Luke 10:38-42 7-17-2022 (As built, Amite #503)
A. Two coins… two coins…
B. The year is about nineteen sixty… and I got to tell you Harry has had about all he can stand… he’s a carpenter by trade… well no not really… on his business card it says he’s a carpenter… but here’s his problem… he’s sitting up on a roof and he’s kind of hidden behind the backside of the roof… he’s sitting down and he’s got a book by his side… a magazine… and he’s just laying back on the roof and saying how did I get here… I mean… how did I even get to this point in my life… all of a sudden he hears the door slam outside so he crawls up the eve of the roof and he looks over… and he sees his friend coming out… he’s got his little robe on… his pajamas… he’s got his slippers… and he’s going to get the newspaper… and he watches him go to get it… and sees him get it and he reads the new paper… and he just slides back down the eve… he says man how did I get to this spot in my life… he said I told my friend Sergio… I told him I would build him a studio... he said Oh my God I’ve got a multitude of problems… one… I’ve never built a studio before… two… I’ve never built anything before…three… I don’t even have tools to build something I don’t even know how to build… and he said I got a how to book… he said that’s what I’m reading… and he said… man I ain’t got two coins to rub together… I ain’t got two nickels… all I got… is free will and time… he says you know what I’m just going to do it… he starts to build it… and can I tell you… he knocked it out the park… now granted it may have taken longer then expected but it was so good that his friend Sergio calls his best friend James… James Caan… he builds an apartment for James Caan… James Caan calls Dreyfuss and Dreyfuss says man I need an office then Dreyfuss calls Francis Ford Coppola and says man we got to keep this guy working… give him a bit part so he can keep building construction work… so that’s how it was… he got a bit part in the Virginian… gets a bit part in the FBI… he’s in kung fu… I knew that wouldn’t sell but anyway… he’s in American graffiti… swing and a miss okay… so anyway Ford Coppola says look… we got to do more than that… he’s always happy… he’s always helping out… he has no life of his own… he says he’s all in… so let’s just get him a job… so they get him a job and he starts doing bit parts in movies but then it grows legs… he’s in force ten and navarone… wow this is going to get ugly… then he gets in another one… regarding Henry… the fugitive… Indiana Jones… okay oh my gosh… don’t worry I won’t use him again… Harrison Ford my brothers and sisters in Christ… and he’ll tell you I didn’t have two coins… all he had was free will and time…
C. That’s the Gospel… my brothers and sisters in Christ it’s all about free will and time… now look stop... you need to understand who these people are… you’re a first century Jew… Martha and Mary are tied to Lazarus… who is the wealthiest man of his day… and a devout Catholic… as a matter of fact he will actually walk away from everything to become a follower of Christ after the resurrection… I digress… Martha is the one who’s house they are at… she’s the one preparing the meal… hospitality to a Jew is everything… not to show hospitality… it’s almost being ostracized… her sister Mary… if you will which we believe ultimately is Mary Magdalene…
is at the feet of Christ… very Jewish… to sit at someone’s feet and listen… you ascribe to them… right like you’re a teacher… you’re a professor… you’re a man of faith… well what’s happening is she’s so consumed… well look make sure you understand the difference between Martha and Mary… what Mary did was the better choice… not what Martha did was wrong… it just wasn’t as good… listen to what he says… Martha you’re worried and anxious about things of the world… that’s why you’re staying so busy… otherwise St. James is wrong… faith without works is dead… what he’s telling Mary and Martha is… Mary chose right now to be contemplative and listen… you could have done the same thing and chose… time and free will… but you chose to get caught up in the world… you can still work in the world and be prayerful… but you got anxious and decided to work because you wanted to get rid of your anxiety… time… and free will…
D. My brothers in Christ throughout scripture… everybody gets two coins… you and I only get two coins time… and free will… and on the day of our death… we will hand those two coins back… and we will account for our time and for our free will… our best players got it… Paul… living proof of what he understood… I walked away from everything… I have nothing all I get for it is I get scourged… I almost got beat to death… and if that wasn’t bad… you stone me… thinking I was dead was the only reason you walked away… he’s saying Lord here’s my time I spent worshipping and proclaiming your gospel... and I did it with my own free will... My brothers and sisters in Christ look at the apostles… Look at Martha and Mary… man you got to give up your free time… it’s all on you… listen to what I’m telling you…
E. Two thousand years later you and I are responsible… we’re only going to get two coins that’s all we ever were promised… he loves you and me so much… that he refuses to touch your free will… you want to love me… love me… you want to chastise me… chastise me… you want to butcher my church… or my friends… or my priesthood… then that’s on you… because at the end of the day I’m going to ask you for both coins back…I’m going to ask you what you did with your time… and what you did with your free will… my brothers and sisters in Christ ask yourself… how much time do you spend now on your cellphone… I’m guilty of it too… how much time do you spend on your cellphones versus praying… how much time do you and I spend texting… versus praying… time… free will… do you and I give fifteen minutes a month … a month to adoration… compared to the amount of time you spent watching television… Facebook… internet… gossiping... my brothers and sisters in Christ how many times did you spend going to confession… once a month at least… you and I sin on the average seven times a day… that’s if we’re holy… imagine not going to confession for thirty days… that’s two hundred… don’t go for a year… that’s twenty-four hundred… don’t go for a decade.. that’s twenty-four thousand sins… nowhere in scripture did Christ ever say… that it’s only between you and me… he never said it… never wrote it… never implied it… Matthew 5… I came to fulfill the law not to change it… Leviticus four… five and six… confession was already in place… and you know what… you had to bring an animal to confession… yeah… you had to bring a goat… or a lamb… turtle dove if you didn’t have many sins… if you had a lot of sins you bring a bull… walk through town with that… nothing to see here keep walking… more importantly give it to your family… y’all go ahead I’ll catch up with you right… my brothers and sisters in Christ what I’m telling you that little bit of time you spent… you did it of your own free will… and you did it during the time frame… you
come in this day … you and I are going home on this day… on your soul… my soul too… is a date stamp… that says this is the day that you come into the world… and this is the day you come to me… nonnegotiable… and how you spend your days in between is free will… I will never touch it… I will try to enhance it with faith and hope and charity… I will send you guardian angels… and I will send people to cross your paths… and the greatest of these is charity according to St. Paul… you can have faith to move mountains but if you do not have good works and love of neighbor… you are a resounding gong… my brothers and sisters in Christ I’m telling you… you’ve got to make time for him... in this world that we live… right now… it’s worse than it’s ever been… have you every thought that you would see some of the things going on in our world… did you ever think that you didn’t know who to trust no matter what happens… did you ever think you’d see a sitting president… and Catholic sitting president… issue an executive order saying that man we got to work around this abortion issue… you ever imagined having a speaker of the house fly all the way to Rome… just to show everybody that she too can receive… time and free will… that’s on them… and their conscience… all I care about is you… I need you to know the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God… I need you to know that the teachings… the truth are right… no matter what other people say… there are not forty thousand truths… there is only one church started by the messiah Jesus Christ… and it’s the one you and I worship in… and if you are bored and tired and you don’t like what you’re being fed… then go where you need to go… because at the end of the day… the Eucharist is the source and summit of our life… my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink… and if I am not in you… and you are not in me… you do not have eternal life… the gates to heaven are small… the gates to hell are large… I am tired of hearing people say… they’re in a better spot… everywhere I go… they’re in a better spot… every funeral I attend… they’re in a better spot… are you kidding me… then why would Christ make the proclamation… misspoken… misguided… misunderstood… he said there are four types of seed in the world… I will throw it on rocky ground and it will be trampled… I will throw it and it will end up in the thorns and it may take root but it will be choked to death… I will throw it and it will get caught up in the weeds and the rocks… and it will be scorched by the sun… one out of four… will land on good soil… you got to be that part… time… and free will…
F. And I leave you with this … you didn’t deal the cards… how you play them is your free will… and may his face never leave you…
G. Amen
