Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 09/22/19 Are You Saved? From What: Hopelessness

Episode Date: September 22, 2019

Homily from the Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Jesus took from us what was ours so He could give to us what is His. When we come face to face with our sin, we realize that we owe a debt we cannot pay. When we come face to face with Jesus, we realize that He paid a debt He did not owe. This is the free gift that saves us from hopelessness: we are saved by grace through faith working itself out in love. Mass Readings from September 22, 2019: Amos 8:4-7 Psalms 113:1-2, 4-81 Timothy 2:1-8 Luke 16:1-13 Download the Homily Study

So, Mammon means money, in case you're wondering about that one. What? I didn't ever thought I'd serve mammon. So speaking of money though, I don't know, if you guys come across like the national debt lately? Sorry, I just said the four-letter word, debt. We'll get to that in a second. The national debt, like they put this thing on the side of, you know, buildings in New York City. It's up to $22.5 trillion.

And this is ridiculous. I actually, there's like an alternate website that says, we've, really totaled the real cost. I think they estimated it at $112 trillion. But what's a hundred trillion or so? Can you just imagine this? Twenty-two-five trillion dollars. I think it's one of the times, I don't know, if you ever think about the national debt, it's one of those things where you're just like, I'm glad I don't have to figure that out. Or like, I think a lot of times we just kind of push it off to the side because it's just like that's so huge that we might even think like there is no way it's ever going to get paid. In fact, I don't even, sometimes

we even just jump to the idea, like if we just don't think about it, at some point China's going to be like, don't worry about it. Like, you can just keep your whatever, whatever you owe us. Because it's just, it's so far away from us, right? It's not part of our daily lives. If you want to, you can just not think about it, and it probably won't affect us anytime soon. But did you know that the average college student loan debt, like there I said it, sorry, just to cross the line, $38,000. That's the average student loan debt in America is $38,000. It's a little more personal when it comes to that. This morning we had a bunch of families as well, which is just as bad because people can be like,

oh, you're out of college, you have no debt. The average family household debt in America is $134,000. That's what the average family owes. That's the average. That includes mortgage, includes auto loan, credit card loan, school debt. $134,000 is the average debt. Now, when it comes to like the national debt, again, it's one of the things I don't know. necessarily have to think about. That's not my job, not my prop. I'm like, I don't have to

figure this out. But when it comes to my own personal debt, it's like gulp, shoot. Because as long as it's out there, I can be kind of indifferent. But when all of a sudden it's like, okay, it's in here, it's not just yours, it's mine, then all of a sudden, like, it can be, yes or no, it can be really easy to get discouraged. Like me it really easy, actually even to feel kind of hopeless, like Like, I don't even know. Like, I'm an acting major. I will never be able to pay that off. Like, that kind of, sorry, you guys, that was something funnier.

In my head, it was funnier. Fine, you're like all acting majors. Like, what are you telling me? But it's like, it's really easy to feel hopeless in that moment. Like, again, the national debt, that's hopeless. I don't feel it. But when it comes to my debt, it says like, that's more than I can pay. That's what I owe is more than I can give.

Unless I don't say I have some rich uncle somewhere, like, that just comes out of nowhere and says, by the way, here's 40, $40,000, $2,000 extra for you to pay. play around with. Like, I have such a debt that I, such what I owe that I cannot pay. It is so easy. Just feel so stuck. I don't know if you ever felt like hopeless. Like hopeless in the face of, I'm supposed to do this thing. I can't do this thing. Hopeless in the face of, here's what I owe, and I actually don't have a way to pay back what I owe. They do what I'm supposed to do, but I can't do it. I'm just hopeless. You know, um, We just began this series last week.

The series is called Are You Saved? We're just looking at what it is to be saved. Because when it comes to the Catholics, we don't always talk about in terms of, like, are you saved? We definitely pray about it. We pray like that. And we know that the scripture says that the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.

The name Jesus, we talked about this last week. The name Jesus himself means God saves. So, like, we're all about salvation. We're all about the fact that we need to be saved. But a lot of times we have big question that comes back and says, okay, I need to be saved. From what? because I think a lot of times you don't feel like the need to be saved.

We kind of like, I'm doing fine. But last week we talked about this reality that so many of us are walking through this world like orphans. So many of us are walking through this world without God who is our dad. And so last week was revealed to us that are shown to us that one of the first things, the ultimate things that Jesus saves us from,

he saves us from fatherlessness. But he also saves us from hopelessness. And he has to. you know, Gabriel, the angel, when he appeared to Joseph, he said, you'll name him Jesus specifically because he will save his people from their sins. And this is the reality for every one of us. Like sin in the Bible, sin equals debt. It's like, I have sin.

It's like I owe something now. And the problem is when I have this sin, it's like it's a debt I can't pay. I owe something more than I can pay back. And again, when it's other people's sin, I mentioned this last week, where it comes like, I know for a long time growing up, I was like, okay, I know the commandments. I can name them at a Catholic school, went to Sunday Mass.

Like, I can name the commandments. But at one point, what was out there, the sin out there, all of a sudden I realized, oh, my gosh, that is sin that I have it in my own heart. That's something that's in here. And it was one of those things that went from like, I can be indifferent to this, to oh, my gosh, I owe a debt that I can't pay.

I don't know if you've ever gotten to that point yet. And if you haven't, this might be a little boring series. But if you have, and you know that sense of like, okay, I actually do have this, and I do have this debt. I have something that I owe that actually I know this. I have absolutely no way of paying back. And if there's anything that a debt does

is it brings us a sense of hopelessness because this is something I can't deal with. Now, of course, this is a little caveat. Debtes are nothing new. That's not like a new thing to the 20th to 21st century. In fact, the Bible talks a lot about debts. In fact, in biblical times, if you are Jewish and you got yourself into debt,

Your Responsibility, the book of Lividaic, talks about this very clearly. It was your responsibility to get yourself out of debt to pay off your debt. But here's the problem. If you couldn't pay off your debt, you'd have to sell your stuff. And there was kind of no time to waste. As soon as you could, sell your stuff. In fact, sometimes your debt was so huge that you had to sell your ancestral home. Now, for us to be like, wow, that's terrible, it's awful.

But for them, it's a thousand times worse. Because think about this. When the Jews were brought to the Promised Land, God gave them this land. And this is your ancestral land. It's not just your house. This was your father's house and your grandfather's house, and goes all the way back to when Joshua led the people of Israel across the Jordan River into the promised land,

and you have to sell it now. That you're erasing your family's history. But there were times, in order to pay your debt, but there were times when that still wasn't even enough. And when you couldn't sell yourself and pay off your debt, you couldn't even sell your home and pay off your debt, you had to, or you had the opportunity to sell yourself into slavery. Sometimes you'd even actually sell your spouse and your children

as well as yourself into slavery. Again, the Jews saw that as an evil, but they thought it was a necessary evil. Why? Because someone has to pay the debt. Like, if someone gave you the money, you need to give it back to them. Again, it's not perfect. But it was their only option. Like, it was the only way out.

It was the only way around it, except for one other way. It was either, think about this, you're in such, such debt, hopelessness. that either you sell yourself and everyone you love into slavery, or you had family. The only hope you had was family. Because in ancient Israel, if you entered a covenant with someone, like you became family with them. So if you married someone, now you're part of their family and they're part of your family.

You have two families come together and make a covenant with each other. Now that's one, one family. If you had tribes come together, it made a covenant with each other. Now they're not just one tribe. They're actually became family. And there's a Jewish scholar named John Levinson. He talks about this. He says when the primary duty of family that came about a covenant was to love each other,

but not just kind of like, oh, we love you. Come over for Thanksgiving and we'll give you presents at Christmas because they didn't have Christmas then. It wasn't just that. It was they had a solemn duty to have a firm and unwavering commitment to remain faithful and loyal. And here's what it means practically. If you were indebted so much that you could not pay so that you were hopeless, a family, member could be your redeemer. Like a family member could buy you back. But it had to be a family member. It's what they call in the Bible, your kinsman redeemer. It was your brother or your uncle or

your cousin or someone would show up and they'd say, listen, to save them from slavery, to pay a debt that they cannot pay, I will buy them back. I will ransom them. In the depths of hopelessness, your family member could step in and give you your life back. In St. Paul's letter this morning, this afternoon, tonight, what time is it? St. Paul's letter today, he says that Jesus gave his life as a ransom for all. What he's saying is that Jesus is your kinsman redeemer. Here we are finding ourselves stuck in hopelessness. I owe a debt. I cannot pay.

She says Jesus gave himself. as a ransom. You know, think about this. The whole reason began the incarnation, big fancy word for God becoming one of us. The whole reason why God became a human being so that you and I could be his brothers and sisters. Like that's the whole reason.

Why did Jesus come to earth? Why did God become one of us? So he could be our brother and so he could redeem us. Why? Because you needed to be related. You need to be family in order to redeem someone, to buy them back, to ransom them. And so here's what God does.

In fact, even says in the letter to the Hebrews, it says, to redeem us, us. He became like us, a brother in all things, that God, Jesus, took to himself what was ours so he could give us what was his. That Jesus took from us our humanity so he could give us his divinity. That Jesus took from us our weakness so he could give us his strength. That Jesus took from us our brokenness so he could give us his wholeness. Jesus took from us our debt so he could give us his mercy. Jesus took from us our lowliness, our lowliness, so he could make us like him.

Remember, we talked about this whole thing. The whole heart of salvation is what? Salvation is being saved from being unchrist-like. Salvation is being saved from walking through this world, not just owing a debt, but walking through this world and not looking like God, not living like God, not loving like God. No, okay, pause. I imagine at this point some people, I can hear some people here thinking like,

okay, let's go back to the whole thing at the beginning, like the debt thing, Father. This isn't fair. I can hear a bunch of people like, you know, have that, have that counter, right, to the whole thing, saying, like, the whole show isn't fair. Like, I didn't break the world. I didn't bring sin into the world. I didn't eat the apple. I wasn't, I'm not that old.

Like, I didn't create sin. In fact, I know a lot of people say things like, I didn't choose to be born in a broken world. I didn't choose to be born into debt. And, like, I get that. Like, I completely understand. And I agree. You're right. It isn't fair.

You didn't deserve it. You and I didn't deserve, don't deserve, to be born into a broken world. It isn't fair. Evil isn't fair. Suffering and death aren't fair. And you didn't deserve. It's true to be born into a broken world. But here's something else that's true.

This is the first importance Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. What does St. Paul say today? He says, God wills everyone to be saved. And to come to the knowledge of the truth, for there is one God, And there is also one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a ransom for all. So yes, you and I did not deserve to be born into this brokenness, but you and I also didn't deserve to be ransomed like this either.

That it isn't fair that we owe a debt that we can't pay. But it also isn't fair that he paid a debt he did not owe. Yes, it isn't fair that you and I, we wake up every morning with all these pains in our hearts, but also it wasn't fair that God, who is completely innocent, took upon every single one of our brokenness, every single one of our pains, every single one of our sufferings, into his own heart on purpose. It's not fear that it's broken, but it's also not fair that you've been made whole either. Because it's just a gift.

The whole thing's just a gift. Salvation, the whole, everything, are you saying? It's just a gift. It's undeserved. It's unmerited. It's, it's unearned. It's just given. In fact, actually, that's what the word grace means.

You know, when Paul uses it. in the New Testament when he uses the word grace, it's not a theological term. It just actually means the word present. Like it means the word gift. That was, you know, I didn't work for it. Like, it's not payment. It's something that, you know, we all know this.

No one ever deserves a gift. You're just given a gift. And no one ever worked for a gift. You just receive the gift. And the truth of the matter is, how are we saved? We're saved by a gift, complete gift. Just grace.

So one of the questions people ask, you know, are you saved as Catholics? Because a lot of times people misunderstand how Catholics believe that we're saved. Sometimes people think, well, you Catholics think you work for your salvation. And it's not actually the case. Here's what we believe, how salvation works. We believe that we are saved by grace through faith, working itself out in love.

That's what we believe about salvation. We are saved by grace. Complete gift of God, unmerited, unearned, undeserved, completely by grace. Through faith, that's our response to grace, which is just a yes to God. It's an obedience to God, working itself out in love, because that's the whole core of the whole thing. The whole heart of everything comes down to love. And now again, when I say love, it's like, okay, yes, everything comes down to love. Like, okay, hoaxter, like, just like sappy, right?

This kind of idea that at the heart of everything is love sounds sappy, it's not, because what happens when you walk into any Catholic church? What's the centerpiece of any Catholic church? It's the crucifix. No, I know sometimes when people look at the crucifix, what they see is they see the pain, They see the suffering. They see sometimes, here's what some people see when they look at the crucifix. Sometimes people see God the Father pouring out his anger upon the son, like, as if this was the story.

As if the story is, we're in such debt. We're so broken that God's like, listen, someone's got to pay. Who? And his son's like, I guess I'll go. And the father says, okay, go. And then the first chance the father gets, he's like, let me pour out all my wrath, ah, kind of thing. And then when you look at the crucifix, what you're looking at is the Father just like pouring out his lava of anger on the son so you and I can live. actually there are some Christians who believe that.

There's some Christians who believe that when you look at the crucifix, what you're seeing is the Father pouring out his anger and wrath and judgment upon Jesus. That is not what we believe? Because the heart is what? The heart is not suffering. The heart of the crucifix is love. Here's the deal. Here's the deal.

If the heart of the crucifixion was suffering, evil is finite. Like evil has a limit to it. Suffering has a limit to it. But Jesus' love is infinite. And if it was just about how much he suffered, then there is a time where maybe it could run out. But it's not about how much he suffered. When we look at the crucifix, this is about how much he loved.

So here's the image. It's not the father pouring out his wrath on Jesus. It is the son pouring out his love to the father. And that's infinite. We are saved by grace through faith, working itself out in love. Because the ransom, the payment of the debt, that's just the beginning.

Like the whole point is not just to get ransom, the whole point is to what comes after that. The whole point is to have your debt cleared, the whole point is what comes after that. I mean, think about this, if you're in debt and someone says, hey, you should start investing. They're like, I can't invest, I have the debt. Say, you really should start saving up for later on. Like, I will love to save up for later on. I can't because I have to pay off the debt. Someone says, you know what, you should really think about planning, plan that dream vacation.

Like, listen, buddy, I don't have any money. I'm in debt. I can't think about anything past the debt because I'm just stuck. And whenever I think about that being stuck, that hopelessness, I can't think about anything after that. I think about a man, his name was Maximilian Colby. Maximilian Colby was a Polish man. He was a Franciscan priest in Poland.

And at one point he was taken into a concentration camp at Auschwitz, because he was a priest. And actually Auschwitz had a whole section that they had for priests where they kept them and tortured them and abused them. At one point, you know, and actually Maximilian Colby is really interesting. When you hear about his life, it's like all you think about it's all I used to the thing about his life was the end of his life when he gave his life. But actually, he was a really important guy. Like, in fact, if you would have known, lived in that era, like, Maximilian Colby, he founded a bunch of different magazines. He founded opportunities to, like, reach out

and evangelize people. He was a missionary to Japan. He was just incredible, like, go-getter. He led all of these people, like thousands of people throughout Europe. He was really influential. He was a very important person. And at one point, he gets to the prison camp, Auschwitz. And one night, this man escaped from Auschwitz. So the next day, this man escaped from Auschwitz. So the next day they rounded up all the prisoners and they said they're going to randomly select 10 people who will die because this man escaped. When they called the 10th person forward, his name was Francis. He was another Polish man named Francis. He fell to his knees and he just begged for mercy and he said, please do not kill me. I have a wife, I have children. Please let me live. And that's

what Maximilian Colby, who was a very important person, right? He had a lot going for him. He was very influential. People needed him. He stepped forward and he said, let me, please let me die for this man. And the guard said, wait, wait, wait, why would you want to do that? His answer was very simple. He said, because I'm a Catholic priest. Why would you want to die for this person? Because I'm a Catholic priest. And just think about the risk that he took right there in that moment.

You're in a concentration camp where they kill anybody. They could easily said, well, have 11. Doesn't matter. Ten. Eleven doesn't matter. You join the line. He could have just thrown that away. But what happened was they said, Okay, Francis, you go back to the group. And Maximilian, you go into the starvation bunker. He was in the starvation bunker for, I think, 15 days. He finally wasn't dead after 15 days, so they filled the syringe with carbolic acid

and then injected it into his heart, and he died. But Francis lived. This is the most amazing part. Francis, he was at that moment hopeless. All of a sudden, that debt, he was freed. And he didn't have to die. But the point wasn't just to be freed. the point was to live after that.

He went on to live for over 50 years. He didn't die until 1995. And his friends and family said that as long as Francis, the long as our dad, as long as our grandfather, Francis, had breath in his lungs. He believed it was his duty to tell as many people as possible about what Father Maximilian did for him. See, the story doesn't end when the debt gets paid.

The story just starts when the debt gets paid. Here's the reality. here's the last thing. Here we are. We're in a place where the debt gets paid off. We're in a place where like, I walked in hopeless. I walked in owing so much. I owed a debt I could not pay. But then you get to this place where I was, oh my gosh, but in Jesus, he paid that debt that he did not owe and it's been paid off. So what comes next? And that's the question. What are you going to do now that your debt has been paid? You don't have to worry about the debt anymore? What are you going to do now that you're free from that weight over your shoulders?

What do you get to do now? It doesn't like, what are you going to do for him? Suckas? Like, that's not it. That's not like punks. It's just, wow, now that you're free, now that you have power, now that you have the grace, the gift of God inside of you, what's next? Where are you going to pour yourself out? Like he poured himself out? Where are you going to give you? Where are you going to your heart like he gave his heart. You can have the opportunity to move from hopelessness to living a debt-free life. What is the first thing? What is the next thing that you're going to do with it?