John 20: 19-31 4-24-2022 (As built, Amite #494)
- React… how do you… at the drop of a hat… your reaction…
- It’s the nineteen fifties… nineteen sixties… his name is Edmund… and Edmund is a Tulsa Oklahoma boy… actually… to be honest he’s a boy from Germany… he is a devout Jew… he is one hundred percent Jewish through and through… he has three brothers and he’ll tell you… man it was his temper that gets in his way… his mom is the quintessential mom… his dad is a butcher… and his dad told him son… things that would normally be within your grasp… you’re going to lose… because of the way you react… he said man that thought enters your head… and that jaw opens up… and it’s out the box… he said son you’ve got to control how you react… kind of dismissed his dad… I mean what do dads know… I mean he’s a senior in high school… he’s getting a scholarship to Michigan state… he’s going to play football… off he goes… he lasts for… six… eight weeks… coach gets rid of him… said son you got to control that temper… he goes to Hofstra… he makes it almost ten weeks… at Hofstra… before they kick him off the team… he calls his dad and says dad… I’m going to be an actor… he said son I’ll see you in four weeks… he said man… I didn’t know what starved to death meant… he said man I tried anything and everything… I got a bit part in a movie called the gambler… that opened the door a little bit to a bridge too far… then he said man… and just when you think you’re doing okay… then I got my big break… I get in the show get smart… please tell me you know what get smart is… okay… ninety percent of every actor goes through that door… I don’t know why but they do… as a result man he does okay and then all of a sudden the world comes apart… and man every thing he touches goes south… so much so a producer comes to him after kicking him off the site… says Edmund this is how it works… we don’t make a film… we got no money… I got no money… I got no actors… I got no actors… I got no Edmund… he said man I can’t control your temper… you got to go… as a result of it he’s floundering… of all people who throws him a bone… John Wayne… he gets him a part in a movie… and in the movie he played… goes by the name of… Alan Bourdillion Traherne… Mississippi was his name…he was in the movie El Dorado… no John Wayne fans… okay so anyway… John Wayne gives him a job and man he starts to think… man life’s getting better… then he gets in a movie… called Bryans song… with Gail Sayers… and as a result… man if yo u haven’t seen it… I got to tell you it’s pretty good… then all of a sudden he gets in a movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger… called the Eraser… not a bad movie… then his big break… he’s in the movie the Godfather… as Sonny Corleone… okay he's James Caan brothers and sisters in Christ… okay please look him up or google him when you get back… you know I got to tell you his reaction… priceless… once he becomes like more popular right… they asked him in an interview… tell me some good things that came of being the Godfather…. He said there were two good things… and one not so good thing… he said well what was the good thing… he said every restaurant I went into in New York… best seat in the house… because they thought I was part of the Mafia… best seat… best food… never paid a bill the whole time I’d go eat… he said then… if it gets better… the Italians have their festival in New York… for the best catholic… I get it back to back… I’m Jewish… he said best reaction ever… and he said well was there a bad reaction… he said yes… I was paid thirty eight thousand to play Sonny Corleone… that’s his reaction…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ… that is that gospel… this is what the good Lord is looking for in Thomas… when Thomas says man until I stick my fingers in his hands and my hands into his side… I will not believe… now… okay you need to stop for a minute… you are a first century Jew… you know Jewish history… you know Jewish tradition… you know the Jewish Rite… for Christ was a Jew… his mom was a Jew… his step father is a Jew… they’re all Jewish… he’s circumcised as a Jew… he's even crucified as a Jew… every Saturday… or Friday Saturday… he’d be in the synagogue… stop… now that you know that you need to understand the setting… the first time the apostles get together it’s on… Easter night… so that Easter Sunday… none of them believe… we beat Thomas up because he said it publicly… but the ten were in the room… remember they are without Thomas and Judas has cut his losses… he’s hung himself… my brothers and sisters in Christ they are in the room for fear of the Jews… and what does he do… he walks through a locked door… and says… peace be with you… and when they don’t respond… he says it yet again… and then he breathes on them so they can feel what he’s doing… you need to understand this… the good Lord appears to his apostles… as far as Pentecost… twice… Easter Sunday night… and again on Pentecost… he gives them a touch of the holy spirit… when he breathes on them… what’s the first gift they got… going to confession… the sins you forgive are forgiven… the one’s you retain are retained… he didn’t say… just tell them to come to me… he didn’t say just give me an acknowledgement and we’re good… he’s telling them this is the start of confession… Hebrews five… I will chose priest among men for the forgiveness of sins… no one is to take it upon themselves… but yet how many times do I hear just the opposite… I go directly to the big guy… He didn’t baptize anybody… and never heard one confession… so where do you and I get off saying that we can go directly to him when he just told his apostles, on Easter Sunday night… that if you forgive then they forgive… if not then they’re retained… now… fast forward… he gives them the workings of the church… the sacraments… the mass… how things will play out… and then when he shows up on Pentecost he gives them the heavenly realities… the nine choirs of angels… Abrahams bosom… Purgatory… hell… and heaven… now stop… this is again on Sunday night… say what you want about Thomas… his reaction is true… the fact of the matter is my brothers and sisters in Christ give him his due… you know what’s amazing… about ten years later he’s speared to death… but nobody stands up and say oh yeah that’s Thomas the one that got speared to death… nobody remembers that before this incident… he’s the one that said Lord… you know… I’ll go back and die with you… no other apostle said that… my brothers in Christ you know it’s that one reaction… you stay in the heat of the battle… and all of a sudden man everybody just falls in line with it… now remember this… the good Lord says peace be with you… in the Jewish world that is shalom… right he’s saying peace… you notice at the start of mass I’ll say the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you… and you say and with your spirit… if the Bishop was here… he wouldn’t say… he would just say peace be with you… he doesn’t have to use the word Lord… because he’s an apostle… and therefor as one of the twelve… his relationship is the fullness of the church… and rightfully so… these are the things that you and I need to know… because our reaction to these things is what set the table…
- Look go back in scripture… I’ll tell you what… I’ll tell you what the person did… and based on their reaction… you’ll know who they are… two thousand years later… if I told you he was there with his two sons Rufus and Alexander… and all he cared about was just getting his lamb and going and taking car of business… he’s pulled from the crowd and he carries the cross… you’d say oh man that’s Simon of Cyrene… his reaction… just carry the cross even though it wasn’t meant for me… what if I told you that man she don’t even have the money for one veil on her head… much less to give it up to Christ to get his imprint… you’d say oh man that’s Veronica… her one reaction… is that I got to do something… to give back to him… if I told you he pulled out a bowl and towel… you’d say man well that’s Pilate… if I told you my brothers and sisters in Christ… that at the end of the day he wanted to stay hidden… he wanted to be a follower of Christ… but at the end of the day the best he could do was just giving up his tomb… you’d say man that’s Arimathea… but you see here’s the problem… you know the names… you know the people based on how they reacted… and for every one that did something good… there’s one that does something bad… here are the people… imagine you lived two thousand years ago… and Pilate has walked out… he’s got his little bowl and towel… and he turns to them and says… I’ll tell you what I’ll do… I will either release Barabbas… or you can have Christ… who do you chose… you and I become so incensed because of public sentiment… that we don’t want to yell out Christ… because we may be shunned… we may be spit upon…we may be cursed… nothing’s changed in two thousand years… make the sign of the cross in public… stand up and say that abortion is wrong… plant your flag and say mother church is true… you know what’s amazing… do you know when they translate the name Barabbas do you know what it means… son of the father… what a walking contradiction that was… he let go the greatest liar and murderer of his day… he made the good thief look like… like a child… and here he is called son of the father… we release this one… and we condemn the true son of the father…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ two thousand years later nothing has changed… how you and I react… my brothers in Christ how do you and I react… man when you’re trying to find a parking spot… and man you’re just driving around because you got to be twenty steps closer to Walmart… I mean I do go to the gym four times a week but I mean todays not the time to exercise… do you get upset as you’re driving around… somebody else gets your spot… or they get in their car and they’re not backing out fast enough and you now got your blinker on to let everybody know that that’s your spot… my brothers in Christ how do you react when you go into Walmart… God bless you for those that go into Walmart… and that line is thirty people deep… four lines along… and two checkout people… and one of them is calling for a price check… okay… yeah… oh yeah… I’ve seen it… I’ll tell you… you know what’s great fun for a priest… don’t wear your cleric… just go stand in Walmart and watch people come in… you get great enjoyment from that… my brothers and sisters in Christ how do you react when somebody cuts you off in traffic… how do you react when somebody pulls along side of you and gives you the look… or better yet… he says you’re number one… my brothers and sisters in Christ man how do you react when that light turns green… and the guy in front of you is still looking at his phone… my brothers and sisters in Christ how do you react when your mom… or your father… or your grandfather… comes to you… with their cellphone because it’s not working again… I say that with great courage because my mom is not here to rebuke this argument… my brothers and sisters in Christ I mean how good are you going to be when you react when you have to watch the show N.C.I.S… for the umpteenth hundredth time... true story… my mother and I are sitting watching television … she’s watching her favorite show… anything with an initial… F.B.I … N.C.I.S … Chicago P.D… you got it… I’m not paying attention to what’s going on… it’s the same thing… in the last twenty seconds we’ll save the world from catastrophic death… so I’m just reading… my mother says who is that guy… now remember she has a talking part in every movie… as a result… I just throw out an answer… oh that’s the guy… you know is going to shoot so and so… and he’s sleeping with the other lady… you know who that is… my brothers in Christ no exaggeration… a chocolate chip cookie went flying by my head the other day okay… I got to tell you… and then she says… you know if you’re going to lie you got to do better then that… okay well now you know… my brothers and sisters in Christ what I’m asking you to do… will people know… that you’re catholic… by the way you react… when they ask you to pray… will you stand up and make that sign of the cross clearly and distinctly… when somebody else prays will you still make the sign of the cross clearly and distinctly… will you explain to them that you’re not blessing yourself… you’re asking the good Lord to bless you… in his triune name… when they say are you Christian… will you react fair enough and say oh absolutely I’m catholic… my brothers and sisters in Christ how you respond when you get that email… and you read that thing and you’re thinking of all people to send it… they actually sent me that… will you get so mad and incensed that you’ll write an email back… that lucifer would have delivered… my brothers in Christ will you hit that send button hoping that it knocks them out when they read it on the other end… my brothers in Christ how will you respond when that text message comes across… or worse you find out on Facebook somebody’s judged you guilty… my brothers in Christ listen to me… what other people think of you… is none of your business… so what difference does it make… what they say of you… what they write of you… what they point out to you as you drive… if none of what they do bothers you… and is of no consequence… then why would you reaction be anything else… my brothers and sisters in Christ will the people around you know you’re catholic… and know that only one opinion carries… the one of our savior Jesus Christ… my brothers and sisters in Christ when that thought enters you head… control what comes out of your mouth… thoughts lead to words… words lead to actions… actions form habits… I’m telling you… you got to do a disciple… you got to work at it… you got to want to have it happen… and before you tell me… well Father I pray for patience… but then he’s going to test me… well yeah… man goes to church… he’s in church… he’s going up to the good Lord… he said man I cant stand my brother Lord… you got to do something… you got to help me get to at least level ground every time we see each other… all we do it turns into a free for all… he said I’m telling you punches are thrown… we’re grabbing…we’re pushing… he said it’s terrible… you got to help me get over this… you got to give me the patience to deal with it… literally walks out of church… sees his brother coming… they get into the biggest fight on the church steps… police come… got to pull them apart… man they finally figure out they’re brothers… send them on their merry way… he comes back in the church and says… what… what was that… and then all of a sudden he hears this voice… how will you ever learn… if I don’t test you… my brothers and sisters in Christ… your reaction… has to become more Christ like… how else will they know that we are a follower of his… you will either be a prisoner of your past… or you will be a pioneer for the future… all on how you react…
- Amen
