Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz - 12/25/19 One Star

Episode Date: December 25, 2019

Homily from the Nativity of the Lord. God will always fulfill His promises. Is that enough? We know that God is faithful because He has fulfilled what He has promised. But He does not need to do what He has not promised to do. Mass Readings from December 25, 2019: Isaiah 52:7-10 Psalms 98:1-6Hebrews 1:1-6 John 1:1-18

So there's something about this season that's just, it's like a season of expectation, isn't it? I mean, there's so much expectation when it comes to everything. Like we expect kind of the same food around this time of year. We expect the same kind of, I expect to watch the same shows, expect to listen to the same songs. We even have this mentality when it comes to like the gifts. We have an expectation of receiving gifts. What it's interesting with that is I think along with the like the sense of expectation, we also have the sense of like rating things.

Like if you expected something, it's like, okay, how did it turn out? You expected to eat that whatever thing. Like, okay, how was it? Well, on a scale of 1 to 10. You know, kind of a, there's this tendency we have. We expect something to kind of like also then fall into the rating of the thing. Now, I was thinking about this recently because I came across, you know how on Amazon, if you shop for something, they have the reviews and you can give it, you know, how many out of five stars.

So I was reading one of these and it was about for a socking cap, like a, you know, winter cap. This person wrote a review and they said, like, I love this hat. They said this hat fits me perfectly. It's warm. It's super comfortable. I love the material. It's super cute. All caps, I love this hat.

But I can only give it one star because it doesn't have a pom-pom on it. And she went on to describe it. And I knew it didn't have it. I mean, they didn't say it would have a pom-pom. I knew it wouldn't have a pom-pom. But I think it really should have a pom-pom. And because it doesn't have a pom-pom, I have to give it.

I have to. I have to just give it one star. Which is really funny. You know, that rating of things that we didn't even like in the first place. You might know my brother-in-law, he has a brewery in Brainer called The Roundhouse that he runs with a couple other guys.

And he told me about this rating, a beer rating app, a brewery rating app they have, you know, online. And he told his Brewmeister, don't go. Don't go to the app. Like, don't read any of the reviews because there's only pain you're going to find down this road.

But the Brewmeister went there and he read one review that was for one of the cream ales they have at their own house. And it said, I tested, I tasted the cream ale. And it was smooth. It had this incredible, subtle taste. It had this perfect finish and like no aftertaste. But I have to give it one star because I don't like cream ales.

What did you expect when you ordered a cream ale that would actually come back as a cream ale? What did you expect when you ordered a hat with no pompe? that it would actually come with no pom-pom. Sometimes we find ourselves expecting something that was never promised. We can find ourselves expecting something that was never promised. And because of that, we can adopt this kind of like one-star mentality, right? This mentality that's like, okay, well, this isn't what I want to be. It's awesome. It's great. It's incredible.

But it's not what I wanted it to be. So I have to. Against my desires, I have to give it one star. And I think it's interesting because we can bring the same mentality. this one-star mentality to God or to Jesus to this whole thing. Because we even heard in the letter to the Hebrews today that the author says, you know, in ancient times, God promised. He made so many promises through the prophets.

And Jesus has fulfilled every one of them. Do you know that there's 456, the rabbis say this, the rabbis say there's 456 prophecies of Jesus in the Old Testament. And Jesus has fulfilled every single one of them. You know what crazy that is? like how the odds of that there's some there's some statisticians who did the odds on this whole thing

they said one of the prophecies is from Micah that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem the odds they figured out the odds of someone being born in Bethlehem at that time in that place are one and 300,000 so for one person to fulfill that one prophecy is one and 300,000 they further expanded this to say

you know if you fulfill the someone If one person fulfilled eight of the 456 prophecies, the odds of that are one in 10 to the 17th power. Just to fulfill eight of them. There's 456. Jesus fills every one of them. If he only kept doing the math thing, you know, if he only fulfilled 48 of them,

the odds of one person fulfilling 48 of these prophecies is one in 10 to the 157th power. Like, don't buy a lottery ticket. This is not, it is incredibly unlikely. himself fulfills 456 of them, one person. And why is that? Why is that? Because God has promised something. God has promised someone. And when that someone came along, what God was trying to do is saying, this is me. You can trust me. I am faithful. I don't just promise something and then don't deliver. You know, these prophecies are so, they're so remarkable. And you know,

we heard from Isaiah 52 this morning. Isaiah 52 goes on and says this, it says, It describes this one. And it says, My servant was so marred and his look was beyond that of man and his appearance beyond that of mere mortals. He shall startle many nations. Because of him, kings shall stand speechless.

And Isaiah 53, it goes on to say, there was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him. He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering. It goes on. But he was pierced for our offenses. He was crushed for our sins.

upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole and by his stripes we were healed you know this is so clearly a prophecy of Jesus that Jesus so fulfills that prophecy that there were some quote unquote Bible scholars in the last couple centuries who thought Christians must have added that later to the Bible they must have come along

after the fact and written in Isaiah 52 and Isaiah 53 because it's so clearly Jesus and that was completely disproven in 1949 when they found the Dead Sea Scrolls and they found a copy of Isaiah, word for word that dates, predates Jesus. There's over 2,000 years old, demonstrating that here is Jesus once more fulfilling the prophecy. What did God promise?

I promised that I would show up. I would be there and I would actually suffer for you. But I don't think we want that. Do we want a God who's willing to suffer for us? Maybe this gets one star for me because he's what's promised, but he's not what I wanted. And even Isaiah chapter 9, one of the prophecies, you know this one because they made a big song about it. it says that his name, they shall name him

wonder counselor, God hero, Father Forever, Prince of Peace. You know that one title, God hero? People, even Isaiah probably had no idea what he was saying. Like, wait, how can this human being be God hero? How can this human being that he's prophesying that will come one day? How can he also be God? That's impossible. And yet, what is Jesus who fulfills the promise? of God, who fulfills the prophecies of God, which he reveal.

Not only is he one of us completely human, but he also is God himself. See, here's the thing. The Lord, he delivers everything he promised and more. It's incredible. Like, it's such good news. But do we look at it and say, yeah, but it's not what I wanted. One star. One star for me. I'm sure a lot of you know the, sorry, I'm sure all of us know the song of Holy Night. Right? You know the song? I'm not going to sing it for you. that would definitely get one star. We know the song, but do you know the story behind the song? Back in 1847, there's this French priest, a parish priest,

who wanted to do something special for Christmas Eve in his parish. And so he had a friend that he was raised in the church with. This guy, they went to Sunday, you know, into mass together, went to whatever kind of catechism lessons were together. But this man had grown up, he'd become a poet. He had fallen away from the church. They didn't go to church anymore, but he was raised in the church, and he was this great poet.

So the priest said, hey, as a favor, would you please? please write a poem for my parish about Jesus that we can read at Christmas Eve Mass. So his friend said, yeah, absolutely, I'll do that for you. And what he did is, I'm in a carriage ride to Paris. He sat down and he started reading the gospel of Luke. He started reading this true story of a God who loves so much that he became one of us. And he wrote the words to a holy night. And he got to Paris and he was like, wait a second.

This song, he was really impressed by himself. He was like, this song, this poem is so good, it has to be sung. He has to be recited. And so he called up, he found a track down, a Jewish friend of his, who was a great composer. And he said, here is the lyrics to this poem I've written. Could you please set it to music? And this Jewish man, again, who didn't believe in Christ, who would not worship Jesus as God, read the lyrics that this man had written based off of the Gospel of Luke.

And he was so moved by it that he wrote the tune for a holy night. both of these men were so moved by the true story that they read in Luke's gospel they're like this is incredible this is overwhelming I mean even just I don't know if you ever

it's like stop it's one of my favorite songs not just Christmas songs it's one of my favorite songs because there's some lyrics in there that just like every time I hear them like who is the person who can capture it like this it says that long lay the world

in sin and error pining. And then there's this word, until, until he appeared. And here's the next line. And the soul felt its worth. Can you imagine? Can you imagine not being raised in the church? Can you imagine not knowing the truth about Jesus

your whole life wondering, like, am I worth anything? Is my soul worth anything? Is my life, does that mean anything? And then to hear this true story of a God who says, actually the worth of your soul is my life and my death. Long lay the world brokenness until he appeared and the soul felt his worth.

Here's this man, raised Catholic but falling away. Here's this Jewish man, never even knew Jesus. And for a moment they glimpsed this truth. And my soul, to God, is invaluable. You know, it goes on. The thrill of hope, this weary world rejoices. I mean, how weary are so many of us. and in the midst of suffering

we just wander through this life that may be so full of pain to imagine what it is that this is true and this weariness this world your heart rejoices and then the last line is want to highlight is he says

he breaks the chains because the slave is our brother to realize not only is this God so good not only has he come to save us not only is he come to give like the truth about what your soul is worth, but that slave, he has actually become our brother as well. I mean, it's so much it could take your breath away, and it took away the breath of that man, and it took away the

breath of that Jewish composer. But at the end of the day, for both of them, their answer was, but for me, he gets one star. Can you imagine, can you imagine being raised in the church, being given the gift of knowing what your soul is worth, being given the gift of knowing that God actually knows your name and he actually loves you? Can you imagine being raised in all of this, and then just saying, one star. Can you imagine? Can you imagine? Imagine. Knowing the truth of who God is and who you are, but then coming to a point in your life, you're like, yeah, but he doesn't get me. One star. Because that's the thing is, yes, that's what your soul is worth. And yes, that's the truth of who he is. But that same one, Jesus, who came

into this world. He also, he said, I'm with you always, but he also said, pick up your cross and follow me and deny yourself. He also said, I'm with you in this world, but in this world, you'll have trouble. I want him to come and take away my sufferings. And he said, I didn't come to take away your sufferings. I came to transform your sufferings so that even in the midst of pain, even in the midst of suffering,

even in the midst of death and loss, you can rejoice. Because God is faithful to every one of his promises. But he is not going to be faithful to what he hasn't promised. I'm going to say that again. God is faithful to every one of his promises, but he is not going to be faithful to what he has never promised. The question is, is that enough for you? Is that enough for me?

He never promised to take away suffering. He never promised to take away death. He never promised to take us out of this world. He promised to be with us in this world in the midst of suffering, in the midst of death. Does that mean he gets one star? He is faithful. The only question that remains is, will I be faithful? Like, he can be trusted.

The only question that remains is, can he trust me? He is who he is. The only question is, will I accept him as he is? You know, I mentioned the composer and the author of that song. They encountered Christ in his walk away, one star. There's another man, his name was Franz, and Franz Yachterstadter. He was a former in Austria back in the last century. And completely unknown.

It was a small village in Austria. Franz was raised in the church. He was raised in a parish just like this, a small little town. And it kind of, quote, unquote, didn't work. He was raised Catholic, and it kind of didn't work. In his younger years, he was kind of like, yeah, kind of ambivalent, one star to Jesus from Franz. But something happened. He was distant from the Lord, distant from the church.

He got married, and he went on a pilgrimage with his wife to Rome. And while they were in Rome, while he was in Rome, he met Jesus. He encountered Christ in a real way. Like everything that he'd been taught growing up by his mom and dad, everything had been taught in his life by his parish priest, everything he'd been taught about Jesus, all of a sudden it just, hit him, and it was like, this is real. And he came back to his small village, kept farming, but he was a different man.

He decided to pray every day. Because Jesus is real. He decided to do penances because, like, no, they actually does something. God isn't just going to take away my suffering. He's going to transform and give them power. He started serving in the village, started serving in the church. He was a changed man. But then something happened.

Here's Franz. He was like, God, he's faithful. And then the National Socialist Party came to power in Germany. Not only did they take over Germany. they took over Austria. And here now, Franz, Yagr's Yagr's daughter, finds himself in this small village as a farmer trying to love his wife, trying to raise his kids under Nazi rule. But he's trying to be faithful. Because I know God can be trusted. Can he trust me? And Franz knew this. Franz knew that the Pope, Pope Pius I at that time, before he became Pope, he wrote a letter against

National Socialism and said that actually he absolutely condemned it and said Catholics could not cooperate with the Nazis, even though there were priests that he knew and there were bishops that he knew that were cooperating with the Nazis. Franz said, I couldn't, I can't do that. In fact, one year, his crops were destroyed, and the National Socialist Party said, don't worry about it, we'll subsidize you. And Franz said, I will not accept one penny

from the National Socialist Party. People said, you're foolish, you're taking, you're putting your family at risk, and he's like, no, no, no. God is faithful. He's asking me to be faithful. At one point, he was going to be conscripted into the National Socialist Army, and he refused. I don't know if you know about Terrence Malick, he's a director,

he just made a movie about Franz's life. It's called The Hidden Life. In the movie, even his parish priest says, asked them the question, he says, do you believe that your defiance will change the course of things? Like, you're nobody, you're just some farmer, just go home and love your wife, love your kids. Do you believe, really believe, that your defiance will change the course of things? And Franz says, I don't know, but I do.

know that God gives us free will. And if God gives us free will, then we're responsible for what we do and for what we don't do. And I can't do what I believe is wrong, because he's faithful. I have to be faithful. You're abandoning your wife, you're banning your kids. No, I'm not. I'm being faithful. They look him from his home. They arrested him. And then they beheaded him in August of 1943. He's now blessed Franz Yager's daughter. A man who is willing to look at Jesus and say, I accept you as you are. You haven't promised to take me out of this world. You haven't promised to give me blessings.

You haven't promised to give me a sweet life. You have promised me that you'd be with me in the midst of my sufferings. You are faithful, so I'm going to be faithful. Jesus, you get more than one star. This is the last thing. One star. I was thinking about that, even that phrase, that term, one star. Like, especially at Christmas, what do you think of when you hear the term one star?

I think a lot of times I just, I think of that one star of Bethlehem that at one moment in history, God himself. God gave us one star. Think of what you can do with one star. Think of the wise men. The wise men were given one star and what they do. They followed it. Which is incredible.

I mean, to think about it, like to really honestly think that here's, they didn't even know the story, they didn't know the prophecies, they knew one oracle. They knew one oracle. They didn't even come from the Old Testament. They were just given one oracle, one prophecy, and one star. And that one star was enough to get them up and moving, leaving their homes and walking in faith.

One star. And that's something, but there's something even more. So they were expecting, they were expecting to find at the end of this whole thing, at the end of this deal, they're expecting at the end of one star, they're expecting to find an incredible king. So what do they do? They go to Jerusalem, they find Herod, go to the palace. That's where kings live.

And Herod said, we have no idea what you're talking about. So they keep following this one star, and where does it lead them? and leads them to this stable. And who do they find? They find this husband and wife who are absolutely poor, the poorest purse, people, maybe these wise men have ever met in their lives

and in a manger. In a feeding trough, that's the king. And they have a decision to make. Will I accept him as he is? Not who I expected him to be, not who I wanted him to be. This apparently is the king that was promised. This apparently is the God that was promised.

The big step of faith, I think, is not just leaving their homes. The big step of faith is finding God as He is and still giving him their gifts. Finding God as He is and still giving him their gold and their frankincense and their myrr. Saying, God, here you are. Maybe not what I expected, but what I've been promised. Today, for us, the same thing is true. The same question is there. and we find God as he is.

Do we accept him as he is? We follow that one prophecy, that one promise, that one star. Will we love him as he is? If we do, because we can. If we do, we might find that in this case, one star is enough.