← Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz
Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz
5/4/25 Move On: Charcoal Fire
00:19:22
To be restored, we must revisit the place of ruin.
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- [00:00]
Fr. Mike Schmitz
Hi, my name is Fr. Mike Schmitz. I am so excited to be joining the Courage under fire gala on May 23rd in Nashville, Tennessee. And I would love for you to be there, too. I believe that this world needs people of faith who are willing to live with clarity, conviction and compassion. That's what this night is all about. Standing in truth, rooted in Christ and unshaken by the storms around us. You know this. We weren't made for comfort.
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Unknown Speaker
We weren't.
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Fr. Mike Schmitz
We were made for courage. So go to the Courage Under Fire Gala by grabbing your ticket@courageunderfiregala.org that's courageunderfiregala.org.
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Unknown Speaker
And God bless the Lord be with you and with your spirit. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John. Glory to you, o Lord. Chapter 21, verses 1 through 19. At that time, Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. He revealed himself. In this together were Simon Peter, Thomas, called Didymus, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee's sons, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, I'm going fishing. They said to him, we also will come with you. So they went out and got into the boat. But that night they caught nothing. When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore. But the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, children, have you caught anything to eat? They answered him, no. So he said to them, cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something. So they cast it and were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish. So the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, it is the Lord. When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tucked in his garment, for he was lightly clad and jumped into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, for they were not far from shore, only about a hundred yards, dragging the net with the fish. When they climbed out on shore, they saw a charcoal fire with fish on it and bread. Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish you just caught. So Simon Peter went over and dragged the net ashore full of 153large fish. Even though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, come have breakfast. And none of the disciples dared to ask him, who are you? Because they realized that it was the Lord. Jesus came over and took the bread and gave it to them. And in like manner, the fish. This was now the third time Jesus was revealed to his disciples after being raised from the dead. When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? Simon Peter answered him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my lambs. He then said to Simon Peter a second time, simon, son of John, do you love me? Simon Peter answered him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Jesus said to him, tend my sheep. Jesus said to him a third time, simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was distressed that Jesus had said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, lord, you know everything. You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. Amen. Amen. I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted, but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go. He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, follow me. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I need you to have a seat. So I have to ask you guys, if you ever had this. Have you ever had those moments where out of nowhere, like, you're just. You're just doing. Mind your own business. You're just sitting there, just thinking about whatever, and all of a sudden, like, a moment from your past, like, comes back. Like, something where you said something stupid or you acted stupid, or, like, you're like, oh, my gosh, why'd I do it? And all of nowhere, you're like, living life, and all of a sudden you're like, oh, you had, like, this cr. Of. Like this, oh, my gosh, like, why did I do that? Why would I ever say this thing? Why would I ever do that kind of thing? Or just, like, it's. It's those moments that just. They sneak up on you at some sometimes, and it just. I think of them. They happen to me all the time where it's. It's that, okay, in the middle of life and things are going okay. And then I think back and realize, oh, my gosh, I've done that. Like, why did I say that? Why did I do that? And it's. Well, it's that moment of, I guess, for lack of a better term, cringe. But it's even worse. It's those moments you just want to. Just want to move on. Like, I just. I don't. I don't want to think about this. I don't want to. Or I wish I could go back. Like, I Wish I could go back and do that again, do it all over. You know, we started last week, this series at the end of our semester called Move On. And I realized that there are so many students who are here over the last year, could have those moments, look back over the last year and think, oh, my gosh, like, why did I say that? Why did I do that? That was so stupid. Or even over the last four years, they could look over these last four years and think, man, I just. I don't want to think about this, right? I don't want to go back. I just want to move on. And this is true for all of us because that's our temptation. Our temptation when we have those things in our lives, those moments in our lives that are just so painful, those moments we're just like, I just wish it had never happened. Our temptation is just. Just leave, right? Just forget it. Just move on. The question is, is that the best thing we could do when we have those moments of ruin, those places of ruin in our lives, is the best thing we can do, is just forget it and move on? You know, in the Gospel today, one of the characters, obviously Jesus, is always the main character, but Peter is one of the characters here. And imagine that here's Simon Peter and what he wants to do in life. He just wants to move on. I mean, you can imagine this is maybe why he's out of Galilee. Well, Mary Magdalene told them that Jesus told her to tell them to go to Galilee. But in so many ways, Peter's already seen Jesus, right? Peter's already. We think that on Easter Sunday, when Jesus said to him, peace be with you, he breathes on him, gives him the Holy Spirit, that there's some kind of forgiveness. That's already happened. You can imagine, though, that Peter's still thinking about that time. He's still thinking about that one night when he denied Jesus. And in so many ways, I wonder if Peter saying, hey, I'm going fishing, is his temptation to just forget it, right? Just. Let's just move on. I don't know if you noticed this, but all four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, they all. They don't all have the same stories. They all talk about how Peter denied knowing Jesus three times. I imagine Peter just wants to move on. But here's the interesting thing. I believe that Jesus wants more for Peter than for Peter to merely move on. I think Jesus wants Peter to be more than he is. I think he wants Peter to be free. I believe that one of the reasons why this story in the gospel happens today is because Jesus wants Peter to be restored. And because of that, Jesus brings Peter to the place of his ruin. What's the scene? Scene is what? Fishing on the Sea of Galilee. That's actually one of Peter's like, great moments. When Jesus gets in his boat, another great moment is he says, well, we worked hard all night. Haven't caught anything. Another great moment. Jesus says, throw your nuts over to the side of the boat. Big catch of fish. Another big moment. And had this moment, right, where even John looks at Peter and says, that's the Lord. And Peter jumps in, he races to Jesus, he swims to Jesus, and then you know what he sees? He gets to the shore, and there's Jesus. But you know what? What is right next to Jesus? What is right next to Jesus is a charcoal fire. You have to realize that scene is not accidental. The only other place in the entire gospels where a charcoal fire is explicitly and specifically named is on the night that Peter denied knowing Jesus. It says clearly, he was warming himself next to a charcoal fire. Peter's worst moment had just happened next to a charcoal fire. You can imagine, here he is, I just want to move on. And he gets to Jesus and he sees that. And in that moment, he's reminded of his past. In that moment, he's reminded of the worst moment of his entire life. And he realizes this truth, too. Jesus built that. He sees this reminder of the absolute worst moment of his life. And Jesus is the one who built that. Because why? Because in order to be restored, you have to revisit the place of your ruin. So Jesus is saying to Peter, listen, in order to move on, you have to go back. See, here's our temptation. Our temptation. We have the place of ruin. Our temptation is either to excuse ourselves or accuse ourselves, right? We're either tempted to deny something or to be defined by that thing. We're tempted either to forget the past or to live in the past. And I think you can see this how we pretend sometimes, right? I just like, okay, what am I going to do? I did that thing. I said that thing. I'm going to act as if it never happened. I just. It was a crazy night. I'm just going to pretend it didn't really ever happen. Or sometimes you just make light of it. I don't know if you ever noticed that. Ever noticed, like, the tendency we sometimes have is to make jokes of. Of our sins. Even serious Christians, we can sometimes find ourselves laughing at past sins. In fact, C.S. lewis wrote about this. C.S. lewis, he said he said, the temptation to laugh at the past, evil comes in very early and is very deadly. We have that temptation, though. He was on to say, he says, we are encouraged to laugh at drunkenness and cruelty and falsehood. The assumption is that such things are laughable because they're absurd. He went on to say, but sin is not absurd, it's damnable. And everyone who laughs at it just doesn't understand it. So we try to forget it, we laugh at it, or we try to spin it. I don't know. You've maybe heard people say this phrase, like, they'll say something like, never regret your past. It has made you into the person you are today. Now, I like that sentiment, because why? Because I think that I can agree. All that we have is part of our story, and we have to accept that to some degree. So, yeah, never regret your past. It's made you into who you are today. But what if who I am today is worse? Like, what if who I am today is worse because of my past? That's actually a real possibility. And so I can't just forget it. And I shouldn't laugh at it. I can't spin it. But also, I'm not saying that regret is the answer. In fact, I'll say it more clearly. Regret is not the answer. Why? Both Judas and Peter both regretted, right? That that night that Judas betrayed Jesus and Peter denied Jesus. It said both of them deeply regretted what they had done. And they went out, both of them went out into the darkness, weeping. That regret does nothing. In fact, there's an audio meme that I came across within the last couple months that has this kind of, like, old country voice. And this man says this. He says, the dog that weeps after it kills is no better than the dog that doesn't. Your guilt will not purify you. That the dog that feels badly, that has killed an animal, is no better than the dog that doesn't. And the human being that weeps after we've done something wrong is no better than the person who doesn't weep. Just having regret, just experiencing our guilt, doesn't make us any better than anyone else. But too often, when we look back on our story, sometimes regret is all we see. And so what we do is, instead of excuse ourselves, we accuse ourselves. But again, that's not the answer. That was what Judas did. And if that's us, then we won't be able to move on because we'll be hanging on to what's holding us back. Then we realize life only moves in One direction, right? Life can only move forward. But in order to move forward, in order to move on, I might have to revisit the past. You know, there's a psychologist I was listening to, I read his book and he was talking about our tendency to excuse or accuse. Our tendency just try to get as far away as we can from our past. He said this. He said, if you don't deal with the ghosts of your past, they will devour your future. You have to voluntarily confront the chaos and make order out of it, otherwise it will continue to haunt you. That's the truth. That place of our ruin, that place of our greatest shame, that place, that charcoal fire in our lives, it might be frightening, it might be embarrassing, it might even be condemning. But to be restored, we have to revisit the place of our ruin. And I think that's the reason. I think that's one of the reasons why Jesus builds a charcoal fire. Because why? Because I'm sure that Peter saw it and all he could think of was his failure. I'm sure Peter gets that shoreline and he sees that charcoal fire and all he can think of is his failure. But if Jesus didn't give him the chance to revisit that place of ruin, he could potentially be stuck for the rest of his life. Afraid of fire. You know, that same psychologist put it like this, Especially when we feel this anxiety over our past, anxiety over those parts of our lives that we're ashamed of, parts of our lives we're afraid of, those charcoal fires in our lives. He said it like this. He said, the anxiety producing parts of your brain are trying to tell you where there are obstacles in your environment. And it says, look out, don't go there. There's fire. Well, maybe, maybe you could master the.
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Fr. Mike Schmitz
Fire.
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Unknown Speaker
And then you're a wielder of fire and not a victim. How do we do that? Well, denying doesn't do it. And regret doesn't do it. And beating yourself up doesn't do it. And also time doesn't do it. Time doesn't undo the past. In fact, my last CS Lewis quote of the day, at least, is this. CS Lewis was talking about again, that desire we have to just think that time heals everything, he says we have this strange illusion that mere time cancels sin. I've heard others, and I've often heard myself recounting cruelties and falsehoods committed in boyhood as if they were to no concern of the present speaking and even with laughter. But mere time does nothing either to the fact or to the guilt of a sin, the guilt is washed away not by time, but by repentance and the blood of Jesus Christ. If we have repented of these early sins, we should remember the price of our forgiveness and be humble. Time doesn't do it. Excuse doesn't do it. Accusing doesn't do it. Regret doesn't do it. To be restored, we revisit the place of our ruin and we repent. That's why we go there. We revisit the place of ruin so that we can repent again. Remember, both Peter and Judas both repented. But Judas regretted what he had done and he died in that regret. Peter repented. You know what repent means? Metanoia is the Greek word. Repentance means to think differently. Another way to say it is to repent is to be convinced of a different way. To repent is to change your mind. Basically. To repent is to change your answer. And so what? What does Jesus do? Jesus brings Peter to a charcoal fire. He revisits the place of ruin, and he gives him the chance to change his answer. Peter couldn't change the past, but he could change his answer for a new future. You know, that's why Jesus asks Peter. He says, simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? How many times you ask him? Three times. Why? How many times did Peter deny Jesus? How many times did Peter deny loving Jesus? How many times did Peter deny being a friend of Jesus? Three times. It even says the third time, Peter was hurt. Why was he hurt? Well, because Jesus is digging in because he wants to restore. Peter doesn't just want to forgive him, doesn't want to say, hey, forget it. He wants to restore. He wants to make anew. There's a thing called debridement. Maybe you know about debridement. If you ever got, like, road rash or you got in a bike accident or something like this, or maybe even had some kind of open sore. Debridement is when the physician or the doctor, the nurse, the person has to go in and take out whatever's necrotic, like the dead tissue, or it has to go in and take out the infected tissue. Basically saying, hey, if I leave this here, there is no way this wound will be restored. So Jesus takes him to that charcoal fire, he takes him to that place of ruin, and he asks him the question, you can't change your past, but you can change your answer for a new future. So Jesus doesn't make a charcoal fire for Peter so that he can reside in that place of ruin. He makes the charcoal fire for Peter so he can simply revisit the place of ruin and be restored. And this is the last thing we know, that Jesus wanted more for Peter than just merely move on. Jesus wanted Peter to be more than he was, and he brought him to that charcoal fire so that he could become a wielder of fire. And this is what Jesus wants for us, you realize, to revisit the place of ruin. That's what we're doing in confession. If you go to confession and I'm not excusing myself and I'm not accusing myself, and I'm not residing there, and I'm not simply regretting, but I'm allowing the Holy Spirit to work in me so I can name the moment, right? So I can go to that place of ruin, so I can revisit the place of ruin and give a new answer. In our new answer, every time we go to confession, our new answer is, jesus, I love you. And we allow God to transform our present by surrendering our past. Excuse my invitation. This summer and throughout your life, throughout all of our lives, we will have many things to repent of. We'll have many moments to repent. So my invitation is to resolve to return to that charcoal fire confession at least once a month, this entire summer, make that resolution, that decision. I'm going to return to that charcoal fire. I'm going to revisit that place of ruin. I'm going to confession at least once a month for the entire summer, or else the danger of excusing or accusing myself, the danger of denying or. Or being defined by my sin is just too high. Because Jesus doesn't want you or any of us to be defined by our worst choices. He wants us to repent. He wants us to revisit that place of ruin so that you and I, by His grace, can become a wielder of fire, so that you and I by his grace can be restored.