Luke 9: 28-29 3-13-2022 (As built, Amite #488)
A. This too shall pass… this too shall pass…
B. It’s the nineteen thirty’s and I got to tell you Jim is… he’s just the quintessential good son right… he lives in Philadelphia with his family… his dad owns a hardware store in this little suburb… I take it back… he owns the hardware store in this little suburb… Jim will tell you he had a good family… a good upbringing… in high school he was a pretty good athlete… but his dad… he could tell his dad was struggling at times with the business… in other words he said man things sometimes would just get tight he could feel it… he could just sense it… and I got to tell you when the circus came in town… things got even more complicated… as a result of such… man he says he comes home one day and he sees an accordion up on the counter at the store… and he asked his dad… he said what’s with the accordion… and he said well that uh the circus is in town and they haven’t been paying their bills and he said so we traded… and he said why would you trade for an accordion… and he said because that’s what you’re going to play… he said well I don’t want to play the accordion… he said son everybody needs to learn one musical instrument… trust me… this too will pass… but you’re going to play the accordion… so he’s in high school… he’s a good athlete Jim is… and man he learns to play the accordion… but he tells his dad look I thought about being an architect that’s what I want to be… he said okay well go be an architect… but remember this… you don’t finish you come back here and you owe me the difference… you finish… you’re good to go… he goes… becomes and architect… he meets one of his friends there… Hank… so Jim and Hank have become like inseparable right throughout their lives… and they’ve decided they want to go to New York they want to be on broadway… they want to do plays… they want to act in the theater … they want to be on the big stage… so they go… but I got to tell you… they can’t rub two nickels together… they’re so desperate they can’t even make the monthly note for rent… so they get on a subway… they go do a play… they make next to nothing… on the way back… Jim still has his accordion… Hank says look… ain’t no use worrying about getting back right now… we might as well go to Time square… set up… I’ll sing… Jim you play the accordion… we’ll make ends meet… we’ll pay our monthly note… so they get there… and he said man people are coming from all over… man they’re coming from out of every crevice… they’re coming from down the street… they’re coming from underneath the bridges… they’re coming from underneath the bridges… it’s the homeless my brothers and sisters in Christ that are coming out… as a result of it man the police officer comes and says look… this has got to stop… it’s going to take me hours to get these people back to where they were laying… he said… pass your basket lets be done with it… he passes the basket… so Hank says how did we do… Jim says not good… he said how much… Nine cents… he said how much is our rent… he said a lot more then nine cents… he said man they’re desperate for money… but you know like Jim tells Hank man this too shall pass we will make it I just know we will… and you know what… they do… and then all of a sudden Jim gets the break that kind of helps support them in their apartment life… he said… because man he gets a job playing in a movie called Vertigo… then he gets in another one called Philadelphia… and then he says man he starts struggling… and then Hank gets a couple little bit parts… then Jim man really makes the big step… man he gets into it’s a wonderful life… okay… well I don’t have any more movies okay so… it’s Jimmy Stewart my brothers in Christ that’s Jim… okay for the eight people that know who that is okay… so anyway man all of a sudden is buddy Hank is starting to do a little better… and Hank gets into a movie… and if you haven’t seen it… it’s that good… twelve angry men… I got to tell you it’s excellent… and then he gets in… another couple movies… oh shoot let me just get to it… on golden pond… Henry Ford… see you do know who he is… okay that’s my point… my brothers and sisters in Christ what’s amazing is when Jimmy Stewart’s dad calls him… and says I understand you got a plaque… he said yeah I won an Oscar… he says well what are you going to do with the plaque son… he said… i’m going to give it to you to put in your hardware store… and that’s where it went back to… My brothers and sisters in Christ it’s all about this too shall pass…
C. That is that gospel… think about it for a second… three men go up a mountain… and all of a sudden the good Lord is trying to say no matter what happens in the world… no matter what happens… you remember… this will pass… but what won’t pass… is what you’re about to see… now stop… you’ve got to understand this… Christ is a Jew… his mother is a Jew… his stepfather if you will is a Jew… their families are Jewish… as a Jew this is what you need to know… whenever somebody goes up a mountain… they’re going up there to pray… to meet God… that’s why Moses when up the mountain right in Sinai to get the commandments… right… this why Noah ends up on a mountain called Ararat… this is why David is in the mountain on Zion… every time they go up a mountain it’s to meet God… this is why he’s bringing them think for just a second… the mountain is actually piercing the clouds of heaven so as they walk up the mountain… then they realize… how does he know who Moses and Elijah are… they’re thousand years before his coming… when Peter recognizes him… guess what… not only does he see them… he hears them… and all of a sudden they are conversing among themselves… about the Good Lords Exodus from Jerusalem… in other words every time on earth… they’re going to a destination on earth… this is the first time somebody is talking about going to a different place… to heaven… this is what’s got Peter and everybody on their heels… not only do they see Moses and Elijah speaking… the good Lord has become transformed… they see his glorified body… that’s what you and I are partaking of … that’s why I say body of Christ and not body of Jesus… we’re eating his glorified body… that’s why he can bleed on the cross… even though he’s already dead… because he’s divine…so when Peter sees him glorified… whenever a Jew says the word dazzling white… he’s doing it because that’s the recognition there is something tied to God… you see Moses and Elijah were the only two to ever see God… and when Moses came down this mountain his face was so transfigured they actually had to cover it… everything because white… but this time… only God became white… it’s not ironic that they actually hear triune God… the cloud comes upon them… that’s the holy Spirit… they hear God the Father speak… this is my Son listen to him… my brothers in Christ and the fact that it’s Peter… James… and John… are the same three that are at the garden of Gethsemane… why… if they don’t see God transfigured… they can’t understand how he can take on the sins of the world… that’s why the other eight apostles are not with them… because they didn’t see God become transfigured… they see the good Lord take on the sins of the world they are going to cut and run… my brothers in Christ the good Lord is trying to tell Peter… don’t tell anybody about this when you get down there… because they’re going to think… you spoke to who… Moses and Elijah… where you been drinking this afternoon… right… he’s trying to tell him look this world is going to pass… but what won’t pass… is what you just saw…
D. Look go back in scripture… think about what i’m telling you… all of the best players… are those that understood that this world will need pass… think about it… I’ll tell you what… today you’re Peter… and everything you say will come back to haunt you… first you’re in a boat fishing and man Lord it’s there o’clock in the morning i’m not going back out… the next thing you know you’re in the the boat and the storm comes up and Lord do something… do anything… then all of a sudden he calms the waters… the next time I got to walk on water… you know what’s amazing… there are eleven other guys in that boat and nobody got out to follow him… he had to walk back to the boat because the good Lord didn’t carry him… can you imagine what it must have been like to be Peter… twenty years after Christ is gone… first of all… everybody knows… everything about your life… and what they don’t know… they make up… oh I know who you are… you’re the one that denied you best friend three straight times… what are you going to say to that… oh I know who you are… you cut off that guy’s ear off because he was in the garden and you said you don’t like violence but yet you cut that guy’s ear off… man didn’t he call you satan one time… you don’t think there’s a place Peter didn’t go that somebody didn’t have their fifteen minutes of fame… at the end of the day think about what he has done… he’s crucified upside down and for fifteen minutes… stand on your head for five… excuse me… upside down for three hours… and he proclaims the gospel… stand on your head for just five minutes and see how it works… my brothers and sisters in Christ Peter is telling you that no matter what comes in this world is irrelevant… my brothers and sisters in Christ what it must have been like to be Paul… you don’t think everywhere he went some Jew didn’t stand up…wait a minutes… weren’t you the same guy killing christians just weeks ago… months ago… years ago… you don’t think for Mary Magdalene everywhere she went… somebody in that congregation didn’t stand up and say… how dare you come in here and say how we should live… I know you… my brothers and sisters in Christ what they realize is that this too shall pass…
E. My brother and sisters in Christ think about it… here you and I sit two thousand years later… hey i’ll tell you what…what day did you just wake up in… did you wake up in yesterday… that’s the day of regrets… well you know its because of something that you did a month ago… a week ago… a year ago… what was it like… I mean you’re still living in the past because of that conversation… that argument… that family member… that incident on the job… that incident with that person… something happened along the way that nobody knows about… what day did you wake up in… how much of yesterday takes up today… how much of your prayers today still get back all the way to that proverbial day… do you not understand… it is not… it is not… it… is… not… a life sentence… it’s just a lesson learned… my brothers in Christ why do you take council with the evil one… he wants you to live in yesterday… because he wants to tell you that nothing will change… that this too will not pass… it has to pass.. he’s got to get you to turn and face him… otherwise you and I will walk backwards through life… hitting everything that we own… why is it my brothers in Christ that yow wake up in tomorrow… I mean… you’re really going to wake up today in tomorrow… is Monday not bad enough on it’s own… do you have to give Monday more then twenty- four hours… my brothers and sisters in Christ are you worried about the doctors visit as if the good Lord doesn’t know the results… you’re worried about the job… or the contract… you’re worried about where your relationship is going or moreover where its not going… you’re worried about your children… or your school… or the relationship that they are in… my brothers in Christ at what point do you not stay in the day… then realize that this too shall pass… look I understand we get caught up in the world and I understand that you and your spouse get sideways… or your family members get sideways… and i’ll tell you what… you want to hear the devil laugh… you want to hear him laugh hysterically… and begin to grab his side and bend over and laugh because he’s watching your family get torn apart… argue with one another… and you will hear him laugh hysterically… my brothers in Christ no matter how disappointed you and you family members get… remember this too shall pass… it may pass like a kidney stone but trust me it will pass… okay good I go your attention… my brothers and sisters in Christ what i’m asking you to do is stop getting caught up in another day… that no matter what is going on in the world… he is either the great I am… and you know he is… or he is the greatest liar that ever walked the earth… you know that’s not true… you know who he is… the problem is you and I want to stay in control… you and I want to make sure we control every aspect of our life… and at the end of the day he told you and I do not put your hands around it… put your hands together… my brothers and sister in Christ no matter what storm comes… this too shall pass… there was a time one time when Lincoln was asked… what is the greatest sentence in the world… and his response was… this too shall pass… my brothers and sisters in Christ you and I came in the world this day…we’re going home on this day… why so much worry and anxiety… as if you and I can control it… let me ask you this… rhetorically… what were you thinking about… in eight grade that you worried about… as a senior in high school… i’m sure you had worries on those days too… what about college… what about when you first started dating… when you started getting out in the world… or you started your business… all we did was replace old worries… with new ones… that’s why you and I pray the prayer… deliver us Lord from every evil… grant us… peace in our day… in your mercy keep us free from sin… protect us from anxiety…. my brothers in Christ that’s what the devil uses to get into our head… he uses anxiety… to pull us into yesterday… or throw us into tomorrow… this is why you and I say give us this day… our daily bread… he wants you to stay in the day because he’s telling you this will pass… and at the end of the day look you can’t control the storm… you can only control how you react to it… this too shall pass…
G. Amen.