Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 10/20/24 Made for Worship: Worth-ship

Episode Date: October 19, 2024

Homily from the Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time. A thing is worth what someone is willing to sacrifice for it. How do we know what a thing is worth? When it comes to God, do we know how to worship Him? Mass Readings from October 20, 2024: Isaiah 53:10-11 Psalms 33:4-5, 18-20, 22Hebrews 4:14-16 Mark 10:35-45

Welcome to Sunday homilies with me, Father Mike Schmitz. I hope today's homily inspires and motivates you, and I also hope that it leaves you hungry for the one who gave everything to feed you. If you want to get this in other Sunday Mass resources sent straight to your inbox, sign up at ascensionpress.com slash Sunday, or by texting Sunday to 33777. You can also follow or subscribe on your podcast app for weekly notifications. God bless. The Lord be with you.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Mark Chapter 10 verses 35 through 45 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him, Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. He replied, what do you wish me to do for you? They answered him, grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left. Jesus said to them, you do not know what you're asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink?

or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? They said to him, we can. Jesus said to them, the cup that I drink, you will drink. And the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized. But to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared. When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John.

Jesus summoned them and said to them, you know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lorded over them. and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant. Whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve.

And to give his life as ransom for many. The gospel of the Lord. Wait should have a seat. So back in October of 1984, there was a man who was, he was a freshman at Northwestern University. And he wanted to go to a Bulls game, and so he bought two tickets to the Chicago Bulls, October 1984.

And he thought that he'd find someone else, someone random person, who would want to go to the Bulls game with him. But no one did, freshman, you know. And so he went to the game by himself. And the one ticket he had, he used, you know, threw it away. The ticket he didn't use, he just put it in the manila envelope,

just kind of one of those kind of collector, kind of at situations, forgot about it. He found out it a couple years ago and realized that that game in October 1984 was Michael Jordan's first ever NBA game. And so he decided, I wonder how much money I could get for it. So in 2022, two years ago, he sold that unused ticket for almost half a million dollars. And they got me thinking like, okay, like that was a chair. That was a piece of paper.

Like, what would people, what are the most expensive seats people have ever done? you know, purchase. So Taylor Swift, most expensive seat someone ever paid, most monomoney people ever paid for a Taylor Swift ticket was the last show she did in Miami. Someone paid $14,000 for a box seat. It was pretty good, not bad, not the, not the biggest, in fact, there was a game. I think it was the, there was someone paid, how much money would someone pay for a folding chair? The most everyone I ever paid for a folding chair was 2010 NBA game seven, game finals. paid $81,000 for a folding chair. Now the folding chair is on the court, but still, to sit in a folding chair for a couple

hours, $81,000. There's not just seats. There's an airline, Eddiehood Airlines, that has a seat called the residence. Because it's not just a seat. It's like a, there's a room. It's a seat. It's a bed. There's a shower in there.

And if you fly from New York City to Abu Dhabi, it will cost you only $66,000 for that airline seat. But wait, there's more. There is a, the number one most expensive ticket ever sold was back in 2016, a game between the Cubs and the Indians in the World Series, right? There's a massive, massive game. The last game of the series. And someone paid to sit in a chair for a couple hours and watch the Cubs play the Indians. They paid $1.1 million for that seat.

And, no, all those things are like really expensive. Obviously, those are things that, like, you and I probably never would pay or maybe could ever pay for that. But the reality is, of course, we do have a price. I mean, there is a price that every one of us is like, no, that'd be okay. That'd be worth it. Even if it's not just like a price, like that'd be worth it. I know a lot of our students, like, you know, there's a concert on Tuesday night. So I'll drive down to the cities.

The concert is out at 1 o'clock. You drive back through the night. You know, no sleep, school the next day, work the next day, but you're like, nah, it was worth it. It was an awesome concert because that's what we do, right? Even in high school, I'm sure some of you as high school athletes were like, my goal is I want to be a state champion. And so I don't care what it takes.

I don't care what it costs. That's my goal. And it's worth it. Or maybe you wanted to be the salutatorian. Maybe you want to graduate high school with a 4.0. And so whatever it takes, that was worth it. Because that's the reality, right? Every one of us, if we have something that's a goal, we have an achievement, we have something we want to accomplish,

we believe at some point that it's worth it. So here's the question. How do you know if something's worth it? Or not that. How do you know something's worth? like how do you know what something is worth? I think it's a complicated question. It's a really easy answer.

It's a really simple answer, actually. A thing is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. Like that's what it is, ultimately. A thing is worth whatever someone's willing. Another way to say it is, a thing is worth whatever someone is willing to sacrifice for it. And that, that truth, has everything to do with what we're doing here because why do we come here tonight?

We came here tonight because we're here to worship. That's what we're here for. We're here to worship. I don't know if you know this, but the word worship actually comes from an old English word that is worthship. And so that's the reality. We worship what we believe is worth it.

That what we're doing here is worship because we believe that God is worth it. Again, we can say it like this. If a thing has worth, its worth is either determined or revealed by what someone is willing to sacrifice for it. I'll say that again. If something has worth, that worth is either determined or revealed

by what someone is willing to sacrifice for it. So that ticket stub or that ticket unused worth nothing. No, it's actually worth $500,000 because someone is willing to sacrifice that much for it. And this is so critical, because if we actually ask the question, okay, so what is religion all about? Or what is the heart of religion?

Some people would say, well, the heart of religion is what we believe. It's the creed. that's important but it's not the heart of religion. What they say, you know, actually the heart of religion is how we behave, it's morality. That's important, but it's not the heart of religion. Well, what we believe and how we behave are important. The heart of religion is worship.

And I'm not talking Christianity. All religion, throughout the entire history of humanity, the heart of all world religions has been this, has been worship. Why? Because as human beings, yes, it's important to have a creed. It's important to have morality. but as human beings we are made for worship. And so for the next six weeks, that's what we're going to talk about.

From now until Advent starts, we're doing a series. And the series is called Made for Worship. Why? Because the human heart longs to worship, even if you don't believe in God. This is the crazy thing. Even if you take God away, we will find something, we will make something to worship. In Seattle, there's this museum called the Museum of Popular Culture.

It's called Mopopop. And basically, it's a cool, collection of music and movies and entertainment and TV shows, like all this memorabilia. There's like a Jimmy Hendricks exhibition. There's, you know, there's Kirk Cobain stuff. They have a collection of all these things. Like, for example, remember the movie Princess Bride? So there is Buttercup's red dress when she throws herself down the hill. They have that there. They have Judy Garland's dress from Wizard of Oz. They have a proton pack from Ghostbusters, you know, and it's one of those situations where people literally will come from all over the world

to the Seattle Museum of Pop Culture and then will go in front of Jimmy Hendrix's guitar and weep. I mean, people actually go in front of Kurt Cobain's T-shirts and lay flowers and cry. And I'm not like a fun about that. Like, I think, I'm not mocking that at all.

That's what it is to be human. Why? Because human beings are made to worship. Even if we don't believe in God, we're going to find something to worship. I mean, that's why your body, could be your God. And so, yeah, I'll do whatever I'll do whatever it takes to have that kind of body.

I'll sacrifice no matter what. Remember, because the thing is worth, or someone's willing to sacrifice for it. Or success. We say, yeah, you got to get back to that grind because it's worth it. Or especially in the absence of religion, I don't know, this season is kind of popular. Politics become a religion of our culture. Because a thing is worth what someone is willing to sacrifice for it. The heart of religion is worship.

the heart of worship is sacrifice. And here's the reality. Nobody needs to tell you to sacrifice. No one needs to tell us to worship. Why? Because if you ever love something, if you're passionate about something, the question that naturally arises is,

is what can I give? Like, right, it's what can I offer? If you ever love something, it's like, what can I do? Which is one of the reasons why coming to Mass is so stinking frustrating. Because we come here to worship, and the reality is we don't know what we're doing.

we come to worship and like oh this is what i'm made for and we have no idea what's going on that's a problem right we have no idea what's going on we have no idea what we're supposed to be doing and we don't even know if this has anything to do with us because what happens we walk in the door we watch the priest pray you take your spot and watch the priest pray and we call that worship what ends up happening is we don't know what's going on we don't we're supposed to be doing we don't know if it has anything to do with us And so we end up becoming passive observers of the most important thing we could ever possibly do. We become bystanders. We show up here and we watch.

But here's the crazy thing. You are not made to watch. You and I are made to worship. Not be passive observers, but we need to know. So what do we need to know? A couple things. Let's go back to the Bible. What do we know about Jesus?

What do we say about Jesus? Really basic. We say Jesus is our Savior. Cool. I think for a lot of us to say, yeah, Jesus is Savior. That's a lot like going to the pool and being like, hey, there's a lifeguard here. Right on. Like for most of my life, that's what when someone would say, hey, Mike, Jesus is your Savior.

I'm like, that's cool. Again, it's like going to a pool and having a lifeguard there. Like, I'm glad he's here for someone. I don't need that. I know what I'm doing. I'm fine. I'm completely okay. But Jesus is your Savior.

I'm not drowning, bro. For so much of my life, that was it. So Jesus is my Savior doesn't mean anything to me. And then I've shared this too many times, but I remember the first time I realized, oh my gosh, I am not okay. I was a pretty good kid. I did the right thing most of the time. But I remember there was one moment, one season in my life where I realized, oh my gosh,

I have fallen short. Like that recognition of I am so far from God. The moment I realized, actually the truth about my own heart is that I'm a stranger to myself. I realize that I have a capacity to hurt other people. have a tendency to live for myself that I realized I had become so alienated from God and it was kind of like if you were with us over Lent last year

Father Walter Chizek who is he realized in the worst moment of his life he realized the truth he's I'm nowhere near the person I thought I'd be remember that moment he's realizing oh my gosh I am broken and I cannot fix myself literally I remember thinking like oh my gosh wow I need a savior bing, like, oh my, what they've been telling me this whole time, all of a sudden now it makes sense. That first step, though, that first step is absolutely necessary. Scripture says it like this. All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.

I don't know if you know this about the original Greek, but the word all in Greek means all. That the word all in Greek means me. And the word all in Greek actually means you. that we all have to come to this place where we admit there's a problem, that I have a problem I can't fix. I am broken in a way that I can't remedy. I am powerless. You know, in fact, anyone who goes to AA,

you realize this truth. You have to acknowledge this. I am powerless in the face of my addiction. And until we all get to that place where I realize, like, okay, I'm a good guy, I'm a good girl, whatever, like, no, I'm broken. And I'm powerless in the face of my brokenness. I am lost and separated from God,

and I am powerless in the face of being so separated from God that no matter how much I try, no matter how much I work, no matter how good I try to be, I cannot bridge this unbridgeable gap between me and God. That's the problem, but that's also the first step for the solution because in that moment, when I realize

I'm broken in a way I can't fix, what does God do? How does Jesus solve this? Well, he bridges the unbridgeable gap. We have this unbridgeable gap between us and God, so what does God do? he becomes one of us. So here's the thing. We all know that technical term, right?

It's the incarnation. The God actually becomes one of us in the incarnation. Here's a question. Did Jesus becoming one of us? Did God becoming one of us? Did that solve the problem? So I'm not going to make you like nod or anything. Answered, no, didn't.

It made it possible for the problem to be solved. But the incarnation didn't solve the problem. So what solved the problem? What bridged the imbridgeable gap? Was it Jesus when he started healing? Doing miracles. Nope, that didn't solve the problem. Was it when Jesus started driving out demons, exorcisms?

Nope, that didn't solve the problem. Was it when Jesus started preaching and teaching and telling us a new way to live? That didn't solve the problem. Question, what did Jesus do? How did Jesus act in such a way? What solved the problem? It was in the first reading today. Isaiah chapter 53, which was written, by the way, 600 years before Jesus showed up.

How did he solve the problem? It says this. Through his suffering, my servant shall justify many. their guilt he shall bear i'm broken in a way i cannot fix and how does jesus fix it through the cross i am alien i'm so far from god in the way i cannot cross that unbridgeable gap how does jesus cross the original gap the answer is through the cross i realize i can't fix myself so he comes to us why because the problem is this the problem is sin ultimately right

and what is sin sin is not just I broke made a mistake sin is not just I broke a rule I always say like a sin can be summed up in this sentence God I know what you want I don't care I want what I want that's that's all that's all sin is God I know what you want I don't care I want what I want sin ultimately at the core of it is disobedience it's one of the reasons why St. Paul wrote and he said he said by one man's disobedience his name's Adam, you might have heard of him. By one man's disobedience, all have fallen. And by one man's obedience, all have been made righteous.

It's actually Jesus' obedience on the cross that saves us. Because it's my disobedience that makes me lost. In fact, we have a prayer in the Mass that goes like this. You're going to hear it later on tonight. It's a prayer we're talking to the Father, and we say this. We say, for you so love the world, that in your mercy you sent us the Redeemer to live like us in all things but sin just like in the second reading today so that you might love in us

what you loved in your son and this is the big line by whose obedience we have been restored to those gifts of yours that by sinning we had lost in our disobedience that's why on the cross it wasn't the level of pain Jesus endured that's not what saved us

it was the depth of his love is what saved us Why? Because the problem is my distrust. The answer is his loving trust. The problem for me is my disobedience. And the answer is his humble obedience. And my problem is my rebellion. And his answer is his profound sacrifice.

His profound surrender. So, question, when is the moment when Jesus makes it possible for us to have our sins forgiven? I would say it's this moment. Now, it's the whole process, right? life death and resurrection of Jesus, but if there's any one moment where it's possible now for us

to be restored, for us to be made new, it's that moment on the cross when Jesus cries out the words, Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit and then breathes his last. Because that's the moment right there when Jesus offers up himself completely and so fully. That's why Isaiah 53. Once again, that first reading says this, if he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his descendant in a long life and the will of the Lord will be accomplished through him. If he gives his life as an offering, you know that word offering is actually the word sacrifice. If he gives his life as a sacrifice for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long life. Who are his descendants? Us. The moment that Jesus pours himself out in sacrifice. That's why Hebrew says that he's the great

high priest. Why? Because what a priest do? Priests offer sacrifice. And the heart of religion is worship. and the heart of worship is sacrifice. Now, we might say, like, that's cool. Got it. Neat. Like, we might look at the cross or look at the altar. It'd be like, yeah. Right on.

And we just keep watching. Because that's what's happening. But what do I do? And the answer is pretty simple. The scripture says it today. Approach and participate. Like, we can see this great work of Jesus. say, realize, okay, I need a savior. Oh my gosh, I have a savior. And just look and not act. That's why

this middle reading, he letter to the Hebrew says this, let us confidently approach the throne of grace. You guys, we don't need to just sit here and watch. But to confidently approach the throne of grace, he goes on to say, confidently approach the throne of grace and receive mercy and find grace for timely help. What are just a couple ways you can do that? Well, really simply, John Paul II a few years ago, he's a pope a couple of popes ago. John Paul II, he said it like this. There are three indispensable and infallible means of grace. And he says, the Eucharist, confession, and prayer.

The three indispensable and infallible means of grace are confession, the Eucharist and prayer. And so here we are at Eucharist. There's awesome. Infallible and indispensable means of grace. Confession, to be able to go before the Lord and say, God, here's where I've been disobedient. Now, let me approach the throne. of your mercy, the throne of your grace, because of your obedience, I get to be healed.

And every time you pray, you have access to the Father. I love this because he says infallible, meaning they can't fail. They work every time. And indispensable in the sense that I can't do this without them. So here's the truth of what Jesus is doing. What can I do?

Approach. And the last thing is participate. Because in the gospel, what happens? James and John, Hey, we want to say that you're right and your left. Jesus says, no, can you drink the cup? I'm going to drink. They say yes.

He says, yeah, you will. What's the cup Jesus is drinking? Remember in the garden of Githemeni? He said, let this cup pass for me. The cup is his sacrifice. The cup is his self-offering. And Jesus says to James and John, and to all of us, you're going to drink that cup too.

Meaning, here's my self-sacrifice. I'm going to invite you into that self-sacrifice, and you're going to know what it is to offer the sacrifice. You guys, that's why for the next five weeks, after tonight, for the next five weeks, we're going to dive in and say, how do you do that? How do you offer the sacrifice? We come here too often and we think this has nothing to do with us. We have no idea what to do because we've never been told how to worship.

You've never been taught how to offer the sacrifice. So, again, starting next week, that's what we're going to do. But starting tonight, we have to be reminded of why this has anything to do with any of us. and this is the last thing. Does what we do here, have anything to do with you? I would say it does. Because this is worship, right? This is worthship.

How do you know what a thing is worth? A thing is worth whatever someone is willing to sacrifice for that thing. Say it in a different way. A person is worth whatever someone is willing to sacrifice for that person. I'll say it in a different way. You are worth whatever someone is willing to sacrifice for you. Now, we all have people in our lives who should love us better than they do. We all have people in our lives who say they'll love us and then they don't.

But what does Jesus say? What does God say about your worth? That scripture tonight, he gives his life as a sacrifice. He gives us life as a sacrifice to God for sinners. which means he gives his life as a sacrifice to God for you. That's your worth. It's one of the reasons why the beginning of every mass and the end of every mass we make the sign of the cross.

You guys, the sign of the cross, that is your price tag. That is what God declares you are worth. And every single time you make the sign of the cross at the beginning of mass, at the end of mass, what you're doing is you're declaring, what I believe is that God has declared that you are worth everything. You are worth everything.

what someone is willing to sacrifice for you. And God himself has sacrificed everything for you. That's your price tag. That's your worth. And that's why we worship him. Because the one who has sacrificed everything for us, we believe, is worth us sacrificing everything for him.