Luke 9:11-17 6-19-2022 (As built, Amite 500)
- Finish… as in finish what you started… anybody can start it… very few people can finish it…
- It’s the nineteen seventies… his name is William… William is a good ol’ boy… and he will tell you I’m from Goose Creek Texas… I’m a Texas boy through and through… I have great parents... my mom is the quintessential mom… can do… does do… all day every day… twice on Sunday… he will tell you his dad was the consummate dad… a project manager… he said I couldn’t be blessed with greater parents… he said you know grammar school… uneventful… high school… he said man I got to tell you… there’s two things I’m good at…football… and getting in trouble… he says man I get a scholarship to go play at I think it’s university of pit… as a result of such he says man in college I’m even better at football… and I am twice as good at getting in trouble… he said man college… my biggest regret… I am one class short of a degree… one class… his mom always told him… son… finish what you started… at the end of the day anybody can start college… anybody can start something… you need to finish it… you’re one class away… he said man you know I wasn’t listening… he said I went and started my own band… it’s called the rubber band… band… yeah now you understand why it crashed… as a result of it he said he can’t rub two sticks together… man he’s doing taxicab work… he’s working here… he’s working there… he said man I’m not making it… he said man for some reason I go work for a tv station… next thing I know I got a bit part in Bonanza… and then I get a bit part in Gunsmoke… and then he says I get a bit part in a movie called thunder and lightning… exactly right… as a result he said man I’m back on my heels again man there’s no money… he said all I can hear in my head is my mom… finish what you started… he said man It’s drugs… it’s alcohol… he said I’m in a death spiral… to a point that I can’t get out… he said man I’ve got to get to a rehab… he goes to a rehab… he gets out… and then all of a sudden man he starts getting some other little pieces and parts… and finally a producer comes to him and says William… let me just tell you… he said you’re not good… you’re just not a good actor… and he says well wait a minute… I’m a good bad guy… he said yeah… because you don’t have to act… it just comes naturally… so guess what… he gets nothing but bad parts… so in the movie lethal weapon… he was in the movie the firm… he was in the movie point break… okay swing… oh this is not good… he was in the movie the gingerbread man… okay no kidding really… okay look he played Buddy Holly… he’s blonde hair blue eyes… and he’s got a lot of white teeth… man I was praying that would win the day I got to tell you… you know him as Gary Busey my brothers and sisters in Christ… please tell me you know who Gary Busey is… okay good… I was about to go rip that one up too… my brothers in Christ his mom told him later in life… he said son did you learn anything… he said I’ve never forgotten your words… he said I went to that drug rehab and I was thinking about walking out… and I remember what you said… son you got to finish what you started… he also finished and got his degree… he’s been sober now for almost twenty years…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ that is exactly the gospel…. The apostles have come to him… five thousand people have come… five thousand men… they only count the men… and they gather complaining because five loaves of bread and two fish is all we have… and they are saying dismiss them… and he’s saying no… you finish what we started they come here to be fed spiritually… we did that… and now they need to be fed physically… do what you do best… now stop… you need to understand all the little things that are going on… you are a first century Jew… and you well know they only count the men… so if there’s five thousand men… then there must be about ten thousand men woman and children… five loaves of bread and two fish… my brothers and sisters in Christ the five to a Jew more often than not… may reflect the torah… the first five books… the fact that there would be two… would be something that you and I would catch on from the old testament to the new… maybe human and divine… but here’s the point… my brothers and sisters in Christ did you listen carefully… I repeated it in hopes that you’d catch it… how many people did Christ feed… of the ten thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish… which ended up with twelve wicker baskets full… which represent the twelve tribes and the twelve apostles… he only feeds twelve … and he does it intentionally… because he says now I’m going to be leaving in three years… now you go feed them… because they are going to come for you… because they are going to be looking for me… how many baptisms does Christ do while he’s there… none… how many confessions does Christ hear… none… he’s telling his apostles I only got three years with you… so you better get your game on… because that’s where they are going with this… you better finish what we started… I’ve won the race…you just need to finish it…
- My brothers in Christ go back in scripture… our best players… the ones that really finish the race… are the ones that started with next to nothing… man look you and I throw Peter under the bus… and I’m guilty of it too… but let’s be honest… Peter gives us a lot of ammunition… but the fact of the matter is… give the boy his due… man… how many of you would have left your job… in the middle of the day to become a follower of Christ… how many of you would have gone home and said honey… honey I’m home… how was the catch… uh I’m a fisher of men… great… you better have some fish in that basket because if not we ain’t got nothing to eat… my brothers and sisters in Christ he walks away from everything… you got to make an argument… according to tradition his wife’s name is Porphyria… that he walks away from even his family… but the fact of the matter is they have to agree that he has to do what he’s got to do… if without her… he doesn’t make it… we believe she was also martyred within the same day or week that he was… but yet here he starts out the same guy questioning whether or not they should be fishing… the same one that says Lord do you care that we are about to perish… the same one that walks on water… Lord if it is you tell me to come… Come… nobody else got out of that boat… say what you want about Peter… he’s a finisher… all be it upside down… and for three hours… proclaimed the gospel… our best players are the ones that finish what they started… say what you want about Mary Magdalene and her seven demons… but the fact of the matter is nobody else got up on Easter Sunday morning… not withstanding that Mary already knew… I’m talking about the twelve… she didn’t have to go in front of the soldiers and put up with whatever… she doesn’t have to go stand next to a rock hoping against hope that maybe somehow or another that the dead savior will come alive… but because she persevered… because she finishes man she’s the first to see the risen Christ… man give Veronica her due… she didn’t have to disrupt the whole crucifixion just to get his face on a veil… but give her her due… oh my gosh… she has to vote in the world… how do you know they weren’t going to make her part of the crucifixion… how do you know that they weren’t going to have their way with her… she finishes what she started… and because she does two thousand years later the church has that veil… my brothers in Christ what if Paul said man enough of this… I’ve been scourged… I’ve been beaten… every three of the four ships I’m on sink… I’m out of here… what if everybody says man I’ve gone far enough… what if Christ said… I’m done… I’ve carried this cross far enough… did you know the crown of thorns alone… according to St. Bridget has a hundred wounds to the head… twenty are legitimate holes… three are mortal whether we touch him or not… what if Simon of Cyrene said man I ain’t carrying that… you can put me in the army… y’all can beat me like a rented mule… I ain’t carrying it… he gets his blood on me I can’t even go to the Passover… man I got two kids here… but guess what… because he finishes what he started… and did you notice… did you watch the movie the passion… I think they nailed it… first he doesn’t want to carry it… about halfway through he realizes look I don’t care what this guy did… but this is unconscionable…. And he tells them… man we got to finish… don’t stop here… we got to finish… and then when he gets up to where the crucifixion is… to Golgotha… my brothers in Christ do you notice that he doesn’t want to leave because it finally dawns on him… that if I leave they’re going to crucify you then Christ looks at him to say… I didn’t ask you to be crucified… I just asked you to help me carry my cross… to finish what we started…
- Well here we sit two thousand years later… brothers in Christ are we a starter or a finisher… man how is it at work when that phone rings… how is it that the only cell phone number they got is yours… well what about your family… we got many brothers and sisters… but your phone is the only one that rings… well I guess Simon… It’s because you can handle it… because you can finish what was started… my brothers in Christ when they call you at work to do the extra work… but there’s no decimal point that got enlarged… you got to take what you take… you’re job description surly didn’t include this but you’re going to do it anyway… you do it because you’re a good catholic… because you’re a good Catholic man and woman… because that’s what you do to be a disciple of Jesus Christ… my brothers and sisters in Christ we are too quick not to finish what we started… how many times around our house have been done… or undone… or still to be done… okay look ladies you can’t look at your husband when I make that pitch… okay… okay I’ll have to take that out of the next homily I can promise you… my brothers and sisters in Christ that’s the point… man when you finish what you started… the job that you said you were going to do… is your word not your bond… my brothers and sisters in Christ… I know it’s tiring… I know the world is out of control… but it doesn’t change the fact of what you and I have to do… the good Lord has already won the race… you and I have to finish it… look it’s free will… from the minute you came in to the minute you go home… you have free will… he loves you so much… so much… he refuses… to go against your word… you want me in your world… I’m in it… you say get out… I’m out… my brothers in Christ you and I have the free will to finish what was started… you need to run it all the way out… from baptism… to the anointing and the last rights… you do everything you can… first step forward is the most important… you need to realize that you represent Christ here on this earth… so that when you walk away people go… now that… was a disciple of Jesus Christ… that was a Simon… that’s when you hear our savior in heaven say well done my child… man I have waited for you and welcome to the table of all of my saints… you finish what was started… at the end of the day he didn’t ask you to carry the cross… he asked you to finish what he started… my brothers and sisters in Christ I’m telling you… we’re in a world where everybody stops short… that ain’t my job… it’s not in my description… I’m not doing it… I’m not getting paid anymore… I’ve got too many things on my plate… we’ve become narcissistic… and that’s why we’re in trouble… how will people know that the church is true… if you and I do not bring the gospel when we leave here… preach the gospel in everything you do… and only use words when you have to… you got to finish what we started…
- and as much as I hate to admit it Billy Sunday is absolutely spot on… he was a baseball coach with the Oakland A’s back in the day… he was truly novel and unique… eclectic to a point… he said what good does it do to stop on third… you might as well never came up to bat… the score never changed… you got to finish what we started…
- Amen.
