← Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz
Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz
05/17/26 A Necessary Goodbye
00:11:28
Homily from the Ascension of the Lord. "It is better for you that I go...". Is that true? Jesus told His apostles that it was better for them that He ascended to the Father; that it was better for them if He left them. But why?
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Welcome to Sunday Homilies with me, Fr. 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 and other Sunday Mass resources sent straight to your inbox, sign up@ascensionpress.com Sunday or by texting Sunday to 33777. You can also follow or subscribe in your podcast app for weekly notifications. God bless the Lord be with you. A reading from the Holy Gospel According to Matthew, chapter 28, verses 16 through 20 the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted. Then Jesus approached and said to them, all power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always until the end of the age. The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. Might you have a seat? So one I would say this one of the many gifts of the TV show the Chosen is I. I mean, kind of humanizing the apostles and that that sense of just the way in which the apostles, at a moment like this, at a moment like the Ascension, would have just been so confused and just kind of utterly. I imagine, imagine being one of the apostles, one of the disciples who are sitting, standing there and you watch Jesus go, and you're just like standing there with your mouth open, like, he just flipped, blew away. And then you're like, what now? What do we do now? That's why God had to send a couple angels, like, why are you still standing with their mouths open? But that is the question. Like, what do we do now? But also a bigger question now. Bigger question, but another question. Not just what now? But why? Like, why the Ascension? Like, why does Jesus have to leave? Like, why do we. Why do we even have this feast day today? And I think that's a real question. I think it's a painful question. Because this would have been for the apostles. This would have been a painful goodbye. And the question we have to ask is, okay, it's a painful goodbye. Is it a necessary goodbye? It seems like it must be. In John's gospel, chapter 16, verse 7, Jesus says, it is better for you that I go. So it sounds like Jesus is saying, no, this is a necessary goodbye. It's necessary that I leave. But that doesn't make any sense. Why would Jesus say it is ne it is better for you that I leave. I mean, I'd be like, oh, Jesus, you're God. Like, you can do anything, just like, stay with us. What does he say? He says, it's better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the advocate will not come to you. But when he comes, the spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. Now I would sit there if I was one of the apostles, I'd be like, okay, but wait, but they've already received the Holy Spirit. I mean, look at the apostles. The apostles have already received the Holy Spirit at this point. So Jesus says, no, the Holy Spirit will come upon you like bro. I mean, Lord, we've already received the Holy Spirit. At their baptism, they would receive the Holy Spirit. At their ordination, at the Last Supper, they would have received the Holy Spirit. When Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday, when he said, breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. Those whose sins you forgive or forgiven, they've already received the Holy Spirit. So is it really a necessary goodbye? And I guess the answer would be this is Jesus is saying, no, but I want more for you. I want you to receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit. And this is the key for the apostles. This is the key for us. Jesus wants more for them. And because of that, this is a necessary goodbye. You say, well, why? There's a clinical psychologist out of Canada who once pointed this out. He said that Freud once said, no one becomes a man until his father dies. Jung added to that and said that the death can be symbolic. But the idea that no one becomes a man until his father dies, until this, until the relationship changes, until that happens. If it doesn't, if the relationship doesn't change, then yeah, we can be beloved children of our Father forever, but we can never be more than that. And God wants more. I had a conversation recently with a young man who he was talking about his own dad's relationship with his dad's dad, talking about his father's relationship with his grandfather. And he remarked on how his grandfather was a remarkable man. He said, my grandpa, one of the reasons he said his grandpa was a remarkable man, he said, my grandpa just loves really, really well. Which I thought was really interesting for a 24 year old young man to say about his grandfather. My grandfather, he's a great man because he loves really, really well. And he went on to say that he says, all my uncles, all my Aunts, all my dad's siblings, they all worship grandpa. They all worship grandpa. And he said, but he said, you know, I've been thinking about this. I've noticed this. He said, my dad is the only one who has become like my grandpa. They all. They all love him. They all worship their father. But he said, but my dad is the only one who's actually become like his dad. He's the only one of all of the siblings who actually seems to love like grandpa loves. So this idea that, you know, Freud had said and Jung had kind of corroborated that no one can become a father unless his father died, no one can become a man unless his father dies. The psychologist went on. He said, he said, people are willing. Why would your father have to die? He said, because of this. Because people are willing to tolerate a kind of tyrant slave relationship with their parents sometimes. And maybe that. That could be us, right? This tyrant slave relationship where. Where, yes, the father's always looking over our shoulder as of judge. So maybe we might be uncomfortable with that, but we're willing to tolerate that. Why? Because on the other hand, there's always someone standing between you and the unknown that you can go and ask, what should I do? And that's. Isn't that real when it comes to our own parents? As long as our parents are around, as long as they're there, we can always call up and say, hey, how do you renew your car insurance? Or exactly, how do I change the oil? Or how do you buy a house? Mom and dad, like, what's a mortgage? You have all these questions between, they can stand between you and the unknown. And that's why Jung said that death can be symbolic. Because he said, at some point, you realize the reason you can't ask your parents anymore is because they actually don't know any more than you do. And in that moment when you realize, okay, wow, my parents were standing between me and the unknown, and they also don't know any more than I do. In a certain sense, that's the symbolic death where there's no one standing between me and the unknown anymore. At that point, Freud and Jung would say, you could potentially have now an individual relationship with your parents, maybe even begin taking care of them. So what's this have to do with Jesus? Jesus says it's better for you that I go. Why? Well, because I'm giving you my spirit, and because he's giving them an opportunity to be like him. Think about what it would be like to travel with Jesus for three years and Just like fall every morning, just Jesus, what are we going to do today? And you follow his lead. And every time there comes up, there's some kind of problem that is bigger than you. Any kind of situation that you have no idea what to do in. Every time you have a question, Jesus, what do we do now? There is someone constantly standing between you and the unknown. And Jesus says, actually, but it's better for you that I go, why? Because I want you to be able to stand up with strength. Jesus, who was able to say, I want you. You know how I've been walking around, I've been showing you how to see others in their need. I want you to be able to see others in their need. How I've been, I've been showing up and caring for those people. I want you to be able to show up and care for those people. I want you to be not told what to do. I want you to see it and then just do it for yourself. And think. Parents who are listening to this, think about how, what a joy it is in your hearts when you don't have to like nag your kids to do the thing, but they just see it and they do it for themselves. And you realize, oh my goodness, they're becoming the person they're supposed to be. This is Jesus. It's better for you that I go, why? Because I need you to learn how to look for others and listen to others, look for opportunities. Basically, here's Jesus saying, I need you to have a mature faith where you don't see anymore, you can't see me anymore, but you learn how to walk in trust. And this is what every one of us is called to. To be able to be like Jesus. To be able to see and live like Jesus. That's why he says it's better for you to that I go so that we can finally be adults, adult children. We're still children of our Father, of course, but we're adult children, mature children of our Father who begin to walk like him and live like him in this world. Of course, this last thing, ultimately the main reason why it is better for them and better for us that Jesus goes because is it because it fulfills Jesus mission? I mean, ultimately it's not about us, right? Ultimately it's about him. What's Jesus mission? The whole mission is this. The life, the incarnation, the life, the death, the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus into heaven. We know this, right? The incarnation. Jesus joins his divinity to our humanity. This is just this mysterious thing that's so cool. In the Incarnation, Jesus joins His divinity to our humanity. But in the Ascension, our humanity is taken up definitively into the Godhead. That our humanity, that God Himself has joined Himself in a definitive way to humanity, that Trinity is, in some crazy, mysterious, unimaginable way, permanent way, united to us. That's why he leaves. As he reigns, let's be honest, he's the King. He is the Lord of Heaven and earth. And it is proper that God Himself should be exalted and should reign. And so, yes, there is a goodbye in a certain sense, but it's a necessary goodbye. It is a necessary goodbye for our sakes, and it is a necessary goodbye for his glory. Really, we know this. We know that Jesus is not actually leaving. He's simply going ahead so that where he is, we also may be.