, his lonely journey begins. From this moment, there's no turning back. From this moment, there's no going back to Nazareth. There's no going back to that old life. Because this, water into wine, not a party trick. This is the beginning of the end. to deal with their shame he offers his life

to change their shame into joy he offers his life because every drop of that water is going to become wine and I think the thing that would have defined this couple's marriage the thing that would have defined people knowing them for the rest of their lives is completely changed in fact what happens

they take some of the wine you heard the story take some of the wine to bring it to the head waiter and he's like what the heck no one does this just normally people serve the good wine first This is the best wine I've ever tasted. I'm paraphrasing, I'm sure it was really good. He says, no one, what people would have remembered was they would have remembered, oh yeah, that's that couple that ran out of wine.

That was that couple, to their embarrassment, to their shame, had none left. But now what are they going to say? They're the couple who did what no other couple has ever done. They're grandkids, their great candidates. People will talk about them. Oh, were you at that wedding? Way back when? Remember that?

Like right around the year 33 AD? that couple were after four days of celebration, they brought out the best wine we've ever had. The thing they would have been known for, their shame, they're now known for their victory. And it came at the cost of Jesus' life. At the beginning of Jesus' ministry, he turns water into wine.

At the end of Jesus' ministry, he turns wine into blood. In both moments, what he's doing is he's taking someone's shame, and turning it into joy. And in both moments, he does it at the price of his own life. This is the last thing. This girl who wrote to me,

she said she found herself in the hospital after she almost died, overdosing on heroin. And she said her mom came in, and she's basically a prisoner, so her mom said, you're going to watch some videos, and you can listen to some talks. I want you to know who Jesus is. She's like, fine.

And she said, her mom had her watch a talk, or listened to a talk on the Eucharist. On the fact, the reason we're here, I had to watch a talk on the Eucharist that at every mass, God takes ordinary stuff and makes it extraordinary. That at every mass, God takes our brokenness and changes it into something incredible. That at every mass, God takes bread and wine

and changes it into his body and blood. And she said, she wrote this, she said, when I heard those words, something in my heart broke. And she said, in that hospital bed, these are her words. She said, I decided, to become addicted to the Eucharist. And she said, and I find such joy.

What would have defined her life? What would have been her shame? I'm that girl who overdosed on heroin in high school on my senior year. Has become her joy. Because in that hospital bed, who did she meet? She met Jesus.

And what did he do? He does what Jesus does. He changed her sorrow and turned it into joy. He took her shame and turned it into rejoicing. took her ashes and he gave her a crown. And that's why we're here. Not just to get inspired, although he's inspiring, not just to be taught, although he's wise, not just be encouraged, although he gives us hope. But he brought you here tonight. He brought me here tonight. Because Jesus changes things. He changed water into wine. He changed wine into blood.

And he changes our shame into joy. And he does it. He does it at the price of his own life.