Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 04/04/21 Ellipsis

Episode Date: April 4, 2021

Homily from the Mass of the Resurrection of Our Lord. It means that something more is coming. Death is final. The death of Christ was thought to be final. But it wasn't the end...it was just the beginning. Mass Readings from April 4, 2021: Acts 10:34, 37-43 Psalms 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23Colossians 3:1-4 John 20:1-9

So there's this comedian, his name is Brian Regan, and back in the day he had this bit where he talked about how, if you remember this at all, back in school when you had to write a paper or had to give a longer answer, and you had to list a bunch of things. Like, for example, out in nature, there's things like dirt, comma, and plants, comma, and you run under things, you just say, and et cetera, dot, dot, dot. The idea of like, there's more to say, but I'm not going to go into it because I can't think of anything. So that term like et cetera just kind of becomes a catch-all for all the things that I would say this if I had the time, but I don't have the time to, but you don't really know what to say. The modern version of that, I think, is not et cetera in our texts. It is the ellipsis. The ellipsis is the dot, dot, dot, right? That's the sense of if someone texts you something and you want to give a response, but not like a really, really definitive response, just kind of like a open-ended, maybe something out there.

So you have like instead of et cetera. It's, what are you doing tonight? Nothing for sure, dot, dot, dot, dot. Because it's like, well, we're not going to commit to this answer yet. We're just kind of going to leave it open there. Or even, see, I'll do this. I'll even do the dot, dot, dot, dot exclamation mark, because it's like a hesitant.

I'm excited about this, which is just ridiculous. My favorite is the dot, dot, dot, dot, question mark, where I'm not even going to commit to the fact that I don't know with something. So someone asks the question, and I'll say, I don't know. Dot, dot, dot, dot, question mark. It just makes no sense. But even question marks. Again, this is the punctuation lesson on Easter Sunday.

Question mark, there's a function in the iPhone right now, at least, where you can highlight a text and then just put a question mark there. You don't have to say, answer this question, or you don't have to, you just send a question mark. And whenever I get it, I don't often send it, whenever I get it, I hear in my head, I hear, huh? Which all that is is a question mark, but I hear, huh? because there's so much packed into these things, all of these punctuation marks, exclamation mark,

and the dot, dot, dot thing, and the question mark, because there's a question, and the question, I think, especially on Easter Sunday that keeps coming up, is the question is, like, what do we do now? Because I look back to the gospel today, right? Here's Mary of Magdalah, who gets up early in the morning before the sun's up, while it's still dark.

Here's Jesus who's dead. And so she's asking this question, okay, he's dead. So what do we do now? And she goes to the tomb. I mean, it's, it's, I'll anoint his body for burial, because he's dead, period. So what do we do now? Acknowledge his body for burial, because he's dead, period. And here's Peter and John, who didn't even go to the tomb in the morning.

Why? Because dead things stay dead, period. And the other disciples are nowhere to be seen. Why? because yeah, this whole thing while it was going, it was fine, it's good, but now it's done, it's over, period. So what do we do now?

Question mark. And I think that's probably the question that has gone throughout the entire ministry of Jesus. Whenever I encounter someone, the question is, okay, what do we do now? Because I think I know who you are, so I think I know something about you, Jesus. And so what do I do now?

When John the Baptist is baptizing, how he got his nickname, in the Jordan River. And here is Andrew and John, and John the Baptist, sees Jesus. And he says, behold, the Lamb of God. It takes away the sins of the world. And here you can imagine, Andrew and John the beloved saying, so what do we do now? So the next day, they start following Jesus. And he says, where do you want to?

What are you looking for? And he says, they ask, they tell him, where are you staying? He says, come and see. Okay, we did. So what do we do now? I love the scene on the source of the Sea of Galilee with Peter. Matthew's Gospel where here's Jesus and he's preaching on the shores of the Sea of Galilee and he gets into Simon's boat because, you know, pull off a little bit from shore so he can be the teacher

and see all the crowds on the shoreline. And then at some point Jesus looks at Simon and says, go out into the deep water and lower your nets for a catch. And Simon Peter, of course, he says, you know, the story, he says, Master, we've been working hard all night and we've caught nothing. Basically, he says, master, like, I'm a pro. I've been doing this all night, but I'm not a very good pro. haven't caught anything. But then he says, but add your request, I'll do what you say.

Because there's that question, okay, what do we do now? I'm hearing you teach. Here's Simon Peter, who has met Christ. He can hear Jesus teach, and he can just wonder the question, wait, are you really who I think you might be? If you are, then what do I do now? Jesus says, go in the deep water, so they do. Lower the net fair catch and bring in this massive load of fish, so the other boat

has to come and help them. And what happens? Simon Peter falls to his knees. at the feet of Jesus, and he says, depart from me, Lord, from a sinful man. Because if you're looking at the Lord, the question, what do I do now? I can't stay here in his presence.

This is the best human being I've ever met in my life, maybe even more than a human being that I've ever met in my entire life. So what do I do now, you have to leave. And what Jesus says, listen, from now on, Simon, you'll be catching men, you'll be a fissure of men. Okay, I imagine Simon hears that and says, Okay, so what do we do now?

What they do is then they go with Jesus to Copernum and they go with him to Betseida and they go with them to all these other villages and what happens? It's incredible. Jesus begins to reveal that he is, there's something about him that's unique that's never happened before in the history of the world

and Jesus sees a hurting person and makes them whole. So Jesus has paralyzed people that he can make walk again. Jesus has encounters blind people that he can give sight to. Jesus has found out of death, deaf people that he gives hearing back to. He counters people who are possessed by demons, and he sets them free from that possession. And so all the apostles, the disciples, Simon Peter is seeing this,

he's like, oh my gosh, if this is who I think he is because it was said that the Messiah, the anointed one, the Christ, that he would have healing in his wings. So what happens when this woman, she's been bleeding a hemorrhage for 38 years, she reaches out and she touches the tassel on his cloak, That's the wings, they would call that. And power goes from Jesus and heals her. There would be healing in the Messiah's wings.

In fact, there's a kind of a strange story where there's a blind man, and Jesus takes him off and he spits in some mud, and he spits in some dirt and makes mud with his saliva and rubs it on the man's eyes. Now, that's weird for us, but the teaching of Scripture was that there would even be healing in the saliva of the Messiah.

And so here's the disciples, and they see this, and they have that question. if this is him, what do we do now? And what they did is Jesus looked at them and said, okay, I'm going to send you out two by two. To do what? What do you do? And he said, I'm going to send you out two by two. And what you're going to do is you're going to do exactly everything I just did

and you're going to do it in the power of my name. So he sends them out. And in the name of Jesus, they encounter people who are blind and give them sight. And in the name of Jesus, they encounter people who are deaf and they give them hearing. In the name of Jesus, they encounter people who are possessed by demons and they're able to deliver those people from bondage to Satan in the name of Jesus. And you come back to Jesus and they say,

tell them all the things that had happened and they ask the question, okay, what do we do now? And Jesus is, okay, come with me from Copernum. We're going to go all the way up to this place called Caesarea Philippi. 30-mile walk and a drive, both the same, north of Copernum. And when they get up there, Jesus asks a question.

Jesus says, who do people say that I am? Because, you know, I've been on the scene a bit here. I mean kind of revealing who I am little by little. So who do people say that I am? And there's all answers across the board. Some say Elijah, Jeremiah, one of the prophets, all those answers are wrong. And he looks at them and says, okay, but who do you say that I am? And Simon says, you are the Christ.

He's bold and he takes like messrs up whatever kind of courage he needs. And he answers the question, okay, Jesus, we've seen all these things you can do and your works are testifying to us and to the world that you are unique, that you are special, that you actually are the one we've been waiting for, you're the Messiah, you're the Holy One of God. And Jesus looks at Simon and says, blessed are you, Simon, son of John. Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, my Heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are now Peter, which means rock.

He says, you are now rock. And upon this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. I will give you, Peter, rock, the keys to the kingdom. Would you bide on earth, will be bound in heaven? what you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. In that moment, every one of the disciples, including Simon, now Peter, knew that Jesus just made Simon Peter what they call the prime minister of the kingdom.

So it's in Hebrew, it's the al-Habahit, the one who's over the house. Jesus is the king because he's just been proclaimed as the king. He's the anointed one. That's what it means to be king. One of the things it means to be the anointed one is to be the king. And now Jesus says, and now you, Simon, now, rock, Peter, will be the al-habite. And imagine, here's Peter going, wow, thanks for you.

for the promotion, what do I do now? And the next thing Jesus says, okay, what do we do now? He predict something. He says, we're going to go to Jerusalem. And we get to Jerusalem, I'm going to be handed over by the chief priest and elders. I'm going to be scourged and beaten and crucified,

and I'm going to die. And in three days, I will rise from the dead. You can almost imagine Peter hears his first moment on the job. on the job is like, okay, so as the prime minister, maybe I should say something. And what does he says is, okay, what should I do now? He says, God forbid, that would ever happen to you. And Jesus says to the new pope, he says, get behind me Satan. Like the worst first day at work ever from Simon Peter.

What do they do? Okay, what do we do now? They go to Jerusalem. And they live what we've just lived the last three days. They get to Jerusalem and on Thursday, after the Last Supper, after Jesus gives the priesthood and he gives the Eucharist, he gets handed over and betrayed, and Simon Peter, that first pope, denies knowing him three times. You can imagine him asking the question, so what do I do now?

You know on Friday he's just Jesus is wrongfully tried and he is scourged, he's beaten, he's crucified, and he dies. And you can imagine every one of the disciples asking the question, so what do we do now? And all day, holy Saturday, just empty Saturday, silent Saturday. And they have time now to kind of recover a little bit from the events of the last two days. And they have that question, what do we do now?

And it brings us to now to Easter Sunday. And what do we do now? Because we know this. We know that Jesus is dead, period. That's why Mary Magdalah has the anointing oil because he's dead. We know that dead things stay dead, period. That's why Peter and John don't even go to the tomb. We know that this whole thing, this whole thing, we thought he was, who we thought he was.

It's not, it's, I guess it's not true. It's over, period. I mean, that's it's it's just, it's one period after another. He's gone, period. He's dead, period. There's no coming back, period. I don't know if you ever felt like that in your life, not just when it comes to like the lives of Peter and James and John and Mary,

but in your life, you ever have that sense of like it's just a bunch of periods. It's just I tried, period, and I failed, period, and now I'm done, period. Or I loved, period, and I lost, period, so I'm out, period. It's just, because we know what period means, right? Period means the end, period. Period means no more, period. Period means game over, period. But what does it mean when you see more than one?

What does it mean when you don't just see period, period, but when you see period, period, period. Jesus cried out in a loud. voice and gave up his spirit, period. And they took him down from the cross, period. And they laid him in a tomb, period. When you see that period, period, period, period, when you see that dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, it's called an ellipsis. And what that means, it means, it's not done.

It means this is not over. It's that when you see ellipsis, when you see a dot, dot, dot, dot, when you see period, period, period, period, you know more is coming. And that's the empty tomb. This is today, Sunday morning, Easter morning. there's a stone roll back period and there's an empty, the tomb is empty, period, and he is risen, period. And they had been fully convinced Jesus is dead, period.

And dead things stay dead, period. And this is over, period. But now, because of this, because of the fact that Jesus has risen from the tomb, it's not just a belief, not just a wish, not just a hope, it's a reality. They are now fully convinced that he is alive, period. And he will stay alive, period. and that this is just the resurrection morning, this Easter morning is just the beginning period.

The period is the end, but period, period, period, period, period, is just the beginning. And so on this Easter day, what do we say, we ask the question, we ask the same question, what do we do now? And it's announced, go tell the brethren, go back and tell the brethren that he is not dead.

Period. He is alive, period. And he's gone ahead of you, period. So have faith and have courage, have hope. And do not be afraid. Because the resurrection is the ellipsis. The resurrection is the promise that there's more. Because this is all true,

that everything that Jesus had said about himself, about reality, is completely true. That failure is not the end, period, and death is not the end, and even sin is not the end. All because of the resurrection, ellipsis. So what do we do now? Well, now we rejoice. Now we live without fear. Now we receive the life that he is won for us by his death.

It's so incredible. The resurrection proves. that Jesus is who He says he is. And the resurrection is what gives us the ability to have courage, period, in the face of death. The resurrection is what gives us the ability to have faith period in the midst of hardship. And the resurrection is what gives us the power to have hope, period, in a broken world. And this is just the beginning. because the ellipsis means that more is coming and Christ is risen.

Dot, dot, dot, dot.