John 21: 1-19 5-1-2022 (As built, Amite #495)
- Sacrifice… to offer it up… the greater good… right thing… right way… sacrifice…
- The year is about seventeen seventy-five… our country… our nation… our colonies…. Are about to embark on a great war… a great revolution… it’s time… the colonies have had their fill… and to be honest with you… Henry will tell you… yes the time has come… as a matter of fact the king has extorted… he has done what he does… and they have had their fill… but you got to know… Henry… has already been where he’s overdone… as a matter of fact he’ll tell you… life’s been tough…he said but the fact of the matter is… if he went back he would do it all over again… see he loves… Henry loves Sally… he just does… it’s his soulmate it’s the one… if you were to ask Sally she would tell you it’s Henry… man life was good… until about their sixth child… child was Nettie… and as a result the birth of Nettie man things went south… she started having medical problems… which led to psychological problems… it got to the point where it was all Henry could do… to keep his head up… but man people came to him and said Henry look… we have a place… we… we can help you… and he said no… those children are our… I will take her here and our children... it's about sacrifice… it’s about sacrifice… he said I love her so much… that’s what it means… I will sacrifice… and they said Henry… she’s not eating… she’s not drinking… she’s out of control… she’s violent… there’s a place we have… and you know what the name of the place is… the asylum for the inane… and idiots… that’s how they named it… as a result he said… no it won’t happen… eventually she passes… but now man it looks like the war is inevitable… they come to get Henry… they being the delegates… and said look we need you… you need to come… it’s time to vote… the Virginia delegation has… has got a quorum… as a result he goes… St. Johns church… where they had the vote… is packed… they have lined the walls to hear the argument… and as a result of it people are everywhere… and actually let’s be honest… they’re waiting for Henry… Henry carries sway… he just does… he comes walking in… you could have heard a pin drop… he walks all the way to the front… turns and says… Mr. president… may I say a few words briefly… he said by all means Henry… Henry says man… my brothers and sisters… he said… the way is inevitable… he said at the end of the day when push comes to shove… this is something that needs to happen… he said I speak to you because if I wouldn’t I would not be a patriot… and if what I say offends you… then you must forgive me because then it would probably if I say nothing offend out country... moreover it would offend my savior… we have renumerated the king… we have visited the king… we have given up lands for the king… we have given up people for the king… and if we were to visit the king today… we would put our feet together with chains… he would tie us to a chair… a noose around our neck… and probably before he hung us he would kiss us on the cheek… like Judas did to our savior… at the end of the day my friends I tell you that we must learn to sacrifice… for you will either give me liberty… or you’ll give me death… man what a great quote by Patrick Henry…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ… That is exactly that gospel… that’s exactly where the good Lord is going with it… I so loved the world that I sent my son… for the sacrifice of many… my brothers and sisters in Christ… not once… not twice… but three times… Peter… do you love me… well… of course I do Lord… Peter… do you… do you love me… well… well yeah… yes I do love you Lord… Peter… do you love me… well Lord… you know everything… you know that I love you… stop… you need to understand what’s going on… you are a first century Jew…you’re on the sea of Galilee… these are the things that you know… there are only seven apostles fishing… which could lend it’s that there were probably only seven fisherman… Peter is not going back to his old job my brothers and sisters in Christ Per se… but he does have to eat… I mean they got to eat something for breakfast… as a result of it they’re back out fishing… they got to pay taxes… they got to make ends meet… they got to pay barter… as a result… if you’re on the sea of Galilee … you can only fish at night… you cannot pole fish you can only net fish… when he says children… have you caught anything to eat… you know what that’s like to them… that’s like a carpenter telling a fisherman... have you caught anything yet… in other words… he’s saying do you understand where you sit in the world… I’m referring to you as children… in other words I control what happens… throw the nets towards me… I’m on the right… and then let’s see what happens… my brothers and sisters in Christ Peter swims a hundred yards… a football field… just to be in front of him… di you ask yourself… one hundred fifty three different fish… do you know what the irony is… they’re all one hundred and fifty different species… yeah that’s what happens when you don’t translate… my brothers and sisters in Christ do you know that there are only a hundred fifty three variations… of fish… in the world at that time… do you know that there is only a hundred fifty three nationalities… at that time… therein lies the point… you’re going to be a fisher of all men… and when he’s talking to Peter… did you notice my brothers and sisters in Christ… when he says love… he’s saying do you love like me Peter… agape… not philia… not… okay I’ll break it down… not like the bud light commercial… okay good most of you got that… better yet… dilly dilly… okay good now you’re catching on… he’s saying no do you love like me Peter… now why is he asking him… because about several weeks earlier… Peter told him that no matter what any one of the other eleven do… it don’t matter because I won’t leave you… in other words I love you greater… remember when you spit up be careful… and no he’s saying let me remind you Peter what did you say before… my brothers and sisters in Christ he’s driving home the point... Peter from this day forward remember where you sit… it’s going to be important… because I won’t be here physically with you… my brothers in Christ do you notice that he says you need to tend to my lambs… the lambs are the apostles… he didn’t tell any other apostle to take care of the apostles… he only told Peter to do that… and he said they’re my apostles by the way not yours… secondly… I didn’t say tend to my sheep… I said shepherd my sheep… you would recognize that because you know there’s only two really good callings… you’re either a shepherd or you’re a fisherman… and then he says you need to feed my sheep… which is you and I… which is what I’m about to do for you… do you ask yourself why did eh say charcoal fire… do you know that there’s only two places in scripture that the word charcoal shows up… when he denied our savior three times… and now he’s giving forgiveness three times for denying him… Peter may not get it… but he soon will… and then the last thing that he tells them… follow me… my brothers and sisters in Christ this is why you and I follow a crucified Christ… this is why he must be on the cross.. he’s telling them… I got crucified… so will you… you will be skinned alive… you will be speared to death… you will be sawed in half… you will be thrown off a building when that doesn’t kill you they will beat you to death… you will have your head cut off… you will lose your head as well… brothers and sisters in Christ he’s saying pick up your cross and follow me… this is why as Catholics we have a corpse on the cross… the wood means nothing… if he’s not on there then what’s the point…
- My brothers in Christ throughout scripture… our best players are the ones that are willing to sacrifice… if it wasn’t for her… my brothers in Christ… if she doesn’t sacrifice her life to be the new tabernacle… we don’t have Holy mother church… if John the Baptist doesn’t sacrifice his own head… his own well-being… we don’t have the sacrament of Baptism… we don’t have the reed blowing in the wind… if Peter doesn’t sacrifice having a family… we don’t have a vicar… we don’t have a Pope… and for the record his wife Porphyria… is martyred within the same week that he is… my brothers and sisters in Christ if Longinus doesn’t stand up… and say what he says… Longinus sacrificed his 401k… the very second he said truly that man was the son of God… he loves Christ so much he’s willing to forego his money… Joseph of Arimathea sacrificed his own tomb… which means he will be buried somewhere else… and eventually he will be martyred… for giving up his tomb for Christ…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ here you and I sit two thousand years later… how willing are you and I to sacrifice for one another… when you say you love someone … you’re telling them you’ll sacrifice for them… that’s what he’s telling Peter… you say you love me… well then let’s make sure that you understand that you’re going to have to sacrifice for me… you can’t say you love somebody without saying you will sacrifice for them… my brothers and sisters in Christ let me ask you…are you willing to sacrifice that cell phone… for thirty minutes… an hour… to sit down with your family for dinner… or for lunch… and put that cell phone away and I don’t care how many times it beeps… I don’t care how many times it rings… I don’t care if it’s just a quick text to respond back… you don’t pick it up… you’re with your family at sacrosanct I will not speak to anybody else but the one in front of me… Mother Theresa was right… the one in front of you is the most important person in the world… moreover if it’s your family… are you willing to sit down and talk to that person one on one and put your phone aside and don’t pick it up no matter what happens… are you willing to sacrifice my brothers and sisters in Christ and go run that errand when you know that you’re day is jam packed… but you’re going to do this because you know it would be easier for you then it would be on them… my brothers and sisters in Christ are you willing to sacrifice… the fact that at the end of the day no matter how bad work gets… that you simply refuse to bring it home and throw it up all over your table… my brothers and sisters in Christ… to you young people… are you willing to sacrifice and do what your parents asked you to do… without rolling your eyes… and commit a sin… and it is… to speak boldly back to your parents as if somehow another you paid for the roof over your head… the clothes on your back… and the school you attend… my brothers and sisters in Christ are you willing to walk away from the argument and sacrifice your reputation… not worry what anybody else thinks… because what other people think of you is none of you business… my brothers and sisters in Christ therein lies the point... how hard are you willing to sacrifice to get what you want… you and I can walk out those doors and pray in the parking lot… the difference between praying in that parking lot and praying in here is the sacrifice of the mass… that’s what wins the day… are you willing to pray for your children… your parents… your job… your in-laws… your outlaws… are you willing to sacrifice every day… Mother Theresa was right… as she is so many times… she said if you would offer a sacrifice with your prayer… it would compound the size of intensity that it would have in front of our Lord… you see he tells Peter that… Peter goes to him and says Lord… I tried to get rid of these demons but I couldn’t… and he said Peter that’s because your prayers aren’t strong enough… Acts of the Apostles… Peters prayers… are not strong enough… where do you and I sit… he walked with our Savior three and a half years… he had his name changed… he was ordained to be the Vicar of Christ… and his prayers are not strong enough… which means he said… Peter you’re going to have to fast and abstain… my brothers and sisters in Christ if you took a nine-day novena … and every day offered up one little sacrifice… I’m only going to have one cup of coffee… I’m not going to watch the news… okay that’s not a sacrifice skip that one okay… man… you’re going to give up one thing… I’m not going to read the newspaper… I’m not going to watch television… and you’re going to do it for nine straight days… even if it’s the same sacrifice or a different one… on the tenth day… you say thank you and offer one more sacrifice… so that you’re children and their relationships will get better… that your grandchildren will come back to church… that your children will stay away from trouble before they know it ever takes place… what is going to be your ability to sacrifice… don’t you understand… when you say you love Christ… he’s saying you’re going to sacrifice… will you give me fifteen minutes a month… in adoration… if you spend more time on your cellphone then you do talking to our good Lord… you’re disordered no if ands or buts about it… my brothers and sisters in Christ I’m telling you… when you say you love it means you sacrifice… if you say you love Christ you say you know him… have you sacrificed the time to learn the ten commandments... because if you haven’t and you can’t… and you didn’t… well let me just warn you… St. John is clear… If you say you love our Lord Jesus Christ and you don’t know the ten… you’re a liar… my brothers and sisters in Christ it begins and ends with sacrifice…
- I’ll leave you with this… if you do not sacrifice for what you want… what you want will be the sacrifice…
- Amen…
