← Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz
Sunday Homilies with Fr. Mike Schmitz
9/7/25 Two Questions
00:24:35
Whenever there is something of value that we desire, we have to ask these two questions.
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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 Luke, chapter 14, verses 2533. Great crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them. If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Which of you wishing to construct a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion. Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work, the onlookers should laugh at him. And this one began to build, but did not have the resources to finish. Or what King marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with 10,000 troops he would he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with 20,000 troops. But if not, while he is still far away, he was sent a delegation to ask for peace terms. In the same way, any one of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple. The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to have a seat. So you may not know this, but tomorrow is Monday Night Football and in Minnesota, that means the Vikings are playing the Bears. And I have to tell you this right now, drove right away. I am, I hope they win. I hope they win. I hope the Vikings win. Very truly, because I would say this, I am, when it comes to the Vikings, I am a die hard, dedicated, fair weather fan. Like 100%. Like I'm, I, I. If the Vikings are winning, I am like, go bikes, school bikes. Let's go. Uh, if they're not winning, if they're losing, I'm like, yeah, I don't care. They're dead to me. And some people hear that. I don't know if I've ever shared this with you before, but some people hear that sometimes and they are like, well, no, you gotta be faithful. Like, you gotta be, gotta be true to your team. You gotta be faithful to your team. And I'll say, yeah, I agree. And I am. I'm as. Here's what I say. I'm as faithful to them as they are to us. So. Because if someone pays them more money to go wear their uniforms and play for them, they'll do it. And so I'm the same way. If they win, go again school bikes. And if they lose, they're dead to me. Like, I don't care. And I would say this. I. I am a fan. I'm a fairweather fan, but I'm still a fan. And truly, I hope the Vikings win. Hope they take it all. Maybe you heard it here first, they took the whole thing. I'm a fan. I hope the Vikings win. And it cost me nothing. Completely. I hope they win. I'm a fan. It cost me nothing. And therefore my being a fan is kind of worth nothing, just really, when it comes down to it. Because why? Because whenever there's a valuable thing, like anything a person wants, anything you want, from a vehicle to a vacation, from a diploma, a student's want, a degree to dental work, whenever there's something that you want, we always ask two questions. And the first question is, how much does it cost? And the second question is, can I afford it? That's it. Whenever there's something that we actually want, something valuable, we ask those two questions. How much does it cost? And can I afford it? And again, this is true for anything, anything we value in the gospel today. This is from Luke, chapter 14. We heard this gospel. And the context is this. The context is all the way up until now, even in chapter 14, Jesus is doing. He's doing massive miracles. He's giving these incredible sermons. He's giving these incredible parables. And again, he's healing people. He's raised people from the dead already. And it says this very first line in today's gospel says, great crowds were following Jesus. He has tons of fans. Jesus has tons of fans, but he's on his way to Jerusalem. I'm guessing that these great crowds. I'm guessing that people who have seen these miracles heard this great teaching. They think, here's the Messiah, that he's going to Jerusalem because he's going to get crowned king. But Jesus knows that he's going to Jerusalem to suffer, to pick up his cross and to die. And so to the great crowds following him, he says these words today. These are among the hardest words of Jesus. But he says, he says, if anyone comes to me without heeding father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life he cannot be my disciple. So what's Jesus trying to do here? A. He's not trying to drive people away from him. He's actually doing the opposite. He's trying to invite them closer. Because what he's trying to say is, if you want more, I know you're a fan. I know you like what I got. If you want more, if you want me, if you want to actually have a new kind of relationship with me, if you don't just want to be a fan, but you want to be a disciple, this is what it costs. Whenever there's something valuable. Remember we asked that first question, how much does it cost? Because here's Jesus, he has fans. He wants something closer. Another way to say it is he has a bunch of believers. He has people who have seen his power, they've seen his wisdom, they've experienced his grace, and they believe him. They believe in Him. Another way to say it is they have a certain kind of faith. You know, there's one definition of faith that simply says this. Faith is what you believe. Do I want to talk about my faith? Here's what I believe. And that's good, right? We have a creed. In a few moments, we're going to recite the creed. This is kind of what we believe. It's great. It's really important. It's very valuable to have faith like that. But if faith is just what I believe, then it's relatively powerless. Now, you probably know this already, but the Bible actually talks about people who have this kind of faith. Later on, there's a man named James who writes the letter of James. And at one point in James chapter two, he says this. He says, faith of itself, if it does not have works, is worthless. It's dead. He says, faith is just like, here's what I believe, it's great. But if it doesn't have works, it's dead. He goes on to say. He says, you believe God is one. You do well. But it's like that sense of. He's saying, hey, you believe that Jesus is God. Great. Good job. Want a cookie? I mean, that's like, congratulations, I'm glad you believe this thing. That is true. But then he goes on his very next line, says, okay, you believe God is one. You do well. Even the demons believe that and tremble. Imagine that. Here's. Here's St. James who is saying that, okay, you have the faith. You believe that this is true. That is wonderful. If you don't do anything with it, you're now at the level of demon in Fact, earlier on in Luke's gospel, I think Luke chapter 4 one point, Jesus shows up. There's people who are possessed by demons, and the demons cry out, we know who you are. You're the Holy One of God. And Jesus tells them to, to be quiet because they knew who know who he is. Now the demons know who he is. They believe in him. They believe in the creed that here is Jesus, who is fully God and fully man. They know that to be true, and it does absolutely nothing for them. So here we could be this place where we say, no, I believe the creed, every word of the creed, I believe it's true. We would say, like St. James, congratulations, and you're now at the level of demon. Well, maybe I wouldn't say like that. We say, okay, great graduations. Now you're at the level of fan. And there's a lot of fans of Jesus. There's a lot of people, a lot of us who say this. We say, I believe God exists. I believe Jesus is God. And that doesn't even touch a decision. One time in our week, it's what John Paul II and Pope Benedict, they both called it, they called it practical atheism. You know, the actual number of percentage of atheists in this country is, is relatively low. But the number of people who say they believe in God, they say they're theists. John Paul II and Pope Benedict both said they can believe that, but if they don't live like it, for all intents and purposes, they're atheists. They're practical atheists because of their fans. Because of this. Jesus invites the people listening to him and he invites us closer. He says, okay, but if you want to be my disciple, like, what does that mean? That means if you want to want me to be a rabbi. You know, it's just fascinating. Maybe you've heard this before, but I think it's worth repeating. A disciple wasn't just a student of a rabbi. They were that, of course, they listened to the rabbi's teaching and they'd be able to, like, understand what the rabbis thought. But if you were a disciple, you would actually follow your rabbi from the moment he woke up until the moment he went to sleep. And you would listen and you would watch him and you would follow him and you would actually would live life with the rabbi. In fact, they said that you should follow your rabbi so closely that at the end of the day, you'd be covered with the dust of your rabbi, right? The dust that was kicked up by his sandals, that would be on You. Because the goal of being a disciple is to end up looking like your rabbi, to end up living like your rabbi. Now, in this case, Jesus is more than a rabbi, and he's inviting these people who are fans into a real relationship. Because one version of faith is, this is what I believe. But faith that actually does something is more. It's saying, this is the one in whom I put my trust. Faith of a fan is, this is what I believe. But the faith of a disciple is, this is the one. Jesus is the one in whom I put my trust. We have to ask the question, how much does it cost? And Jesus says, okay, if you want to be my disciple, you have to hate your father and mother, your spouse and your children, your siblings, and even your own life. Now, let's clarify this. Hate in this context doesn't mean, hey, hate those people. No, the word is hate. I mean, it really means it is that. But in this context, what Jesus is saying, in comparison to me, I should be first. Everyone else is second. Even your father and mother, I'm first. Even your spouse is second. Even your children are second. I'm first. And I have no rivals. Basically, Jesus is saying, in comparison to me. It's as if you hate the no. 2 notes on this. This is really, really important. If Jesus is just a holy person, like, if Jesus is just another rabbi, if Jesus is just a prophet, then this is really bad teaching. This is horrible teaching. If Jesus is just a man. If Jesus is just a normal human being, then several. There's this man. He's a Bible scholar. His name is Brant Petrie. Dr. Brant Petrie. I really respect him a lot. He says, this would be the equivalent of him. He teaches at a seminary. He said his students coming into class on the first day, saying, okay, if you want to pass my class, you have to love me more than your parents. You want to pass my class, you have to love me more than any other person in your life. And you hear that from your professor and think that is ridiculous. And it is. Unless. Unless Jesus is who he says he is. Right? Because Jesus, I don't know. This is so important, you guys. In Luke 14, what we just heard today, this is Jesus directly but very subtly claiming to be God. He's very subtle, right? You could read it and never get that. But he is directly claiming to be God. Why? Because he's saying, okay, your mom and dad, yeah, I have a claim on them because I made them your spouse, your children, I have a claim on them because I made them your siblings. I have a claim on them because I made them your life. I have a claim on you because I made you. Therefore, out of all the things that I have made that are in your life that are good things, I have to be first. If Jesus isn't God, then this is a horrible, horrible teaching. Now here's the next second note. Is this why these relationships, right? Why does Jesus point out parents and spouse and siblings and children? I think a couple reasons. One is because all of these relationships are really powerful in our lives. Like, who has more influence over your life than your parents, your siblings? I think because all these relationships, out of all, there's none, there's no relationships in our lives that are more important than these that Jesus just named. Another reason is all these relationships are relationships that we're supposed to have for life. And every one of these relationships are intrinsically good, that they're actually meant to be gifts to us. Another way to say it is every one of these relationships, parents, spouse, children, siblings, these are the kind of relationships that are not easily compartmentalized. I'd say it like this. The stronger they are, the more they touch all of your decisions. That these are the kind of relationships that the healthier they are, the more natural it is to allow them to be a factor in every aspect of your life. I mean, consider your parents. You know, to honor your parents is the fourth commandment. They've made the top 10. So kind of a big, big deal. And think about the reality that how the things that are taught or even just said in passing by your parents, they can just take a hold on us, right? There's things that your parents probably said, maybe again, as even in passing while you're growing up, the. That you. That's how you see the world. So they have such an incredible amount of influence on how you see the world. Our siblings. I would say this for me, maybe for you, too. There's possibly, possibly no one has a larger influence on your development than your siblings. And no one has a larger influence, I think, on how you see yourself than your siblings, your spouse, that a person gets married. And now every decision that you make is made through the lens of us. You get married, and every decision, every choice you make is made through the lens of we or us. And then your children as well. I mean, you know this. A child changes everything, that you might do some of the same activities, you might have some of the same hobbies. But you know this, that when you have a child, you do them differently because they factor into every single one of your choices. You know, people say that about their kids. Like, ah, they're always there. Because they're always there. And these are forward kind of relationships that touch every aspect of our lives. And Jesus is saying, yeah, that means to be me. So your parents, what they've said, indirectly or directly, for good or for bad, become the guidelines for your life. Jesus is saying, yeah, that's my role now. My role is what I say gets to shape the way you see the world. Your siblings, your siblings have shaped the way you see yourself. And Jesus is saying, no, that's my role. Your spouse. Every decision is made through the lens of us. And Jesus is saying, no, that's me now. That every decision you make from now on, if you want to be my disciple, every decision you make is made through the lens of us, you and me. And then, of course, for children, we know that again, a baby changes everything, that they're always there. That Christ's presence in our lives, our relationship with Christ touches and changes everything. And of course, above all, every one of these relationships is rooted in family. And family is supposed to be rooted in love. And Jesus is saying, okay, our relationship should be more rooted in love than every other relationship that you possibly could have. And how much does it cost? Well, there's no rivals. How much does it cost? He says, unless you're willing to pick up your cross and follow after me. It goes on to say, anyone who does not renounce all his possessions is not worthy of me. Basically, everything I might be tempted to claim as mine is actually his. How much does it cost? It costs nothing less than everything. Here's the second question. Second question is, can I afford it? Because I'm okay now that's so much. It costs. Okay, Can I afford it? Remember what he says. He says, before you build a tower, who's not going to sit down? Calculate the cost, make sure he has enough to finish. Or before you go into battle, make sure you have enough troops to win. We get to ask this question, okay, God, you're saying it's going to cost everything. Can I afford it? And we get to ask that question. You can ask that question of yourself. Oh, my gosh. Okay, it's going to cost everything. Can I afford it? I have to tell you this right now. My answer. My answer to can I afford it? Is I don't know. That's the truth. I don't know how many. I don't know how well I'll be. I mean, those human relationships Jesus talks about, I don't know how well, I'll be able to love my parents. I imagine that if you get married, before you get married, you're like, I don't know. Going into marriage, I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know the situations or circumstances. I don't know what's going to happen in the future. I don't know if I can afford it. Or having children. Like, I really don't know. I can afford it. Why? Because they change everything. There's so much that's unknown going into any of those relationships. And same thing when it comes to going into this relationship with Jesus. The unknown future, the unknown obstacles, the unknown heartbreaks. Think about all the potential unknown pains and also the unknown joys. Consider the unknown sweetness, the unknown triumphs, the unknown loves. Can I afford it? I don't know. But there's something when you hear about Jesus, that's like, I kind of have to try. So there's a man. His name is Arthur Brooks. Arthur Brooks is a professor at Harvard and he studies happiness and he studies the science of happiness. He also does that studies like, what is it to move forward? How do you move forward successfully in life, especially when you have some discernment to do? Recently he talked about intuition. He talked about our gut, right? And he said, actually, our gut is really the right hemisphere of our brain. Here's the quote. Especially we're looking at, how much does it cost? Okay, everything. Can I afford it? I don't know. Jesus is inviting me to take this next step because he wants me to get closer to him. Can I take this next step? Here's what Arthur Brooks had said. He said we have intuition. He said we have our. Also known as our gut, also known as our data. So we've. We have a lot of data because we've had a lot of experience in our lives. When anyone's facing a new opportunity or new threshold, whether that is marriage proposal or moving to a new city or having a new career, whatever it happens to be, there's the. There's three sensations. He says there's three sensations you're going to feel based on the data inside the right hemisphere of your brain. That's your gut. And the three feelings when you're facing an opportunity are excitement, fear and deadness. He says deadness is. He said deadness is a sense of emptiness when you're looking at an opportunity and it makes you feel dead inside. He goes on and he says, like, I really should get Married to that woman. But it makes me feel dead inside to imagine myself 80 years old and with her. That kind of thing. He should experience looking at this, at this invitation to move forward. Excitement, fear and deadness. And he said the right mix should be 80% excitement, 20% fear, and 0% deadness. Today, Jesus is extending an invitation to every single one of us to say, let me be first. How much does it cost? Everything. Can I afford it? I don't know. But if you would look at Jesus, and not a caricature of Jesus, not a parody of Jesus, but actually the true face of Jesus, to hear the real voice of Jesus, to actually know the heart of God and the mystery of God, the goodness of God, and to look at that invitation, oh, my gosh, the God of the universe wants to have a relationship with me. He wants me to follow him so closely that I actually end up becoming like him. And if you're looking at this and saying, I don't know if I can afford it, but I look at my heart, my gut, and I have 80% excitement, 20% fear. I mean, he does say the cross is there and zero percent deadness, then it's time to move. Because being a fan is fine. It's attractive, it's easy. But I hate to use this example, but here it is. But being a fan of Jesus is a little bit like the attraction to porn or the attraction to video games. It makes no demands on a person, you know, attracted to porn. You can imagine you're an incredible lover and it costs you nothing. Someone plays video games all the time. You can imagine that you're the hero, but for hours a day, you risk nothing. It demands nothing, and ultimately it gives nothing. Again, being a fan demands nothing. Porn demands nothing. Video games demand nothing and they end up giving nothing. Family, it demands a lot. Family asks for a lot, actually gives you a lot. Jesus asks for everything and he gives you everything. And this is the last thing. How much does it cost? Can I afford to finish? Again, My answer is I don't know. I don't know if I can afford to finish. But I do know I can't afford not to start. Can I afford to win? I don't know. But I know this. I can't afford to lose. I can't afford not to try. Which is another way to say, I can't afford not to love. How do you start? Just start. There's a man. His name is Father Pedro Arrupe. He's founder of the. Not founder of the Jesuits. He was the General, Provincial General of the. Of the Jesuits for a while. And at one point he gave this counsel, gave this prayer, gave this thing that was the template for how to live. And he. And he said this. Especially if you're wondering, how do I take that next step? How do I have that closeness with Jesus? When I asked those questions, what does it cost? Can I afford it? He said this. He said, nothing is more practical than finding God. Nothing's more practical than falling in love. In a quite absolute, final way, what you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. You will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, whom you know, and what breaks your heart and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. So fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything. That's what Jesus is inviting us today, not to hate, but to love. So we have to ask once again, if that's what he's inviting us into, how much does it cost and can I afford it?