Matthew 2:1-12 1-2-2022 (As build, Amite #478)
A. Plan B… plan B… you’ve got to have a plan B…
B. My brothers and sisters in Christ… he said he remembers the conversation like it was yesterday… his dad came to him and he said son… listen to me… listen to me Vogel… listen… he said man you’ve got to have a plan B… you’re just not going to be the bees knees when it comes to baseball… there are too many guys out there… he said the percentages aren’t… it’s just not going to be that way… son… listen to me… quote… you need a plan B Vogel … end quote… he said I don’t understand… man you grew up yeah you have three sisters…and I know in high school you were the bomb… and he said and I understand man you got all kind of scholarships… and people are looking for you… he said but I got to tell you…I thought the same way myself…as a result of it he said I have decided that man I’ve got to get some other work… because why… I get hurt… and therefore… and granted you’re better than I was… but I’m telling you… you’re not as good as you may think… he said look… I had to start getting part time jobs… and next thing you know I got a little bit part… and next thing you know I’m in Bonanza… he said I started doing another job and I got in Daniel Boone… and then I got on gun smoke… as a matter of fact in Bonanza I was the deputy sheriff in Bonanza… he said so why don’t you come with me to work… see if I can get you some bits and parts… and see where it goes from there… just humor me son in case something happens… sure enough man he goes and Vogel gets a bit part in Bonanza… and a bit part in Gun smoke… his dad was also in Magnificent Seven and he said son if you just keep doing this you will get there… he said you know I didn’t appreciate what my dad was telling me… I just dismissed it… and he said but man all of the sudden… man I go work for Disney… and he said man I am the poster child for helping Disney… and next thing you know I decided no it’s all about baseball… he said I get to the Anaheim Angels… they put me in single A… I’m not even through the first weekend’s games… turn a double play… they take my knee out…I’m done… he said I got nothing… he said I have to tell you the truth though… he said… you know It’s not that my acting career was that great… he said if it hadn’t been for VHS tabs you wouldn’t even know who I am… I don’t think you know who he is anyway but that’s beside the point… he starts getting in movies like… Executive Decision… okay see my point… he’s in another one called Tango and Cash… he’s in another one Thrown Overboard… he’s Wyatt Earp… Kurt Russell… black Bart that’s who it is my brothers and sisters in Christ… it’s Kurt Russell and I’ve got to tell you…I’ll tell you what… he’s married to… or whatever… I digress… it’s amazing how you know these people right… my brothers and sisters in Christ it’s all about a plan B…
C. That is that gospel… here these three men have now traveled almost a year… and as a result of it their decision was to go through Herod… find out where this is going to be… and then probably go back… and then all of a sudden the rules change… because now they know the truth about Herod… now stop… you are first century Jew… stop… you got to start learning to speak of Christ in that light… his mom is a Jew… his step father if you will is Jew… their parents are Jews… they’re from the lineage of David… for all intense purposes ye he is the Messiah… but he is going through the Jewish Rite… R I T E… so the more you and I study in that way and not in English two thousand years later the more you’ll understand… now you and I know about Isaiah… we do know about this issue of dromedaries and camels and all these people coming from three different countries if you will… my brothers and sisters in Christ you need to know how these guys are… so if I may digress…let me introduce you to them so that you know who they may be… my brothers and sisters in Christ the one closest to Mary… would be the elder statesmen… his name is Melchior… he will die shortly after seeing the Messiah… he is the oldest one… he is bringing myrrh if you will… to a birthday party… he’s bringing a burial ointment… to a birthday party… oh they’re going to love him… my brothers in Christ what he know is that he is divine… and as a result of it … he’s saying that only a king should go out a certain way… the blessed mother already knows… remember now the Christ child is close to about two years of age… because the reason Herod is asking how far they came from… because he wants to estimate the time… so when he goes to butcher and find him… do I shoot for kids one year and younger or two years and younger… that’s why he estimated their time as about maybe a year to get there so Let’s just add a year… and kill very child under two… he’s where Herod’s going with this… the guy next to him would have been Balthazar… who would have been a man of color… he also would have brought to the table incense… that means he believes God… Christ to be truly divine… because the reason we incense… besides for you coughing… is revelations Eighteen… as incense rises before God… so do our petitions and our offerings… that’s why I incense the book and the alter…that’s why I incense you so that your petitions rise before him… he’s bringing that to the table… and the last is Gaspar… he brings the gold… so ask yourself… they travel almost a year to get to see the Christ child… they will all lay prostrate… now they’re not in this scene as you see it… remember they said he’s in a house… that’s their word for… a bigger grotto… right… in other words this was in the mountainside of Bethlehem… they might have been a little closer to the city…it’s not a house like you and I… they’re just differentiating so that you know the time frame has elapsed… as a result of it they will all lay prostrate and according to tradition… small t… it will be the first blessing that Christ gives…. all be it he’s two years of age… with the sign of the cross… my brothers and sisters in Christ… and the reason Herod is in such anticipation of it is because he is called king of the Jews… here’s the irony… Herod isn’t even a Jew… he’s an Edomite… and he knows that and from Edom will come problems and it will be destroyed… so now this is why he’s proactive…remember who Herod is… nobody… even look these three guys don’t live in a vacuum… they know exactly who Herod is… he’s a butcher… he’s a murderer… he kills his favorite wife… several of his children… as a matter of fact on the day of his death he ordained in a decree that all his counsel will be killed at the exact same time of his death so that people will weep… that’s how diabolical… he has most diseases known to mankind during that timeframe… my brothers and sisters in Christ he will go out of his way to make sure that nobody gets between him and his kingdom… that’s why he built the temple because he wanted them to think he was the newborn king…. my brothers and sisters in Christ nobody wants to go see Herod… you know the irony is Herod can’t see the star… neither can anybody in Jerusalem… this is why… they have to stop and talk to him… otherwise who wants to stop and talk to Herod… you catch Herod on a bad day… say Herod wakes up on the wrong side of the bed of nails… your life will end before you leave… my brothers and sisters in Christ they had to come up with a plan B… which was to return a different way… you and I go back in scripture… all of our best players have to do alternative ways to get where they need to be… the devil still ruins the would my brothers and sisters in Christ… you heard it in saint Peter… he said he’s like a roaring lion looking for souls to devour… you and I must also always shave a plan B…
D. Go back in scripture… our best players… Mary Magdalene… Veronica… John the Baptist… Paul… my brothers in Christ… you know what Mary Magdalene taught us… that no matter how bad your past was… your future is only dependent between you and him… it has no string on you… your past has no string on you… that’s the lesson she taught you and I… her plan B was I was going to be part of the world and now I’m going to be a follower of Jesus Christ… you know what Veronica taught you and I… Veronica the one that wiped the face of Christ… Veronica taught you and I that no matter how small your gift is to Christ… man he will turn heaven and earth upside down to get to you…my brothers and sisters in Christ… you know what John the Baptist taught you and I… clothes don’t make the man… my brothers in Christ you know what Saint Paul taught us… that no matter how much you may think you know… and no matter how much status … and power… and prestige you have at the end of the day it was all given to you or him by Christ… and now at the end of the day you’re starting over… but look at who he is today… if he doesn’t go through that we don’t have Paul… we’re still stuck with Saul… moreover this wouldn’t be a Gentile church…
E. My bothers in Christ here you and I sit two thousand years later… you and I need a plan B… look at the word that we’re going through… remember this… you are never… ever… neutral to him… you’re either walking towards him or you’re walking away from him… the email… the text message… the way you drive… the way you respond… your thoughts that you have… any and everything you do moves you one way or the other… as a result of such you and I need to learn a lesson from last year… last year and I can tell you… not withstanding covid… omicron… whatever name you want to give it… at the end of the day you and I need to be in Church… if we don’t go to one more mass this year then we went to last year… I can tell you we’re backing up… if you and I don’t go to confession one more time this year than last year… we’re backing up… if you and I don’t stay to be anointed one more time this year than last year we’re backing up… the lesson you and I need to learn is if the good Lord didn’t get our attention last year about getting on our knees… then you and I are going to learn it yet again but this time it’s going to be longer and more pronounced… at the end of the day when push comes to shove… you and I need to learn to find our knees… because that’s the reason things are being allowed… if these guys are willing to leave their families… and travel a year… in hopes that what they saw is need true…not to mention meeting the devil incarnated himself in Herod… then how much more important is it to you and I to make sure that at least once a week that we plant ourselves in a pew somewhere… that you take five minutes… if you can’t make an hour go five minutes to adoration… can you go to pray one more mass… can you pray one more time every morning… you know if you and I just prayed a prayer before every meal… we’d pray three more times than we did the year before… my brothers and sisters in Christ I’m telling you… you need to have a plan B… because the world’s going to continue to change… but one thing must not change… is where that star is relative to you and I… and it’s in the church… I am begging you… I am begging you… to make it a priority… your plan B is now the one… because that’s what is was supposed to be all along… that’s why you have it… that’s why it’s now being implemented… A was our plan… B is his… his will be done…
F. And I’ll leave you with the words of Tom Bodette… you know the light icon motel six… okay you know when you have to explain jokes my brothers and sisters in Christ it just totally destroys the whole foundation… but I digress… my brothers in Christ Tom Bodette said when you’re in school you learn the lesson and then you get tested…. you learn the lesson and then you get tested… when you get out in the world… you’re tested and then you learn the lesson… and you better have a plan B…
G. Amen.
