Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 10/17/21 Learning to Lose: Winner or Witness?

Episode Date: October 18, 2021

Homily from the Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Life isn't about power, it is about being poured out. The world sees life as being about winning. And to win is to gain power and influence. If a person wins they get power, and with that power they can re-shape the world as they see fit. But a Christian view of winning is different. Life is not about power, it is about being poured out. Life isn't about winning, it is about witnessing. Mass Readings from October 17th, 2021: Isaiah 53:10-11 Psalms 33:4-5, 18-20, 22Hebrews 4:14-16 Mark 10:35-45

So, I'm not sure. You know sometimes where you find yourself repeating yourself? Like when you get old, this is what happens all the time. Like, you know, your dad tells the same stories over and over. So I don't know how many times I have brought this up, but it's something I've been reflecting on for the last couple years. And it's the idea that I think that every, I think that every young person at some point needs to be in sports.

Like at some point you need to be in sports. Or if it's not sports, you need to be in like competitive choir or a competitive band, whatever that is. like something where you can get cut. And not just because sports have discipline, they help you figure out how to really work hard or because sports give you camaraderie and learn how to work on a team, that kind of thing.

Those are all good and those are all things that exist. But the reason why I think every single person should be in sports at some point in life because sports almost like nothing else teach you how to lose. I think the most important thing you can learn as an athlete is sports teach you how to. to lose.

At some point, no matter how good you are, you're going to lose. That's why, like, competitive choir, competitive debate, whatever that thing is, to learn how to lose is going to be really important. I keep coming back to that idea because of something that I heard Mike Tyson say. Yes, that Mike Tyson, no, in his old age, he said, like, wiser and wiser things. Now, he's not a perfect person. Obviously, none of us are perfect. But at one point, Mike Tyson was doing this interview, like old Mike Tyson, not young Mike Tyson,

old Mike Tyson was doing this interview and he said he pointed out life is about losing like life is about losing because to be alive is to grow right and the essential part of growth is loss Jesus even himself says that unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies it remains a simple grain of wheat but if it dies if it does die it brings forth fruit

so life is the process of losing that's what life is life is the process of repeated loss. Just think about, you know, you lose your hair, you lose your teeth, you lose the original color of your beard, you lose your strength. As time goes on, you lose your hearing. As time goes on, as time goes on, you lose your independence. I mean, so many people in this church, you know this. As time goes on, you lose the people you care about the most. You lose your grandparents.

You lose your parents. Every one of our friends. At some point, we will lose every one of our friends. I know a lot of our graduates, one of the things they experience, they experience loss. I talk to those who have graduated, and one of the things they immediately realized that they've lost is summer vacation.

Like, what the heck? No, why are they expecting me to work when it's nice outside? That's one of the things that happens to every single one of us. Or even whether you graduate at high school or college, you lose Christmas break. You realize that when you get in the workforce, all of a sudden they just give you a day. Like a day, maybe two if they're generous.

Like what the heck, Scrooge? You lose this. Life is about losing. Or even, this is even current students right now, and I heard over the course of this last week, there was a student, not an upper class, a sophomore who got up from their chair and made this sound.

You know what that's the sound of? Getting old. It's a sound of losing your youth, because life is the process of losing. Life is a process of repeated loss. And yes, we can work against it, we can fight it, we can hate it, we can resent it, we can try to avoid it, but at some point, we need to learn how to lose. In fact, I would say that maybe one of the best skills, one of the greatest things that any one of us can actually learn how to do is we can learn how to lose well. One of the most important

things we will ever do with our lives is learn how to lose well. So today we're starting this new series for the next four weeks, we're doing this series called Learning to Lose. Because this is an essential part of living, is learning how to lose well. In order to do that, we need to understand what winning is. I think in order to learn how to lose well, we need to understand what is it to win. Because I think a lot of us don't get that. I think a lot of us don't get what the point of life is. I mean, even in the gospel today, what do we have? We have James and John. No, James and John are, by all accounts, kind of winners. Why? What do I mean? Well, they're not just disciples of Jesus. They're 12, right? They're part of the apostles. They're not just part of the 12. They're part of

Jesus' like inner circle of three. So like they're kind of on their way. And you can just picture this scene where they kind of sidle up to Jesus. And they're walking along way from, you know, from wherever to wherever. And they say, Jesus, we want for you to do for us whatever we ask of you. I don't know if you've ever noticed this. That's kind of a bold question. That's a bold way to start a conversation. Imagine someone came up to you and said, I want you to do for me whatever I ask of you. Like, no, go away. It's like when someone says to you, hey, what are you doing this weekend? Like nothing. Great. I need help moving. Like, no. You should have told me what you wanted before this. Because that's just rude.

And what they do is they say, Jesus, we want for you to do for us, whatever we ask of you. And Jesus being Jesus, what do you want? Grant that in your glory, we're seated, one at your right, the other at your left. They want to win. Here, here they are. They want, what do they want? They want power. Because that's what it is. Like, to win is to have power. To win is to have influence. To win is to have honor. To win, I mean, even think about this. In two weeks, I think, we have the midterm elections on November 2nd. And we have this, all these people who are jockeying to win. Why? So that we can, if we win, we can stay in power. Or jockeying to win, because if we win, we can get in power. And here's the thing. I want to win so I have power,

because if I have power, then I can get things done. I want to win because then I have power. And if I have power, then I can make things the way that I think they should be. And you know, they're not wrong. When we look at it like this, they're not wrong. But it's driven by this fear. So for so many of us, winning is driven by the fear of losing. The fear of losing power. And if I can't make the world the way I want the world to be, it wants the point. But here's, that's James and John. Here's Jesus. And Jesus basically responds to them by indicating to them that they have it completely backwards. They have it completely upside down. Jesus basically looks at them and says, okay, you want power. You want to win. You don't realize

that I came to serve. You don't realize that I came to be a slave. You don't realize that I came to give my life as a ransom. Basically, Jesus is saying in today's gospel, you don't realize I came to lose. And he's pointing out this truth, life is not about power, it's about being poured out. And life is not about winning, it's about being a witness. Life is not about winning. It's about witnessing. No, I get this because, you know, I've been reading, there's a podcast out there that goes to the Bible in like 365 days. And I've been really intrigued by it.

So right now we're reading the book of Maccabees, and so right in the middle of First Maccabees, and I'm right now recording Second Maccabees. And I'd read the books of Maccabees before. I just had never read them back to back. So in my mind, I'd read through them, and I thought I knew what there was inside them, and I kind of did.

But I didn't realize that there's, not the same. So in the Old Testament, typically you have like first and second kings, which is one story they just cut in half because it's too long to have on one scroll. Or you have first and second chronicles, which is one story, but it's too long to have on one scroll. So they cut it in half. I just thought first and second Maccabees was the same. Just same story, but just too long to put on one scroll. It's not. It is two different descriptions of the same event from two completely different perspectives. So the event is, here's the people of the Jewish people. They're living in Jerusalem.

They're living in Judea, that area around Jerusalem. And what's happened is this guy named Alexander from Macedonia. He was like really great. And he conquered the known world. And then he dies and he leaves a couple of people in charge. And one of the people who was left in charge is man named Antiochus Epiphanes. And whereas Alexander and his people around him

were kind of tolerant of Judaism, Antiochus Epiphanes was not tolerant of Judaism. And so Antiochus Epiphanes comes into Jerusalem and does all these horrible, horrible things. First Maccabees is the story of how Judas Maccabias and his brothers, Simon and Jonathan and the others, they had rose up against Antiochus and other people around them and just started to fight. They just, and they went to town. First Maccabees is all about, then Judas rose up and like crushed people.

And then he rose up again and crushed him again. And First Maccabees is all about fighting and winning and being in control, about fighting and winning and being in power. It's kind of a cool story. But God really isn't part of it. God's kind of like a set piece of the whole story. He's there, so they fight for the glory of the temple, but he's not really involved.

Second Maccabees is completely different. Same story told from a completely different perspective. It's told from the perspective of God's involved, and not only he's God involved, it's the tales of the witnesses. If First Maccabees is about the warriors, Second Maccabees is about the witnesses. If First Maccabees is about those who went into battle,

second Maccabees is about those who suffered martyrdom. And that's what ends up. That's what Second Maccabees is what gave actual force to those who fought. It was their faithfulness. It wasn't, where will I get and where will I use power? It was, where will I be poured out? So in Second Maccabees chapter seven, it's one of my favorite stories. It's like PG-13 at the least is probably rated R, so you've been warned.

But it's in the Bible, so there you go. There's a story about a mom and her seven sons. What's happened is Antiochus Epiphanes has come on the scene, and he wants these seven sons and his mom, want all the Jews to eat pork in violation of the law. So here's how it starts out. It says, it also happened that seven brothers and their mother were arrested and tortured with whips and scourges by the king

to force them to eat pork in violation of God's law. Just think about this. Put this in context for a second. All they have to do is pick up a piece of bacon, bite it, chew it, swallow it, done. You're free. It's all they have to do. Something so small.

Says the first brother, speaking for the others, said, I love this. This is just like so B.A. He says, what do you expect to achieve by questioning us? We're ready to die

rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors. Like, what are you hoping for? You want us to compromise. We're not going to compromise. You want us to rise up and fight with swords? We don't have to rise up on fight with swords. We are not warriors. We are witness.

It goes on. These are the actual words. This is my paraphrase. These are their actual words. At that, the king and a fury gave orders to have the pans and cauldrons heated. While they were being heated, he commanded his executioners to cut out the tongue of the one who had spoken to the others, for the others, to scalp him and cut off his hands and feet

while the rest of his brothers and his mom looked on. Here's his man, tongue cut off, scalped, hands and feet cut off, while his mom watched. And his brothers looked on. When he was completely maimed, but still brinked, breathing. The king ordered them to carry him to the fire and fry him. As a cloud of smoke spread from the pan, the brothers and their mother encouraged one another to die bravely. That was just the first brother. Goes on, talks about all seven brothers. The second one, we're only going to go through

a couple. The second one, it says this. When the first brother had died in this manner, they brought the second to be made sportive. After tearing off the skin and the hair of his head, they asked him, will you eat the pork rather than have your body tortured limb by limb? Answering, in the language of his he said never he had already been scourged he'd already been whipped he saw his brother being brutally murdered will you have this p i mean will you have this cold cut of ham his answer never this the sense of like we you know how often are we called upon to be witnesses but we compromise how often are we called to like say like just just you don't have to fight just stand you don't have to you don't have to engage in battle just don't run away

You don't have to mow anyone down. Just don't compromise, and how quickly you and I, how quickly I am to compromise. But here's this brother, his answer, never. The third brother, he gets killed then. Spoiler. The third brother. After this, the third suffered their cruel sport.

He put out his tongue at once when told to do so, and bravely held out his hands, saying, it was from heaven that I received these. For the sake of his laws, I disdain them. From God, I hope to receive. them again. Now after all this, it says the mom, this is in verse 20. It says, most admirable and worthy of everlasting remembrance was this mother, who saw her seven sons perish in a single day, yet bore it courageously because of her hope in the Lord. Again, why was she strong? Why was

she courageous? Not because she was a strong, courageous person, but because she had hope in Jesus, not Jesus, but, you know, going on. It's the Old Testament. I forgot about that. Filled with the noble spirit that stirred her womanly heart with manly courage, she exhorted each of her sons in the language of their forefathers with these words. Speaking from her heart, she says, I do not know how you came into existence in my womb. It was not I who gave you the breath of life, nor was it I who set in order the elements of which each of you is composed. But it was God himself. Therefore, since the creator of the universe who shapes each man's beginning as he brings about the origin of everything, he and his will give you back both breath and life. This woman was willing to lose everything,

except for one thing. She was willing to lose everything except for one thing. And it's summarized by the fifth son. They brought the fifth son forward, looking at the king, he said, since you have power among men, mortal though you are, do what you please. Why do we want to win? We want to win because we have power. Here is the fifth son who looks at the king and says, you have power. So do as you please. But I have something else. You have power. Do as you please. But I have something else. You have power. And at some point, you're going to lose that power. But I have something else, something else that I will never lose. You have power and I have faith. Here's the crazy thing is this man, this mom, these brothers, they refuse to compromise.

I just wonder about this because I wonder how many of us are in that place. one of the things that's going to happen is we realize that the world around us is changing the world around us is dramatically changing and what we know already is that we don't necessarily live in a world that's really friendly towards Christians at some point your faith will cost you at some point your faith will mean that you have to lose something at some point what we're going to stand up and profess in a few minutes at some point professing that faith will mean that you lose. Professing that faith means that I lose.

That's why the author to the Hebrews today in the reading said, he said, hold fast to your confession. Hold fast, hold on to, remain strong in your confession. Again, again, he says it's like four times in the letters to the Hebrews. Why? Here's the reason why. Because life is about losing. But this is the one thing that you must not lose. Life is about losing.

But this faith is the one. one thing that you must not lose. Here's the fifth brother saying to Antiochus, you have power, you win, but you'll lose that. The one thing I will not lose is my faith. Even in small things, you know, one of my heroes in life, I have a lot of heroes, but one of my heroes is a man named Eric Little. I don't know if you know who Eric Little is. Eric Little was from Scotland. and he was a track star in 1924 Paris Olympics. So Eric Little was a dedicated Christian and wanted to be a missionary for his life,

but first he was fast, and so he thought, why not race? And then tell people about Jesus after he wins races. And so at one point, Eric Little, on his way to the Paris Olympics in 1924, he was the number one ranked sprinter in the 100 meter dash in the world.

But on the way before the Olympics opened up, he discovered that the heats for the 100 meter dash were held on a Sunday. And one of Eric Little's personal beliefs was that he couldn't come compete on a Sunday. That was the Lord's Day. It was for worship and for rest. It was for proclaiming the gospel, but not for racing. And so Eric Little said, I can't run the 100 meter dash in the Olympics. Now, he had everybody around him, including like government officials coming to him to try to

convince him. Just make an exception. Just this time run the race. If you win the race, think of how many people you can tell about Jesus, since you're so passionate about this. But Eric Little said, I can't compromise even in something small. I want to be faithful in small things so that I can be faithful in great things. And so he ended up withdrawing from the 100 meter dash in the 1924 Paris Olympics. Instead, he ran the 400 meter dash, which is much less fun, if you ask me. And he ended up winning. The gold medal in the 1924 Olympics in the 400 meter dash.

But even more importantly, he didn't just end up winning. he ended up not losing his faith. In fact, after the Olympics, Eric Little did go on to become a missionary, a missionary to China. And at one point, he was faced once again with the opportunity to compromise. Chinese government was cracking down on Christians,

and Eric Little was rounded up. And he had the opportunity to run away, the opportunity to compromise. He had the opportunity to save his life. life and he instead became a martyr for Jesus Christ. He lost everything, except for his faith. He was willing to be poured out. You know, when Jesus, here is the apostles, James and John, say, we can drink the cup you drink. What was that cup? I mean, it reminds us right of Garden of Githemeny. What was the cup Jesus was going to drink? Basically, Jesus, when he got to the

in the Garned in the Gensemite, the same cup, he said, Lord, let this cup pass from me. That cup, Jesus is basically saying, can you drink this cup? This cup is where I'm going to be poured out. Jesus saying, can you drink this cup? This is the cup where I'm going to give. Jesus asked the question, can you drink this cup? Because this cup is where I'm going to lose. Because I'm going to give everything.

So how do we get that place? Like, how do we become people like that? This is the last thing, I promise. How do we become the kind of people who can lose? How do we become the kind of people who can give everything like this? I think I'm reminded of these missionary sisters of charity in March 2016, in Yemen. There was a terrorist attack on a convent and nursing home

where some missionary sisters of charity, the mother Teresa sisters, they were serving old people, the elderly. And these terrorists on that day, in March 2016, they killed 14 people. four of them were nuns. The last prayer these nuns ever prayed is written on the front of your bulletin. The last prayer of these nuns ever prayed before they lost everything is on the front of your bulletin, and it says this.

It says, Lord, teach me to be generous. Teach me to serve you as you deserve. To give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor, and not to ask for reward. how do you and I get to the place where we're able to lose? How do you and I get to the place where we're actually able to take that cup and give?

How do you and I get to the place we're actually able to pick up the cup and be poured out? It's by praying this prayer by saying, Lord, teach me. Teach me how to be poured out. Lord, teach me, teach me how to be generous. Lord, teach me how to serve and to give and to fight and to labor and to toil. So my invitation is this week, keep that bulletin. This week, take that bulletin with you, and each day pray the last prayer that these nuns ever prayed and make it yours.

We say, Lord, teach me to be generous. Teach me to give. Teach me how to be poured out. And teach me to learn how to lose.