Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 06/21/20 Fear No One

Episode Date: June 21, 2020

Homily from the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time. You matter to God and you have a job to do. Jesus tells us to "fear no one." Not because there is no danger, but because He is calling us to not be safe. Mass Readings from June 21, 2020: Jeremiah 20:10-13 Psalms 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35Romans 5:12-15 Matthew 10:26-33

The Lord be with you. You're reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew. Chapter 10 verses 26 through 33. Jesus said to the 12, Fear no one. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness,

speak in the light. What you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both body and soul in Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin, yet not one of them falls to the ground without your father's knowledge. Even all the hairs on your head are counted.

So do not be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows. Everyone who acknowledges me for others, I will acknowledge me for my heavenly father. But whoever denies me, before others, I will deny before my Heavenly Father, the gospel of the Lord. So I heard this story years ago, but I recently came across another article that covered the same topic, basically back in World War II.

The citizens of London, they knew that the Germans were going to have this, you know, Blitzkrieg, basically this carpet bombing of London. And so Londoners prepared themselves for this. They estimated, David Brooks wrote this article, they talked about this. See, they estimated that they knew that London would be flattened. They estimated that at least 200,000 people would be dead that in the, not overall, in the first barrage, like in the very first attack on London. Millions, they thought that millions would go insane because of just this constant attack

by bombers over the city of London. So they actually built these sanitariums, sanitariums, basically, places where if you went crazy that you could go to out in the country. They built all these things and stock them with all the supply. you would need because they thought, no, people will just, they'll crack underneath the pressure, the fear of this constant harassment. Every night, they were bombed out almost every day. And it turned out to be pretty bad, I mean, obviously, for months on end, this every night,

every night these bombs went off. And hundreds and thousands were killed on a regular basis. It was awful. But something happened. something happened to those citizens. They thought they would be crushed. People thought that they, again, would go insane, but something else rose to the surface.

They thought that these men and women, there's no ordinary people, will be dominated by fear, but something else rose to the surface. Something else happened. And what was that? What was the gift? What was the ability? What was the resource that actually these Londoners

were able to harness and grab onto you? Because that's the kind of thing that we'd say, well, I want that kind of thing. kind of gift. Like if you could withstand that kind of torment, that kind of terror, that kind of place of absolute fear, but not be afraid. Like what would that take? What would that be? What would you give to have that kind of a thing? Would it be like they still have their health? They still had their money. They still have property? No, all those things were being taken away from them. They didn't have peace. They didn't have family. They didn't have comfort at all. But they had

something even more important. This is a man named James Allen. And he said it like this. He said, when it comes down to it, whether you are a man or whether you're a woman, you will never do anything without courage. That's what they had. When their property was being destroyed, when their families were being torn apart, when their lives were being threatened and destroyed, when there was no comfort, they had courage. And whether you be a man or woman, you can do nothing without courage.

So here's Jesus in the gospel today, Matthew 10. And he says these first words, the first words of the gospel is so powerful. He just says, fear no one. In fact, it's interesting because he doesn't actually say fear no one. That's really inspiring, like this fear no one. The scripture kind of cuts it off a little bit. It says, therefore fear no one. And you like, wait, wait, whenever you see in scripture the words, therefore, you have to ask the question.

What is that therefore? And the answer is the context. This is Matthew chapter 10. What's the context? Matthew chapter 5 through 7 is Jesus' sermon on the Mount. So Jesus' massive teaching hundreds, maybe thousands of people coming out to Jesus and he's on the hillside and he's telling the apostles and the disciples that can see all of these people coming to Jesus like wow that's incredible he's

the incredible teacher people are coming to him and then in chapters eight and nine Jesus is doing all these miracles all these people coming to Jesus and he touches them and they're healed and he raises the dead and he does all these incredible things and the beginning of chapter 10 Jesus says now I give you my authority you're going to go out and you're going to do what I did you can imagine what those men would immediately think they would think this is phenomenal chapter 5 through 7 Jesus teaching everyone wants to listen to him teach Chapters 8 and 9,

Jesus is healing everyone, is coming to Jesus. They love him. And he's telling us now that we're going to have his authority, that he's sending us out into this world. It's going to be amazing. In chapter 10, he goes on to say,

yeah, here's what they're going to do. You're going to go out like me with my power, my authority. And they will hand you over to the courts. And you'll be scourged in the synagogues. and you'll go before governors and kings, and they will try you unfairly. And brothers will kill brothers, and fathers will kill their sons. And sons will rise up against their fathers and kill them. He goes on to say, you will be hated by everyone because of my name.

And when they persecute you, he says, shake off the dust and go to the next town, basically. And when they persecute you, keep going. And then it comes to the, then it's the reading we heard today. And then he says, therefore fear no one. After all this stuff, here's all the things that are going to happen to you. Therefore, fear no one. Why? Not because you're amazing.

Not because everything is going to go your way. Not because you'll always have things work out the way you want them to work out. Not because, you guys, this is going to be so easy. And not because there's going to be a guarantee and absolutely, absolutely, above all else, Jesus said, does not say fear no one because you will be safe. Being safe. It's interesting kind of a pause on this. I think it's interesting that we have this preoccupation with being safe in our culture right now.

Like so much of that, so much of what we do is oriented around being safe. So much energy is spent into being safe. We're going to be locked down because we want to be safe. In fact, I think we can even craft our whole lives around this idea of meeting to be safe. And when I say being safe, I don't just mean avoiding danger. That's being safe, right? Avoiding danger. There's an even more disastrous and even more devastating translation of the term, be safe. It doesn't just mean sometimes avoiding danger. It also sometimes means avoiding being dangerous. Yep, sometimes being safe means keep your kids safe,

protecting them. Keeping your kids safe sometimes means protecting them. But also, Keeping your kids safe sometimes means making them powerless, making them harmless, making them nice. And sometimes I wonder if we believe that's what it is to be a good Catholic. To be a good Catholic is to be safe. Not just be protected, but be safe in the sense of being nice, being harmless, being safe. I mean, after all, Jesus even says this. He says, I'm sending you out as sheep among wolves.

And I think that we sometimes think, okay, so then that means if I'm going to be a sheep among wolves, I just have to take it. I just have to roll over. I just have to be mild. In fact, there was a Christian group I did an interview with. At one point, there's a men's group and they're all about like, we need to be like bold Christian men. We need to be bold men of the Lord. And they said, we need a little bit less Lamb of God and a little bit more line of Judah. And I get it. Like I get it. For us, right, lambs are the cuddly, they're tame, they're harmless. But that's not. Jesus being the Lamb of God does not mean in any way, shape or form that he is cuddly or safe or tame or nice or harmless.

Jesus, the Lamb of God in the Old Testament and the New Testament, that means he's the one who sacrifices himself. He is the Lamb of Sacrifice. That Jesus is the Lamb. The Lamb is courageous. The Lamb is dangerous. Jesus says, they hate me. They will hate me and kill me.

And what's going to happen is, I'm the lamb who chooses to lay down his life for those who are killing me. There's nothing, there is nothing harmless about the Lamb of God. I will choose to lay my life down for others for you. And then he goes on to say, They hated me and that did not stop me. They hate me and that will not stop me. And they will hate you and that must not stop you either. Therefore, fear no one.

Again, fear no one, not because you'll be amazing and not because you will be safe, but because of two absolutely critical realities. One is that you have a job to do. Fear no one, why? Because you have a job to do. And secondly, because you matter to God. Fear no one because you have a role. Let's go to that.

Fear no one because you have a job to do. You have a task. You have a role to believe. You have a part to play. And think about this, these Christians that Jesus is talking to right now, these Christians, they turn the world upside down. They upset the status quo. that every person right now in our culture, every person in the West who believes that

people are made in the image of the likes of God, that we have an equality, that's because of them. That's because they were willing to be hated. Jesus is saying, fear no one because you have a job to do. There will even be family divisions. Remember what he says, brother will kill brother and fathers will kill their children and children will kill their fathers over this. In our culture right now, to be a Catholic, to be a faithful Catholic means that you might

even have siblings who hate you and what you believe. You might have parents who hate you and what you believe. You might be a parent and you have kids who hate you and what they think you believe. And you might even be accused of tearing the family apart because you belong to Jesus. You might even be accused of being a hater because you believe the truth about God and the truth about what human beings are. But you have a part. Therefore you cannot afford to be safe. I was recently reflecting on Harry Potter, which I know it's like dangerous to bring up in church. But like the novels and the movies, okay, there's two critiques that came out when Harry Potter came out. The two massive critiques, obviously the one is witchcraft, okay, we don't endorse that, right?

We're against witchcraft, okay. But the second critique of Harry Potter was that Harry Potter couldn't be a good role model because he and his friends, Ron and Hermione, they disobeyed authority. snuck out of the castle. And Harry Potter and his friends, they broke the rules when necessary. And at first I was like, yeah, that's a bad role model. Then I'm like, wait, wait, wait, no, no. Exactly. That's exactly the point. Harry, if he's going to be the hero, he's meant to be the hero of the story. Hermione's meant to be the heroine of the story. Ron is meant to be the hero of the story. Their role in the story is to be the hero, and therefore every hero has to be the kind

of person who is able, who's able to push back. Every hero has to be the kind of person who is willing to push back, even if sometimes it's wrong. Even if sometimes you push back in the wrong way, even if you sometimes push back against the wrong thing, you have to risk that because we have to be willing to learn from that. That in that world of Harry Potter, there were people in charge who told them to sit down when it was time to stand up. In that world, there are people who told them, no, it's time for peace when it was actually time to fight. In that world, there are people who are saying that right is wrong and wrong is right, and they needed to say, no, right is right and wrong is wrong. They had a role to play, therefore they

needed to be the kind of people who could push back. They couldn't be safe because they had to be heroes. And this is the same thing when it comes to Christ. Catholics can't afford to be safe because what the world needs is not safe Christians. The world needs Christians who are able, Catholics who are willing to push back. First reading from Prophet Jeremiah. Here's a prophet. You guys, people don't like prophets because prophets have to push back. That's why Jeremiah is lamenting in chapter 20, he's like, what the heck? God gives me this word, and the word is to speak to the people of Judah, the people of Israel, and tell them, like, listen, exile's coming. And now everyone hates me, but you have to risk that for the sake of others. This is the story of Jesus. He was not safe.

Jesus handed his life over for the sake of others. That's why as Catholics, we cannot afford to be Again, not merely thrill seekers, not merely being defiant because that's my temperament. Like I just want to do what I want to do, but being willing to be defiant for the sake of others. And this is a hard word for me. I'm preaching to myself in this because I know that myself, I'm kind of an agreeable human being. Like that's my temperament. My temperament is naturally kind of like, all right, that's fine, that's cool. And I realize that because of that, I have to learn how to push back.

And if that's you right now, if you're like, no, I'm a safe Christian. I've been kind of a good kid in my whole life. And here I am as good an adult my whole life. I'm a safe person. You may need to learn how to push back because the world does not need Catholics who are safe. The world needs Catholics who are dangerous, who are courageous. Now, you also went on, the other hand,

be the temperament that is disagreeable. And you're like, great, thank you. I can unleash on the world now. Like, no, hold on. You might be so disagreeable that you need to learn how to hold back because your natural disposition is to push back for yourself. But all of us need to be refined. So if I'm agreeable, I need to learn how to push back for the sake of others.

And if I'm disagreeable, I need to learn how to hold back for the sake of others. Because what you do matters. That's what David Brooks pointed out. In his article on those Londoners, how did those Londoners survive? How could they be courageous? There are many factors that went into it. But one of the factors he pointed out was he said, those Londoners, they could survive that blitzkrieg, they could survive the carpet bombing because they believed they had agency.

What I mean by that is they believe that their actions still mattered. that their choices still mattered, that their lives actually still mattered. And so what they would do is after a bombing raid, they would walk outside to basically to show the Germans, like, they're still alive. You didn't kill all of us. Like during the bombing raid, in the middle of the night, they would mount, they'd get on top of these buildings, and they would shoot back at these bombers flying so high above them. They had no chance of shooting them down, but they wanted those pilots and those bombers

to see their muzzle flashes to realize that someone down there is fighting back. Why? Because they believe their actions actually mattered. And as Christians, as Catholics, realize your choices, your actions, your decision matters. And that comes with a price. That comes at a price because if a lot of us are tempted to believe that our choices don't matter. Like our lives don't matter. Like, basically, if there's no God, then you're right. You get to do whatever you want because your choices don't matter.

If there's no God, if there's no purpose to your life, if your choices don't matter, then do whatever you want. You can't lose. but you also can't win. But if God exists, and if he sees you, and if you matter, that means you can't just do whatever you want because your choices matter.

Jesus even says it. You could actually choose Gahanna. You could actually live in such a way that you choose hell. You can lose. But the good news is you also can win. Here's Christ who comes to give us his grace. We can choose and say no to that.

We can say, my will not your will be done. we can deny him in front of others and he says, okay, that's what's going to happen. Your choices actually matter. That leads to death. That leads to Gehenna. That leads to hell.

But also, with His grace, you can also choose him. And that leads to life. It's one of the reasons why Jesus says, your father sees you. Like, know this. And here's this powerful word of encouragement. He says, now the father are not two sparrows sold for a small coin.

You are worth so much more. and your father, he sees every one of them. That one falls to the ground without him knowing it, without him caring about it. You're worth more than many sparrows. He says, so therefore fear no one. Why? Because you are seen by God.

Fear no one. Why? Because you matter to God. Therefore, fearing God, you fear no one. Knowing God knows you, you fear no one. This is the last thing, last quick thing. Speaking of World War II, I came across the story recently of a guy named Jake Van Cedar,

a guy named Jake Van Seder. He is a man who was roughly in his late teens, early 20s during World War II. When he's a young man, his father ran a grain mill. When he was 16, his father died and he had to take over the mill. And the war broke out in the Netherlands. He's Dutch. And the rule was the government said, the Nazi occupying government said you have to give all the farmers who come to you with their grain. You have to give a certain amount to the government. And Jake did not believe that was fair. Did not believe that was. right and so he just didn't do it. He covered it up and then there were fugitives that they were being recruited, conscripted by the Nazi army. And at one point

Jacob who was like maybe 17, 18, 19 at the time, he hid 19 fugitives in his mill. He's like, but we had these stamps for food and so we had no food for nine, because I had to keep 19 people alive. Imagine being an 18 year old responsible for 19 fugitives and your family and keeping them alive when there's no food, and you have to be defiant to an unjust government. But he did it. At 21 years old, he was arrested. His property was confiscated.

They took everything. He was arrested without reason, without explanation. And he was tortured, and he was abused. And he says he almost died so many times. But he said this. He said, the worst that could happen. He just looked at the worst. What's the worst?

He said, the worst that could happen is that they caught me and killed me. He said, but that's not too bad, because then I'm with the Lord. So what's wrong with that? The worst that could happen, they catch me, kill me. Then I'm with Jesus. He went on to say, he said, in a sense, I have no fear. That is like to be afraid. He says, I don't even know what that is.

Imagine, pause on this. Here's this man. I have no fear. I don't even know what it is. Why? He says, for I trust the Lord. I put my trust in him. So I have no reason to fear.

One way or another, he will look after me. This is important. One way or another, he will look after me, even if it is not always exactly the way I want. Whatever happens, it is the will of the Lord. So, I mean, that's okay with me. He survived the war, emigrated to Canada where he raised his family,

and he is still alive today. This man who trusts in the Lord, Lord and so he fears no one. This man who fearing God fears no one. How? Because when God matters more than anyone else and anything else and you know that your actions matter and that you matter to God, then you have no reason to fear because you have a role. You matter to God and you are not safe. Therefore, Fear no one.