Luke 13: 1-9 3-20/2022 (As built, Amite #489 )
- I’m sorry… a repentful heart… a genuinely contrite heart… I am… I am sorry…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ the year is about eighteen forty… eighteen fifty… the civil war just hasn’t quite embarked yet but we’re well on our way… our country torn in two… the presidents done all he could do… but for Edwin you know I got to tell you his world was different… as great of an actor as Edwin is… and let me tell you… bar none… the greatest actor of his day… that boy can play… drama… comedy… murder… mystery… stand up… impromptu… on the stage it didn’t matter… he’s that good… you know what’s great about Edwin… as great as he is… he just wanted to be left alone… he just wanted to live in his world… no harm no foul… didn’t care about money… fame… fortune… and it didn’t matter where he went… everybody was clamoring to talk to him… visit with him… just sit and talk and if they could take a picture they surely would… he was so good of an actor… that when he went to England… you know he did Macbeth a hundred straight nights… packed the house every night… there wasn’t a place he couldn’t go… couldn’t visit… let me tell you… he would always visit… always a kind word… but I’m telling you… he just liked the simple life… so one day man he’s heading to D.C. decides to get on one of those little platforms… catch a train to get there… you’ve seen the shows right… usually in the western movies… where that train comes into the depot… and the couplings a little too big and the and it jerks as it comes to the platform… or worse… when it starts to take off it kind of jerks and it gets that momentum… well it often times would rattle the platform… to the point where you’d lose your balance… well man it’s packed… because everybody’s got to get to D.C. he’s standing in the back but everybody notices him… I mean how could you not… and man they notice him but he’s just minding his own business… and man when that train comes in you could have heard the scream… that of a mother… it was blood curdling… I’m telling you her son falls between the cars… she is frozen stiff and she is screaming for help… nobody moves… except Edwin… man he bulldozes through the crowd… he’s moving… he’s jumping… he’s up on the rail… he leans down and he grabs the kid by the ankle… and I’m going to tell you… a nanosecond from losing that child… man he risked everything but that’s Edwin… no harm no foul he just wants to help… man the mother can barely let out the words thank you… man that’s Edwin… he just walks off… never says a word… just walks off… you know what’s amazing… about two years go by… Edwin’s brother… he’s not Edwin… and as a result of it… he’d like to be like Edwin but he’s not and as a result he gets involved with this incident… and I’ve got to tell you not only does it shipwreck his brother… it destroys Edwin… I’m telling you to a point… by the time Edwin passes… he has only two sets of clothes… he does no more acting… he became a recluse… he stayed out of the world… and when they do find him… in his one set of clothes on the floor… he has a letter on him… the coroner comes and the letter is from General Grant… or at least one of his staff… thanking him… and it goes something like this… dear Edwin… I want to thank you for saving the life of that young boy… whose father had been killed… by Edwin’s brother… thanking you for saving the life of a young boy… whose father had been killed by Edwin’s brother… you see Edwin’s last name was Booth… and his brothers name was John Wilks Booth… the young boy he saved was Tod Lincoln… and that was Mary Lincoln that was screaming for help… and you know the last thing that he had on him besides that letter… was Edwin making the statement that I felt sorry for my brother… but even more so for our country for we have lost a great man… it’s just about the words of saying I’m sorry…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ That is exactly the point of that gospel… repent… or perish… you know I never see that on a bumper sticker anymore... I’ve seen a rapture where this car may be evacuated at the time of the rapture… which is contrary to scripture…. I digress… I’ve seen everything saying he’s loving and kind… but never anything about repentful… about repent or perish… now stop now please you’re a first century Jew… you know a lot about what’s going on… more then you think… now we go back… now remember who Luke is he’s a physician… he is not an apostle… he’s never seen Christ but he is a follower of Paul…and as a result man he is… you couldn’t ask for a better detailed guy… he’d have made a great detective… I mean that guy is in… he’s telling them about a story… now remember the good Lord has just made the statement… to his apostles and to the group of people that have gathered… from Jews to gentiles to pagans… he said I haven’t come to sew everybody together… I’ve come to sew discord… I will put Father against son… and son against father… I’ll put mother against daughter… daughter against mother… I’ll separate three versus two… two versus three… because I only care about one thing… that you make it to heaven… and it’s only about the truth… I do not care per say about getting a vote and what’s most popular… and now all of a sudden he’s saying you got to either repent of perish… my brothers in Christ you know what’s amazing… nowhere in scripture outside of Luke… who wasn’t even there when it happened… and wasn’t even a firsthand witness… he gives them two incidences that no one else speaks of in scripture… nowhere… he says that Pilate… now let me make sure you know who Pilate is… Pilate is diabolical… Pilate will hate you because that’s just what he does… if he doesn’t like you he will kill you… if he likes you and then doesn’t like you you’re going to be killed… if he doesn’t like you then there’s not enough time for him to like you… because he’s going to kill you… he doesn’t believe in trials… he believes that he’s got to get out of the armpit of the world… so he doesn’t care what you think or what you don’t think… he goes into the temple… the Jews are making a sacrifice… which means they are bleeding the lamb… they’re skewering it on a crucifix… he kills them… takes their blood of the people that were doing it… the priest… and mingles it with the blood of the lamb so that the Jewish people won’t know it… so the question is… well were the people that got killed in the temple… was it because of the sins that they did or their parents… see they believed that punishment and sin go together… two thousand years ago that’s how they saw it… today… we believe we have no sin… we’re all good everybody’s going to heaven… have you every been to a funeral and somebody stood up and said… I don’t think he made it… that’s how far we’ve fallen… repent… or perish… he’s saying no… it had nothing to do with that… and they said well what about when that big tower fell and eighteen people got killed in Salam… it was eighteen… that’s the pool of Salam… remember when the good Lord took the mud… spit into the ground… took it and put it on the eyes of the blind man and told him to go wash… he’s got to walk a hundred yards to get to a pool… to prove to people that he’s God… a blind man… is leading people who can see… to see… so there’s a tower there to watch over the pool it fell… they want to know those people that died those eighteen… is it because of their sins or their family… he’s saying no it’s got nothing to do with it… your sin… is your sin… whether somebody comes or goes in this world is only his decision… you’re making a correlation that doesn’t belong… he said like the man that I cured the other month… the one that they said he was blind since birth…was he blind because of his parents… and he said no… he was blind so that I could prove to you that I am God… hence why he cured him…my brothers and sisters in Christ that’s what he’s trying to tell them… you’re getting caught up… you’ve got to repent… your sin is your sin… this is why the man comes to him and says look I know you have that fig tree… whenever you hear a Jew use the word fig tree… they believe that’s the tree in the garden of Eden… the one they cannot eat from… hence why they’re wearing fig leaves… my brothers and sisters in Christ he’s saying look give me one more chance… that’s what he’s saying… you need to say… I’m sorry…
- My brothers in Christ look go back in scripture… there’s a tradition with Peter… small t… which means the saints speak to it… and it is indirectly tied to scripture in a way… Peter has a problem with Judas… he’s always had a problem with Judas… Judas has a problem with everybody… it just so happens Peter is the Vicar… and Peter’s telling him… it’s every time we go… it’s a problem every time we go there’s an issue… I find out something you didn’t tell me the whole truth nothing but the truth… man he’s gotten sideways with him… so he’s walking with the Lord he being Peter… and He says… man Peter I understand your struggles with Judas… he said no Lord you don’t understand… He said no you don’t understand… when I finally leave… you’re going to realize that the greatest school you went to… the greatest education you got… the most knowledge and experience you will bank on… will because you walked with him for three years… and he’s saying well man Lord I just don’t want to forgive him... how many times must I forgive him… he’s looking for a number so he can… did that one… check that one… did that… he’s saying seven times… and the good Lord says no… seven times seventy… now stop you have to understand this… when Cane kills Abel… for seven generations he’s always looking over his shoulder… seven to a Jew is the most complete number in the world… seven years to build the temple… seven days of creation… seven is complete… so for seven years Cane is looking over his shoulder because of what he did to his brother… seven generations later a guy by the name of Lamech comes into the world… and offshoot of Cane he kills another man too… but this time the penance is seven times seventy… so when Christ says no Peter it’s not seven like Cane… it’s closer to seven times seventy… which is four hundred and ninety years… this is why Daniel uses the number four ninety as the complete forgiveness… he’s telling him the more you sin the longer it’s going to take… the less you deny that you need to repent the longer it will take… the longer it takes you to say you’re sorry… the longer it will be for you… that you will stay in the muck…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ here we sit two thousand years later… you know I got to tell you outside the words thank you… the most powerful in our language… I’m sorry… but yet we simply refuse to make that compilation…we just simply refuse to add that contribution… we simply refuse to own up… Father you don’t understand… it wasn’t my fault… and I am not going to say I’m sorry… so we’re so worried about winning the argument… because well we’re keeping score… well I mean somebody is keeping score… regrettably… unfortunately it’s not you and I… so here’s the problem… you and I refuse… so it’s more Important to us… it is more important to you and I that we protect our pride… then we protect our relationship… because if I say I’m sorry then I admit I’m wrong… as if somehow or another that’s the be all end all… my brothers in Christ how many times has somebody sent you an email… or a text message… whatever the case may be… and man you cant wait to write a reply… and be damned if I’m going to apologize for it… and as a result of it the fumes and the fire just… man it gets everybody… it doesn’t just stop with that person… it goes to the next person… and then it goes to the next… and next thing you know it’s at the dinner table… next thing you know it’s in the family room… next thing you know it’s in the house… next thing you know it’s at work… and then it goes from work back into the house… all because man we got territorial man we’re not giving it up… my brothers in Christ don’t you see… the devil wants you to live in that world… he wants you to say that no it’s more important that you protect your territory… It’s more important that you protect your spot… then it is your relationship… are you more worried about you or your family… are you more worried about you or your relationship with your workers… are you more worried about you or your relationship with Christ… at the end of the day you and I are not saying we’re sorry because there’s just something to it… look listen to me… just think… just think… In the words of Winnie the pooh… think… think… think… the man’s on the crucifix his name is Dismas or Disma he is the good thief… you know what’s amazing… not one time in the six hours… the three hours he carried the cross… and the three hours he is on the cross… does he ever see the blind see… the lame walk… and the dead rise… so how does he go to being the thief to the good thief in six hours… enough to say in his words… I’m sorry… just remember me… just have a thought of me… they’re about to break my shins and I will spend all eternity in hell… he’s killed over one thousand people… killed his brother… and seconds away… what causes him to say… Oh my God… remember me… he’s so sorry… he can barely utter the words… remember me… I truly believe at the end of the day is when he met Christ thirty-two years ago… and he did when Christ is fleeing to the desert with Joseph and Mary… because Herod’s on a rampage… he controlled the desert… and he did allow them to pass free… and he did tell the good Lord… grab this… remember me some day… if our paths ever cross… end quote… he’s saying look if all you can do is remember me please do… I am so sorry for what I’ve done… why does he do it on the cross now… I’ve got to believe not because he recognizes Christ because Christ was a two year old… all be it God… he recognizes him because the blessed Mother has not changed… and she intercedes… and his gamble is what do I have to lose… I might as well admit publicly that I love him… and because he does… because he says… I’m sorry… in his words the good Lord mitigates everything he owes… repent… and man you’ll be with me forever… I will use your crucifixion… and I will make sure that you amends for all the people that you’ve killed… and I will use your crucifixion for all the money that you stole… I will use your crucifixion for all the plunder and heartache that you cause people… and your own family because you went public I will use your crucifixion… this day… welcome to my paradise… and welcome to Abraham’s bosom… until I open the gates of the kingdom of God on Pentecost… my brothers and sisters in Christ because he says two words… I’m sorry… man everlasting life… my brothers and sisters in Christ what about Judas… he’s two words away form being saint Judas… still being one of the twelve… I’m sorry… he gets so caught up in depression and then despair… that he doesn’t believe that the good Lord could forgive him… my brothers in Christ when I spoke to my friend the exorcist and I asked him… man you ever hear anything strange… anything ever come out of an exorcism that’s just wow I never thought of it that way… he said all the time… I said anybody ever show up that you didn’t expect… all the time… anyone I would recognize… he said yes… he said I was expelling… there was a couple demons three actually in particular… one was lucifer there were two others… they told me somebody else had joined in the fray… I said who would that be… he said I said the said the same thing… in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the fourth person… he said Judas the Iscariot… my brothers in Christ he’s two words away… I got to win… I got to keep score… It’s more important I’m not apologizing… I didn’t do anything wrong… pride or relationship… pride… or life everlasting…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ I leave you with this… Mary Angelou I believe is her name is absolutely spot on… people will forget what you say… people will forget what you did… but will long remember how you made them feel… just say you’re sorry… get that attachment off of you… so that you can have a peace filled life…
- Amen…
