Popular podcaster and Ascension Press host packs downtown Detroit venue as part of nationwide 'Parables' tour on Oct. 20
DETROIT — Monday night was busy in downtown Detroit.
Jared Goff was leading the Lions to a 24-9 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Ford Field; Mumford and Sons were rocking the stage at Little Caesars Arena.
And for a little Catholic flair, Fr. Mike Schmitz of Ascension Press’ “Bible in a Year” podcast was unpacking the parables in a one-night show at the Detroit Opera House.
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“Clearly, this is the hottest ticket in town,” said Brian Miller, director of apostolic development for Amazing Parish, and emcee for the night. “Tonight is about the parables, the stories of Jesus. God is not done writing your story. And tonight, you are meant to be here.”
Fr. Schmitz's talk was part of his Parables tour, sponsored by Ascension Press, bulldogCatholic and Corporate Travel Service.
As he took the stage, Fr. Schmitz pulled out his Bible and showed the audience the scant section that makes up the four books of the Gospel in comparison to the rest of the Bible.
“In three years of teaching, Jesus taught 40 parables,” Fr. Schmitz told the audience. “If you are God, and you only have three years and this many pages to tell your people what they need to know, and you choose to use that time and space to tell parables, then the parables aren’t optional.”
The parables aren't meant to be taken as literal instructions for living a devout life, Fr. Schmitz said, but rather as stories that convey deeper truths that Jesus’ audience, well-versed in shepherding, farming and stewardship, would understand.
“Stories have the ability to get past our objections, past our arguments, past our prejudices,” Fr. Schmitz said. “Stories impact our brains. Jesus tells stories because they have the ability to change hearts. So what’s so important for us to know that Jesus uses parables to teach these truths?”
Fr. Schmitz opened with the parable of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin (Luke 15:1-10), where Jesus speaks of a shepherd who would abandon 99 sheep in order to go out to save the one lost sheep.
“Let’s be clear: This parable is not about how to be a good shepherd. This is a parable about how God sees you,” Fr. Schmitz said. “Jesus tells the story of this shepherd who leaves the 99 sheep in the desert — in the desert, mind you, not some pen — and goes to find the lost sheep and shoulders it with joy. ‘What ridiculousness,’ Jesus’ audience would say, ‘This is not what a good shepherd would do.’
“But here is what Jesus wants you to know,” Fr. Schmitz added: “You are relentlessly pursued, and when you are found, you are ridiculously celebrated.”
Fr. Schmitz then moved on to the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23), in which a sower spreads seed across a field — some falling on the path, others falling on rocky ground and amidst thorns, and finally some falling on good ground.
“In that, Jesus explains, you get to choose what soil you are," Fr. Schmitz said. "You get to choose if you are the soil that rejects his word, or accepts his word but then gets caught up in the riches of life, or are you the soil that accepts his word, lets it grow inside, and in doing so, you bear abundant fruit.”
Fr. Schmitz then moved on to the Parable of the Dishonest Steward (Luke 16:1-18), who seeks to settle his master’s accounts after his stewardship is called into question.
Fr. Schmitz said the parable never clearly lays out whether the steward was cheating his master, but does show the great lengths he takes to ensure he has an earthly home to fall back on, should his master throw him out.
“The man is desperate and clinging to anything to save his hide," Fr. Schmitz said. "Jesus is not saying to commit fraud; he is asking whether people are willing to do anything to succeed in life — or, just as likely, to do anything to succeed in eternal life.
"Are we willing to do anything for heaven?" Fr. Schmitz asked. "It’s only after the steward faces earthly consequences that he looks to settle the accounts. What do we need to settle before facing eternal consequences?”
John Daley of St. Lawrence Parish in Utica said he didn’t initially plan on coming to the Parables tour until a friend said he had an extra ticket. Daley listened to Fr. Schmitz’s "Catechism in a Year" podcast and wanted to hear him preach live.
“He’s a real blessing,” Daley said. “Fr. Mike has a way of expressing the faith so well that it draws people in.”
Daley said he was especially struck by Fr. Schmitz's appeal to those who had fallen away from the Church.
“I liked how, at the end of the show, when they were asking him questions, one was about all the objections to coming back to the faith, and Fr. Mike was just saying, ‘Come back, you are wanted, you are loved, you are needed,’” Daley said. “That was really powerful.”
Proceeds from the Parables tour will support the construction of a new church and student center for the Catholic community at the University of Minnesota Duluth, where Fr. Schmitz serves as the full-time campus minister.
In the final segment of the night, Fr. Schmitz spoke about the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13). In the parable, 10 virgins are waiting with oil lamps for a bridegroom, who is delayed in coming. Five wise virgins brought enough oil to last the night, while five foolish virgins did not.
The five wise virgins are unwilling to share their oil with those who came unprepared, Fr. Schmitz observed.
“Let’s be clear on this: This is not a parable about sharing. I know when I first heard this as a kid, I would think, ‘Well, my mother would have asked me to share my oil with my siblings;’ this isn’t that,” Fr. Schmitz said. “The five wise virgins can’t share their oil; they need it, as the bridegroom is on his way. There are some things you cannot share; there are some things you have to acquire yourself.”
Rather, Fr. Schmitz said, the parable is about faith and discipleship in Jesus Christ.
“I can’t go to a marathon runner and say, ‘Share some of your fitness with me.’ It doesn’t work like that,” Fr. Schmitz said. “The purpose of life is to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. No one else can do this for us. We have to have those relationships. It is a relationship spelled out time and again in these parables.
“When you and I are lost, Jesus relentlessly pursues us,” Fr. Schmitz concluded. “And when we are found, we are ridiculously celebrated.”
