11/23/25 The Moment of Victory

0:00 Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz. Thank you again for listening to this podcast. Thank you for listening to these homilies. Thank you for your prayerful support of what we're doing up here at the University of Minnesota Duluth. As you probably know, this last week, we had our Minnesota Give to the Max Day or our Newman Day of Thanks. I used to be able to say, it's the one day of the year that we ask people for support. But of course, as you know, we have our Seeds of Faith campaign, which is our capital campaign to raise money to build a church and a student center.

1:26 Thank you for being so generous. And I hope that today, I hope this homily blesses you. And I hope that you have an incredible, incredible week leading into Advent. God bless. The Lord be with you. And with your spirit. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke. Glory to you, O Lord. chapter 23, verses 35 through 43. The rulers sneered at Jesus and said, He saved others. Let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God. Even the soldiers jeered at him. As they approached to offer him wine, they called out, If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself. Above him, there was an inscription that read, This is the king of the Jews. Now, one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us.

2:20 The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, Have you no fear of God? For you are subject to the same condemnation. And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we receive corresponds to our crimes. But this man has done nothing criminal. Then he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Jesus replied to him, Amen, I say to you. Today, you will be with me in paradise.

2:49 The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. May you have a seat. So I wonder, when was the moment? When was like the moment? When was the moment of victory? When was the moment Jesus won?

3:10 Today is this incredible feast, Christ the King. And we'll talk about that in a second. But I first want to tell you a story about a queen. And the story happened around the year 480 BC. What happened was this was the Jews were exiled. about the Babylonians, right? The Babylonians came in, exiled the Jews, brought many of them to Babylon. At one point, though, the Persians defeated the Babylonians. And so the entire world, essentially, the Persian Empire, extended over everything. It extended from India to Ethiopia. And there was a king. He was not a good guy. He was not a good person. King Ahasuerus is the king at this time of the story. At one point, there's a story. It's about King Ahasuerus, who had a party that went on for his friends and other people who were royalty. for seven days. It lasted seven days. And on the seventh day, King Ahasuerus had this great idea, go into his harem, and he called his primary queen, the queen. All these women, one of them was the queen, and that was Queen Vashti. And after seven days of partying, Queen Vashti had said, no, I don't want to come before you, because basically he said, call her in, and we can just look at how beautiful she is. It's all questionable, very questionable. Queen Vashti says, no, I'm not going to go. And King Ahasuerus loses it. And basically he banishes Queen Vashti from ever seeing him, ever coming into the king's court ever again, from ever doing anything. She's gone.

4:30 And so they're on the lookout for a new queen. And so they hold some kind of competition. It's like, you know, Miss Persia. But in this case, it'd actually be like Miss Universe because, again, the Persian Empire covered the entire known world. And so they went out and they found the most beautiful virgins that they could. One of these young women was a woman named Esther. And Esther had a hard life. Esther was an orphan. She was raised by her uncle, a man named Mordecai. And she was Jewish.

5:02 The time of preparation for Miss Persia or for Miss Universe, the book of Esther talks about this. And it describes how there were 12 months, 12 months of preparation where these women were brought in for this kind of essentially competition. and for 12 months they were prepared, they were perfumed, they were oiled, they were fed the right way, all these kinds of things to make them as exceedingly beautiful, as attractive to the king as possible. And then they were all brought to the king one by one. It turns out that the king chooses Esther as his queen. And so out of all the women she's selected because she is the most beautiful, because she is the most charming, because she's the most intelligent, because she's the most fitting to be his queen. Now, again, there's a lot of problems with this whole story. It's not a pretty story. It is a story essentially of slavery, sexual slavery of Queen Esther. And yet here she is. She's in a position now of authority and somewhat influence. She's in a position of some kind of power. She's in a position of her own beauty and her own charm and her own intelligence, her own wit. The story goes on and talks about how there's a man in King Ahasuerus' court named Haman. At one point, the king wants to honor Haman, and so he said, makes a decree that says, whenever Haman arrives at the gates, everyone has to bow down. So everyone does, except for Esther's uncle, Mordecai. Mordecai says, I can't bow down before any man because I'm a Jew, and I can't give to a human being what belongs to God. I can't bow down before any human being, and so Haman is super offended by this.

6:37 So he goes to King Ahasuerus and he says, listen, here's Haman. He's in your, or here's Mordecai. He lives in your kingdom. He belongs to a group of people in this kingdom that refuses to bow down to me or by extension to you. And I request that you kill all the Jews. And so again, remember, King Ahasuerus is not a good guy. And so he says, okay, fine, great. Here's the decree. The decree is wherever there's a Jew living in my entire kingdom on a certain day, that's the day they'll all be put to death. The decree goes out. Now, meanwhile, here's Esther. She's in the palace. She has no idea this is going on, except someone brings word to her and says, hey, your uncle Mordecai is outside the gates of the city. He's outside the palace and he is in mourning. He's dressed in sackcloth and ashes. He's fasting. He's not drinking. He's not eating. And so she sends word and asks what happened. And he tells her that our people on this certain day are... doomed, condemned to death.

7:34 And she says, you have to do something. Here's Esther's predicament though. For as beautiful and as charming, as intelligent as she is, as even as the queen, there is a rule. And the rule is, if you go into the king's presence and you haven't been summoned, he can kill you. And apparently in the story, he has killed. And he says, she says, he might spare you if he extends like the royal scepter and touches your neck, he might say you can live, but she said, just as easily, this king, who's crazy, this not a good guy, could just as easily kill me. What do I do? And Mordecai says these words. He says, this is a quote from the book of Esther. He says, do not imagine that you're safe in the king's palace. He goes on to say, he says, who knows? Perhaps it was for such a time as this that you were made queen. use your power, use your beauty, use your charm, use your intelligence, use all these incredible gifts God has given to you. Maybe it's for such a time as this that you were made queen. And so after Esther, she did three things. She said, okay, Wernickei, I'm going to do this. Have everyone pray and everyone fast. All the Jewish people praying and fasting. Esther herself prayed and fasted for three days. And then she just, the third thing is she just entrusted herself to the Lord. And she said these powerful words, courageous words. She says, I'll go before the king. And if I perish, I perish. And on day three, she went before the king dressed in the royal robes, as beautiful, as attractive, as desirable as possible. And she walks into the king's presence.

9:11 The king looks up and he sees his gorgeous, beautiful queen. and we're going to come back to what he does. We're going to come back to what he does in that moment because it is unexpected. because here we are today. Again, remember today, the last day of the church year. This solemnity, the title of this solemnity, going back to now, right now, it's the solemnity of Christ the King, the Lord of the universe. And just this is remarkable for us. This is amazing. This is an awesome, incredible Christ the King, Lord of the universe, that Jesus is the Lord of the universe. He's the King. We're talking about the Queen. We'll come back to her. But here's Jesus. He is the God.

10:02 To realize that Jesus, all that exists is his. He is the king. He is the unmoved mover. He's the uncaused cause. He is all-powerful. He is all-knowing. He's eternal. He's immutable. He's impassable. He is infinite. He's invulnerable. Here is God, Christ the king, Lord of the universe. He's invulnerable, which is striking because today, of all the moments today on this day where here's Jesus, Lord of the universe, who's invulnerable, all the stories, all of the moments in Jesus' life we could be reminded of. I mean, think about this. We could be reminded of the moment where Angel Gabriel appears to Mary and says, yeah, your son will be great. He'll be called the son of the most high God. That could have been the story we heard today on the day of the Lord of the universe. It could have been when the angels are singing to the shepherds announcing glory to God in the highest because the king is now born on earth.

10:55 It could have been when Jesus walks on water. Because he, why? Because he's the Lord of land and sea. It could be the time when Jesus speaks and he stills the storms and he stills the waves because he's the king of all of it. Could have been the time when Jesus rose the dead. When he raised the dead, because he, why? He's the Lord of the living and of the dead. Could have been the transfiguration on the mountain where Jesus revealed his glory. Could have been any one of those moments. Why in the world, with a church on the feast of Christ the King, Lord of the universe, Would the church choose this moment, this gospel today, where here's Jesus stripped completely naked, nailed to a cross between two thieves?

11:40 Why would the church choose this reading when Jesus is rejected and he is reviled and he is humiliated and he is unbeautiful and he is vulnerable? Why would they choose this moment where Jesus is vulnerable? there's this this incredible mystery that it's in philippians chapter 2 right it says though he was in the form of god jesus did not deem equality with god something to be grasped but he emptied himself and took the form of a slave do you realize that when jesus took on a human nature here's god who is the invincible who's the invulnerable god made himself vulnerable you know that with the etymology of the word vulnerable it comes from latin obviously and The word vulnerable means wound. Vulness means wound.

12:27 So this is the moment where God himself made himself woundable. last week we asked the question, would you rather be admired or loved? And we know this, God is ultimately admirable. And yet we know that God is love.

12:50 And to love is to make oneself seen. To love is to make oneself known. To love is to make oneself vulnerable. In fact, C.S. Lewis, in the book The Four Loves, he writes this about the risk of love. Here's his longer quote. He said this. He said, There is no safe investment. This is C.S. Lewis. To love at all is to be vulnerable.

13:12 Love anything and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully around with hobbies and little luxuries. Avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in a casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken. It will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, at least the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside of heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is hell. and yet here is Jesus who left heaven made himself vulnerable why because realize this it's one thing to be weak you know to be weak is it's a Jesus emptied himself he became weak it's one thing to be weak to be weak is a condition I'm just I happen to be weak it's another thing to be vulnerable like to be vulnerable it's relational right because I can be weak without being vulnerable I just don't let you see my weakness we can only be vulnerable I can only be vulnerable if I allow you to see my weakness.

14:34 and being I guess I think being vulnerable goes against all that we think we need in order to win what do you need to win what do you need to be great we need strength we need power what we need to win we need we need wisdom we need beauty if you could just be strong enough then we win if we could be clever enough we could win if we're just beautiful enough then we would win back to Queen Esther. We left off and it said the king looked up and saw her beauty, but actually I want to read from Esther chapter 4. It's remarkable. It's a little bit longer quote, but here's the description that scripture says. It says, on the third day, remember she fasted for the third day, three days, she prayed for three days, got herself as beautiful as she could. On the third day, ending her prayers, she took off her prayer garments and arrayed herself in her splendid attire. She's making herself as beautiful as she can. In making her appearance, after invoking the all-seeing God and Savior, she took with her two mates. On the one, she leaned gently for support, while the other followed her, bearing her train. She glowed with perfect beauty, and her face was as joyous as it was lovely, though her heart was pounding with fear. She passed through all the portals till she stood before the king, who is seated on his royal throne, clothed full of robes of state and covered with gold and precious stones, so that he inspired great awe. And he looked up and pause on this. He looked up on what happened. He looked up and he saw his beautiful wife. He saw his queen. He saw her as beautiful as she ever possibly could make herself.

16:03 Scripture says he looked up in extreme anger. His features fiery and majestic. He saw her in her strength. He saw her in her beauty. He saw her in all of her charm. And it did not win his heart. He saw her in extreme anger. And then something happens. the next line says the queen staggered turned pale and fainted collapsing against the maid in front of her and it's this moment this moment everything changes it says but god changed the king's anger to gentleness in great anxiety he sprang up from his throne held her in his arms until she recovered and comforted her with reassuring words saying things like what is it Esther, he said, I'm your brother. Take courage. He goes on to say, you shall not die. This order of ours applies only to our subjects. Come near me. And raising the golden scepter, he touched her neck with it, embraced her and said to her, speak to me. She replied, I saw you, my Lord, as the angel of God. My heart was shaken with fear of your majesty for your awesome, my Lord, though your countenance is full of mercy. And as she said this, she again faints.

17:22 and the king was shaken and all his attendants tried to revive her. here she is, this woman of power and of charm and of intelligence, of beauty. What won the king's heart? What was the moment? What won the heart of the king? It wasn't by her beauty, but it was by her weakness. It wasn't by her best. It was by her vulnerability. We realize this. The moment of victory was the moment of vulnerability. Two weeks ago, we said that St. Catherine of Siena quote, if you were who you were meant to be, you would set the world on fire. I imagine some of us left this in mass and we're like, I have to do more. I have to be more. If I was who I was meant to be, I'd set the world on fire. I have to be perfect. I have to have all the answers.

18:13 I have to have a platform. I have to have influence. I have to have power. I have to have strength. I have to have beauty. And if I had that beauty and that power and that influence, if I could do more, then I could be who I was meant to be and I could set the world on fire. Years ago, I know a man who came up to me, I've known him my whole life, and he said, you know what? He said, Father Mike, you always talk about how we evangelize. He's like, I try all the time. And now this is a man who I would say, he's incredibly handsome, very successful, incredibly athletic, he's accomplished. He is infinitely admirable. He says, I try to evangelize all the time. I tell people they need to go to church. I was like, okay, that's not how we evangelize. Hey, you need to go to mass. That's how you would do it.

18:58 But here's this man, handsome, successful, athletic, admirable, accomplished. Something happened in his life where everything he had built, everything he had made, he almost lost. Thank you. he himself had become an alcoholic.

19:22 And all that he had accomplished, all that he had built up, all that he had done in his life was just exposed, was just revealed. And he was stripped down to being a man not of strength, but a man of vulnerability. And in that, in going to Alcoholics Anonymous and being now, now he's 15 years sober. Actually, this month, he's 15 years sober. he has led more people to Jesus, not as the handsome, not as the accomplished, not as the athletic, not as the admirable man, but as the vulnerable man. Or instead of saying, hey, you need to go to church, he says, would you want to come with me to church?

20:03 This man who I saw last week could hardly walk. he now walks with people because we know this. The moment of victory is often the moment of vulnerability. God doesn't win through power. God wins by emptying himself. And that's what brings us today, right? To this piece of Christ the King. That here is Jesus. Here is the King. He's the Lord. He's the creator of everything that exists. He's the ruler of heaven and earth. He is the king who has become vulnerable. He is the God who has made himself woundable. and his moment of victory is the moment that Jesus is most vulnerable, and this is the last thing.

20:52 When is the moment of victory? We have to realize that Jesus did all this. The king, the Lord of the universe, did all of this. because your heart and my heart is like King Ahasuerus' heart. I'm guessing this. If Jesus showed up in his power and his beauty and all of his wisdom and all of his strength, my heart would be hardened maybe, but what does Jesus do? He shows up in his weakness. He shows up in his vulnerability and he does it to win your heart. He does it to win my heart. And he does it today between two criminals. picture that that scene on calvary here's three men on the cross these two men on either side and in between them is the king in between both of them is the vulnerable god now note this we are the two thieves like the two thieves live in both of us and he's the wounded god he's the wounded king We have a choice.

21:53 Which thief will we be? Will we mock the God who's made himself mockable? Or will we love the God who made himself vulnerable? see this is right now the potential moment of victory that we know this Christ has won Christ is the king he is the Lord of the entire universe the question remains is he the Lord of you? is he the Lord of your universe? like right now in this moment is this the moment that Jesus wins? Is this the moment that Jesus wins your heart? Because we could ignore the God who's made himself ignorable, we could mock the God who's made himself mockable, or we can love the God who has made himself vulnerable.

22:50 whatever we choose, he is still the Lord. But this could be the moment. This could be his moment of victory. his moment of victory when he has made himself vulnerable.