Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 03/29/20 Un-Done: Broken, Not Lost

Episode Date: March 29, 2020

Homily from the Fifth Sunday of Lent. Jesus is the God of the Broken Heart. Suffering, sickness, and death are devastating. But nothing is worse than losing one’s heart. A broken heart is still home in Jesus’ Heart. Mass Readings from March 29, 2020: Ezekiel 37:12-14Psalms 130:1-8Romans 8:8-11 John 11:1-45 Download the Homily Study

Now, a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and dried his feet with her hair, and it was her brother Lazarus who was ill. So the sisters sent word to Jesus saying, Master, the one you love is ill. When Jesus heard this, he said, this illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, so that the son of man, son of God, may be glorified through it. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was. Then after this, he said to his disciples, let us go back to Judea. The disciples said to him, Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you and you want to go back there. Jesus answered, are there not 12 hours in a day? If one walks during the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of the world. But if one walks at night, he stumbles because the light is not in him. He said this and then he told them, our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I am going to awaken him. So the disciples said to him, Master, if he's asleep, you'll be saved.

But Jesus was talking about his death, while they thought he meant ordinary sleep. So then Jesus said to them clearly, Lazarus has died. And I am glad for you that I was not there, that you may believe. Let us go to him. So Thomas called Didamus said to his fellow the disciples, Let us also go to die with him. Jesus arrived. He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.

Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary said at home, Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now, I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise. Martha said to him, I know he will rise in the resurrection on the last day. Jesus told her, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me,

even if he dies, will live. And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? She said to him, yes, Lord, I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, the one who is coming into the world. When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying, The teacher is here and is asking for you. As soon as she heard this, she rose quickly and went to him, for Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still where Martha had met him. So when the Jews who were with her in the house comforting her,

saw Mary get up quickly and go out, they followed her, presuming that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his soon. feet and she said to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, he became perturbed and deeply troubled and he said, where have you laid him? They said to him, sir, come and see. And Jesus wept. So the Jews said, see how he loved him. But some of them said, could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?

So Jesus perturbed again, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across it. And Jesus said, take away the stone. Martha, the dead man's sister said to him, Lord, by now there will be a stench. He has been dead for four days. Jesus said to her, did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God? So they took away the stone and Jesus raised his eyes and said, Father, I thank you for hearing me.

I know that you always hear me. But because of the crowd, I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me. And when he had said this, he cried out in a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial vans, and his face wrapped in a cloth. So Jesus said to them, untie him, and let him go. Now many of the Jews who had come to marry and seen what he had done began to believe in him, the gospel of the Lord. So I would say probably you wouldn't know this already,

but one of my favorite movies of all time is It's a Wonderful Life. I don't know why. It's just, I know why, because it's awesome, that's why. And I know that some of you who are watching, oh my gosh, you're kidding me. That movie is so boring. Everyone makes a big deal about it. It's overhyped.

And I understand. That's okay. You have a right to be wrong. But there's that sense of, this main character, George Bailey, at the beginning of the movie, he has made it through so much. At the very beginning of the whole film, the whole story, his story has, he has made it through so much. He's made it through death.

He's made it through disappointment. He's made it through his dreams that were crushed. He's made it through financial collapse. He made it through the war. He's made it through so much of life. But when we meet him, he's just dead. done. Like we meet him at the beginning of the movie, he's done. It's, it's over. And there's this conversation you hear, you got all these people praying for him. And then they're like in heaven,

right, there's this conversation between two angels, Franklin and Joseph, they call the third angel Clarence, right? And they're saying, well, Clarence, we're going to send you down to George Bailey and you're going to need to take care of him. He's in big trouble right now. And Clarence asked the question, he says, oh, is he sick? And this angel named Franklin says, this, this word that just, this line that just kills me. Clarence asks, is he sick? And Franklin responds, no worse. He's discouraged.

I just think, no worse, he's discouraged. Is he dying? No. Worse, he's discouraged. Because you know what that is, right? To be in a place where you're just, you're like, I'm done. Like it's over. Like that sense of, you know what it's to be discouraged is to lose heart. Courage comes from the Latin root core, which means heart. So to be discouraged means you've lost your heart. Like, there's nothing left.

So George Bailey's worst moment is not the moment when he loses his dad. It's not the moment when he almost loses the building alone. It's not the moment when all these things collapse around him. His worst moment is the moment that he lose his heart. And I wonder if you've ever been there, been in that place where it's just like, it's over. Like he's done. Like, what could I possibly do with this. Like, where could I possibly go from here? Because it's just done. We've been doing this series in all of Lent, the series called Undone. That we walk in this world that's come undone. That, yes, God made this world good, but he didn't make it unbreakable. That God made this world good, and he put human beings in this world that was made for us, made to give in glory, and we made a decision.

We made a decision that broke the world. That when we walk through this world, things as they are are not how they're meant to be. But we're so used to broken, we're so used to undone that being broken, being undone, losing heart, is normal. That's just part of our, even death, this becomes normal. Like I think about this, we just, like, at some point, we just say, yeah, that's just, that's how it goes. When it comes to death, is there, is there anything, like, more, like, done?

Is there anything that's more, like, game over? We even say, like, they say, we say, their life is over. their life has ended. Is there anything worse than that? Now, we have to realize, I think we remember, I think it's important for us, to remember that God did not make death. In fact, Book of Wisdom says that, right? That God did not make death and he does not rejoice in the destruction of the living. It was, we chose death.

That was the choice that broke the world. It's the choice that introduced death into this world. And I think death is maybe the thing that can break our hearts like nothing else. Or maybe even worse, death is the thing that can cause us to lose heart to get to that point where, no, worse, worse than sickness, worse than death, he is discouraged, he's lost heart because death has the potential to crush us. Death has potential to crush us. Death crush Jesus.

Here's God who's immutable. That means he can't be changed, can't be hurt, can't be affected. He becomes one of us. And what happens? He allows death to crush him. And not just his own death. That's next week. Next week we're going to read the whole story of the passion on Palm Sunday.

And we're going to hear about how literally death crushed Jesus. But in today's gospel, Jesus allows death to crush him again. Not his own death. Someone else's death. Because isn't that one of the things that happens to us so often? Is that I can face my own wounds. I can face my own struggles. I can face my own problems.

I can face my own death. But when it comes to losing the person I love, that's what crushes. And Jesus allows, he allows death to break his heart today. Because in John's Gospel, there's that line, right? It's only two words that Jesus comes to the tomb and he sees this grief. He sees this death. And the two words are Jesus wept. The Jesus wept. In the face of death, Jesus allowed death to break his heart. Like, even though, even though he knew that like, okay, in like two minutes from now, I'm going to raise this guy from the dead. Like, this is going to be over. This is only temporary. Even though Jesus knew that,

in the face of brokenness, in the face of broken hearts, Jesus allows his, heart to be broken. And that's the crazy thing is we come to Mass today. Every time we come to pray to Jesus, we're worshiping the God of the broken heart. Why? Because Jesus allowed death. He allowed what breaks our hearts to break his heart. And here's this powerful truth that Jesus wept. It broke his heart. Jesus wept. But this is the hard word. But he waited. John makes it very, very clear. He points us out to us like nothing else. He makes it very clear that when Jesus heard that Lazarus was ill, he waited.

That when Jesus knew that Lazarus was going to die, he waited. And so, yeah, Jesus wept. But he also waited. And I think that's tough for us. I know that's tough for me. Like that truth is like, how do I reconcile that? The fact that, okay, yeah, he wept for, like, Lazarus, he let his heart be broken, but at the same time, why didn't you act, Jesus?

Why didn't you show up? Why did you wait? I think John, the writer of the gospel, I think he knew that that was going to be tough for us because, I don't know if you noticed this, but in the gospel, how many times John makes it very, very clear that Jesus loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus. Three times, in fact, in this little section, in this little snippet of the story, John makes a point of saying, no, no, no, the first time they say, Lord, the one you love is ill. And then John makes a point of saying again and again, he says,

now Jesus loved Mary and Martha and their brother Lazarus. And then even as the crowd saying, look, look how much he loved him. Why did John do this? I think John did this because we would know, we would be so torn, we'd be so close to losing heart. We see, yes, Jesus wept, but he also waited. Because I think we're so used to conditional relationships, like if-then relationships. If you love me, then you'll do this for me.

Like the if-then thing. And you even hear it in Mary and Martha. who are amazing, but they both also say, Lord, if you had been here, then. Lord, if you had been here, then my brother wouldn't have died. That's the conditional really. We're so used to that. Because what you can hear underneath Mary Martha saying, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died, was this, is this deeper cry.

Like, Lord, if you had loved him, my brother wouldn't have died. You ever find yourself praying like that? Like, God, if you actually loved me, then you would do this. If you loved them, then you'd answer. Lord, if you loved us, again, if you loved me, then. Because all of us experienced the world come undone, right? We experience this undone relationships and a world where suffering and sickness exists, a world where death is real.

But the worst thing that can come undone in the midst of this world that's come undone is when we lose heart. Like the worst thing that can come undone in a world that has come undone is when we lose trust. That's one of the reasons why the catechism says this. It says that with that first sin, with that choice that broke the world, Adam and Eve, that whole thing, said, with that one choice, trust died in the human heart. Something died. Something was lost. What happened?

We lost heart. And so we default to conditional relationships with each other. We default to conditional relationships with God. And that's why one of the reasons why the whole rest of the story, the whole rest of the story, the whole thing. The whole rest of the Bible is all about, like, no, you actually can trust me. Even when everything's falling apart, you don't, even when your heart's broken, don't lose heart. Even when I'm waiting, even when I don't show up, even when I don't give you what you ask

for, don't lose heart. In fact, one of my favorite stories, and you guys know this one, is from the book of Daniel about this unconditional trust, this unconditional. This unconditional, like holding onto your heart is, so the book Daniel happens in the history of the people of Israel is there's these two tribes in the south, the tribe of Judah and Benjamin, and at one point the Babylonians come in and they just destroy them. Like this is God's people. The Jewish people are God's people.

And the Babylonians, they come in and destroy them and they bring a bunch of them into exile. And some of them, like Daniel, are made members of the court of Nebuchadnezzar. He's the king. And so there's three others, their names are Hanani, Azari, Michael. We have Daniel's story in the book of Daniel, but they also have Hanenzer. Anaya Azariah Mishel's story in the book of Daniel. And at one point, it's like right on, right early on in the book, it's just in chapter three, where it says that King Nebuchadnezzar sets up a statue of himself.

And that whenever the music was played, whenever the signal was given, what you had to do, wherever you were, you had to stop where you were, take off your hat and bow down before the statue of King Nebuchadnezzar. But here's Hananiah, Azari, Mishael, and they're like, no, no, we belong to the God, the God of Israel. we will never worship anything else other than the God of Israel. And so here's how this story goes down. This is remarkable. It says that King Nebuchadnezzar, he heard about this. They're his court officials, right?

He flew into a rage. And he sent for Hananiah, Ezraimichael, who were promptly brought into the king. And King Nebuchadnezzar questioned them. Is it true? Imagine, go before the king. Like, here, he has power of life or death over you. And he asked the question, is it true, Hanani, Azraa, Mishael, that you will not serve my God or worship

the golden statue that I made, that whenever you hear the signal, that you won't bow down before him. Now, you better do this, he says, otherwise, you shall be instantly cast into the white hot furnace. And who is the God that can deliver you out of my hands? Like, here's King Nebuchadze or throw us down the gauntlet and just like, okay, here's the deal. You either worship me and worship my statue or literally I will kill you. I will throw you into the white hot furnace. And who is the God who can deliver you out of my hands. And this is where Heine and I, Azraa Mishal, stand up, and they give the best answer I've ever heard in my entire life.

I love this so much. Because they first start out really bold. They say this. They say, there is no need for us to defend ourselves before you in this matter, O King, which I think is just so bad. Like that's just like, man, you are tough. Like, there's no, we don't have to defend ourselves before you. And then they say this even more, because they're not just tough.

They have faith. They're not just tough. They have heart. They say, if the God whom we serve can save us from the white, hot furnace and from your hands, O'King, may he save us. And then they say the next line that just echoes throughout history for everyone who's ever been in danger of having a conditional trust, a conditional relationship, a conditional heart. If our God whom we serve can save us from the white hot furnace and from your hands, oh king, may he save us. but even if he will not, know, O king, that we will not serve your God or worship the golden statue that you set up. Like this declaration of unconditional trust, unconditional trust.

Like, no, we belong to him. He can save us. But even if he doesn't save us, no, if then, if he saves us, then we're his. Like, no, if he saves us, we're his. If he doesn't save us, we're his. And King Nebuchadnezzar, he flew into a rage, gives even more livid. He throws them in into the wet-hot furnace, and then they live. They, there's even, God is with them in there.

He's with them in the fire. There's four people in the fire. One's like a son of man. Our interpretation of that is that's Christ with them in the fire, who delivers them from death. Because they don't have a conditional faith. Why? Because they have a heart like Jesus.

What is Jesus? Jesus' heart like Jesus' heart in the gospel. We're going to hear about it next weekend. Jesus' heart in the Garden of Githemone. He says the same thing. Father, let this cup pass from me. That's what I want. please give me this thing.

But if you don't, the bag will be done. See, Han and I, Azari and Mishael, they have hearts just like Jesus, and they're delivered. They have hearts just like Jesus, and there's a miracle. But here's the crazy thing is, the point is not the miracle. The point is having a heart like Jesus.

The point for us is not to get the miracle. It's not to be delivered. It's to have a heart like Jesus. Because there's this guy, his name is Stephen in the Acts of the Apostles. Stephen is one of the first deacons. and Stephen, he is loved by Jesus. It's so clear that Stephen is loved by Jesus.

Why? He's anointed by God. He has powerful preaching. It's so much so that here's what happens. It's after the resurrection, after the ascension. The Holy Spirit comes upon of the whole crew. The church has started. And here is Stephen, and he begins preaching. And those who hate Jesus, those who kill Jesus, they're convicted.

In fact, Stephen is so blessed by God. He's so loved by God that he can preach. And people's hearts are those who even killed Christ. Their hearts are pierced, but they don't want to hear it. So it's that they actually covered their ears as they rushed upon Stephen, dragged him out of the city, and stoned him to death. Because in our family, in our story, we have miracles. But also in our family, also in our story, we have martyrs.

And yes, sometimes we get delivered, but it's also true that sometimes we get death. What's the common thread? the common thread is Stephen had a heart like Jesus. Hananiah, Azraa, Israel, heart like Jesus. No conditions. If you save me, great. If you don't save me, I love you still. And what happened when Stephen was dying is he cried out,

the same words Jesus cried out from the cross. Father, forgive them. Why? Because his heart, as he was being killed, was being broken, not by his own death, but by their hardness of heart. That's the crazy thing about being a Christian. It's a crazy thing about being able to belong to the Lord and not have a conditional relationship.

it means that our hearts can be broken without being lost. It means our hearts can be broken without being lost. Because we just say, Lord, no, whatever reveals you the most to this world, let it be done. Whatever reveals you the most to this world, whether it's a miracle, whether it's martyrdom, whether it's being delivered or whether it's death, it doesn't matter. There's no condition. Because I want to have a heart like yours, broken without being lost. Man, and this, in the, I still think sometimes we want the miracle, though.

I mean, obviously you want the miracle. And I think sometimes we, I don't know if you ever have thought about this before, but like get jealous of Lazarus and Mary and Martha just like, what the heck, how come they got the miracle? Maybe you have no people in your life that they got the miracle. They were saved, they were healed. We can be jealous of Mary and Martha. And I, because I think our perspective is love always means being spared.

the crushing. I think our perspective is that love always means being spared getting a broken heart. But maybe, maybe God's perspective is that there's something worse than death. Maybe God's perspective is there something worse than a broken heart. I mean, from God's perspective, doubt is worse than death. And from God's perspective, losing heart is worse than a broken heart. I mean, even think about this. Mary and Martha, they got their brother back. but Lazarus had to die again. Lazarus had to die again. And Mary and Martha, these people that Jesus loves,

they had to go through the whole thing all over again. Lazarus once more getting sick. Lazarus once more getting weaker and weaker. Then coming to Lazarus' bedside, day after day, night after night, all these sleepless weeks upon weeks, and they had to say goodbye again. Lazarus himself, who died once, he had to do it again. He had to go through the whole thing again.

He got the miracle, but at some point, again, there's something worse than death that Jesus came to save us from. Something worse than a broken heart, and that thing is losing heart. You still have this condition, it's conditional love. And that's why I think it's so important for us to recognize that sometimes Jesus allows us to have a heart that's broken to preserve us from a heart that's lost. You have a student who this semester hopefully will graduate with classes going what they are. We don't know. But she used to work on NET.

Net is National Evangelization Team. So it's basically out of St. Paul, Minnesota. They have all these teams of like 11 people, I think, and they travel in a massive van that is in at least 11 people all over the state of all the country. And they have it in Canada. They have it in Ireland. She was on net for two years. And she said that when she was on net, she had this confidence in Jesus, like this absolute

confidence to Jesus, she said that she and her teammates, like regularly during the course of the day, would say, Jesus, I know you love me so much. I haven't had tacos in a long time. I want tacos for supper. Like, that would be their prayers. And she's like, it wasn't because we thought Jesus was like our ATM or he was our personal chef or he would do whatever we wanted, our genie in a bottle. It was just because we were so convinced that he loved us. That was like, yeah, of course you would want this for us. And so they prayed regularly. Like, you know, we want, you know, chimichangas, you know, Jesus, you love me so much that, you love me so How about this? How about giving us this thing?

And she said, and we pray like that all the time. And it would happen all the time that Jesus would love us and he'd just give us tacos. He'd love us and he'd give us whatever kind of thing we'd ask for. She said, but she, in that also she learned not only that Jesus loved us, but she loved her. But she said she also learned that being loved intensely by Jesus means being drawn into his heart. means being loved intensely by Jesus means being drawn more deeply into his heart. And so when her mom was battling cancer the first time, she said, I didn't even think to pray for my mom to get healed. She got healed. And when her mom got cancer a second time, she didn't

even think that Jesus had failed her. She didn't even think for a moment that her mom not being healed meant Jesus didn't love her. Because at that point, she had come to this new awareness, not the conditional, if you love me then. She came to this truth that Jesus loves me so I can ask him for anything. And Jesus loves me so I can accept anything he gives me. Because this is what we need to hold on to. If we're not going to lose heart, we have to hold on to this, this truth. Jesus loves me so I can ask him for anything.

And Jesus loves me. so I can say yes to anything he gives me. Because being loved by Jesus means being drawn intensely into his heart. And this is the last thing. What does his heart look like? What is it to be drawn deeply into Jesus' heart? It doesn't mean losing heart. It doesn't mean being discouraged, having no heart, or a lost heart.

But it does mean that you and I get to have a heart like his. Okay, not no heart, not losing heart, not a lost heart, not discouraged, but a broken heart. That at Jesus' death, his heart was pierced by a spear. It was ripped open for love. And in today's gospel, Jesus' heart is cracked open in the face of death. In the gospel, Jesus' heart is cracked open before the grief of Mary and Martha. And that's what God wants for us.

Not to lose heart, but to enter into his broken heart. And be able to say, okay, God, whether this is a miracle or whether there's a martyr whether you deliver me, whether you give me death. Whatever it is that makes you known, whatever it is that reveals you more clearly. She says, I know you love me so I can say yes to anything you give me. I asked that young woman if I could share her story, and I asked this young man if I could share his story too. His name's Lee, and Lee, great guy.

Lee, a month and a half ago, lost his mom to cancer as well. and through that whole battle, that whole journey. And even in the funeral, the grief and everything, Lee was just, just, you know, ask him how he's doing. He's like, I'm really sad, but I know my mom's okay. I'm really sad. But he would come into this chapel, like every day. And he had this broken heart, but he didn't ever lose heart.

He had a heart like Jesus. At one point, at least he's an ordinary guy with an extraordinary guy, with an extraordinary broken heart and an extraordinary trust, an extraordinary unconditional faith. At some point, his dad said to Lee's siblings, he's the youngest, he's the youngest. And in all of this, in losing his wife and planning the funeral, his dad was able to say, Lee's my rock. Lee has been my rock. How do you get there?

How do you get to the place where you can say, Jesus, I know you love me, I can. can ask you for anything, but I know, and I know you love me so I can say yes to anything. How do you get to that place where you're able to say, Lord, my heart is being broken, but I'm not going to lose heart. How do you get to the point we're saying like, Lord, I find myself in your broken heart and I'm not crushed? I'm broken but not abandoned, that I am crushed but not destroyed. I have a broken heart, but not.

I'm not losing heart. Well, it's simple and it's difficult. And the answer is Lee would park himself right here. every day. And you look up every day. And see that pierced side of Jesus, that spear that went all the way to Jesus' heart.

You know, pray, Jesus, give me a heart like yours. Jesus, give me a heart like yours. That's our prayer today. Give me a heart like yours. Because in the face of a world come undone, it is so easy to lose heart. In the face of a world come undone, it is so easy to get discouraged. In the face of a world that's come undone in death, it is so easy to say, I'm done.

But with Jesus, we know the truth. And that is that being loved intensely by Jesus means being drawn into his heart. It means being able to have the courage to say, Lord, whatever you give me, whatever you give me, let it reveal you to the world. Give me the miracle so others can know you. Let me be the martyr so others can know you. Deliver me so others can know you. Let me die so others can know you. Let our hearts be broken but never be lost.