Luke 14:1, 7-14 8-28-2022 (As built, Amite #509)
- Embarrassed…
- You know what I like about Patrick… is that even at the age of fifteen… he was devoted to his faith… fifteen… Patrick is that devoted to his faith… okay year it’s the nineteen seventies… and he’s in Mount Vernon Washington… and he’s one of five members of his family… but it’s a very Catholic family… and he’ll tell you… he said growing up in high school I did two things well… I played basketball… and I studied the faith… man he’s fifteen… he said man I think I’m going to play in the NBA… and then he says man I get injured… I got a scholarship to Junior college and now I can’t even do that… he said man I am starving to death… and it’s all about my family… I get out of high school… I’m trying to go to college… he says but I need a job… so he does a little acting… he does a little modeling… but he still studies scripture… to a point… that matter of fact most people in Hollywood want little to do with him… because man that’s all they need is a zealot… so Patrick does what he does best… so man he does a little bit job here a little there… and he get’s a job in a bit part in a movie called My Part of Idaho… obviously a very small part of Idaho… it doesn’t do anything and then he gets in another one called Like the Ride with the Devil… well pretty soon man things are going south… and then somebody says look we got to do something… so they give him a part in a movie called Diggstown… and then they get him another one Wyatt Earp… where he actually plays his youngest brother… and then next thing you know man he gets in another movie and things are going great… and then man they go back down again… and he says man it’s humbling… he said it’s like a spaceship… one minute it takes off… the next minute it just blows up… he said man it’s embarrassing… he said man you’re out there… and you think you got game…and then all of a sudden he says I’m on murder she wrote… I’m just trying to make ends meet… and then next thing you know he said somebody gives me a break and he get’s in a movie with Patrick Swayze called the thin red line… and then next thing you know he says man it’s almost as if it was divine… he said man they give me a series… where I play this billionaire… who is now going out to help people… called person of interest… no really that’s a big clue if you think about it… obviously you’re not thinking about it or you already know what I’m talking about but that’s okay… as a matter of fact my brothers and sisters in Christ he actually played Jesus Christ in the movie The Passion… Jim Caviezel my brothers and sisters in Christ… just for the six people that are now nodding their head… you know what’s amazing … is that when you talk to him… he said he almost doesn’t get the job… and he said it’s amazing to him… because he’s thirty three… his initials are JC… until he get’s that phone call from Mel Gibson… one day he comes to the seminary and he gives a talk… now all we know him as the man that played the Christ… and when I tell you the seminary was packed… and if you’ve ever listened to Jim Caviezel speak… my brothers and sisters in Christ buckle up… that boy is out there and he is running hard and fast… it is black and white to him… it is what it is… and he get’s up and tells the story that he’s trying in between those years when he’s younger… trying to make ends meet… he get’s on a bus with a gun in his pocket… he get’s on the bus and he’s decided that in the third stop he knows exactly where to get off and where to go… and he’s going to take his life… it’s already been planned… he laments to God… Albeit a little bit out loud… he says Lord if you want to stop me… it’s on you… he said next stop… guy gets on… priest wearing his collar… comes sits down right next to him… he said if he’s not wearing the collar… I’m not here to give you the story… so then he stands and tells all the seminarians that are there… will you be embarrassed… to wear your collar… on the days that you don’t have to work… much less wear a dress… he said will you be embarrassed… when people walk in and all the sudden the conversation changes… or you walk through an airport and they want nothing to do with you… oh how true… he said… we’re going to find out… whether or not you’re humble enough to take the hit…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ that is that Gospel… the Good Lord is saying you exalt yourself and I will humble you… and you will be embarrassed… if you humble yourself I will exalt you… now my brothers in Christ you need to stop… you need to understand where this conversation is taking place… you are a first century Jew… so they are at a house of a pharisee… a pharisee is somebody of great means and great sway… they are most popular… most of the people follow their lead… so he’s in a house of a pharisee… and he’s watching people come and go… so he tells them a parable… but it’s different then most parables… he’s not talking about the Samaritan… he's not talking about the guy in the ditch… he’s not talking about the rich man… he says… you’re at a dinner party… you are at a dinner party… he’s talking to you and I… he’s talking to the people that are there… he said where are you going to sit… because you got to remember my brothers in Christ everybody that’s Jewish… understands what it means to have Honor… they also know what it means to be humbled… and as a result of it he’s trying to qualify to them… that man you’ve got to pick the lowest seat and let me move you up… maybe I chose not to because it’s the wrong house in front of the wrong people… but then again maybe it’s the right people in the right house… he said man you got to remain humble… all things come through me…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ go back in scripture… all of our best players… are people that were great players and had to get humbled… think about Saul… man you’re talking about a guy that had means… he had wine… women… fortune… he’s the guy that everybody wants to come to debate… he can get a letter from the pharisees saying you can kill anybody you want… albeit Christians…my brothers in Christ he goes from Saul… to Paul… you talk about a pariah… you talk about a leper… man he can’t even walk into a synagogue… you know the first time he goes to preach… they stone him… they don’t stone you to punish you… they stone you to execute you… the fact that they thought he was dead is the only reason he survived… three of the four ships that he was on were sinking… my brothers in Christ if you and I knew Paul… and he got on a ship… we’re going to get off I’m telling you… this guy has the proverbial black cat… and no matter what happens to him… he’s still one of the greatest orators of our day… look at Peter… every time Peter turns around everybody makes fun of him… man first of all he denies our savior… three times… you don’t think somewhere later in life… everywhere Peter goes to speak… for thirty three years… somebody’s not in the congregation to yell out aren’t you a piece of work… man didn’t you deny our savior… man who are you… you lopped off a man’s ear named Malchus… who are you that thought you could walk on water… you know what makes Peter so great… is that by the time he becomes the vicar of Christ… he is so humble… that he’s just in that position… do you know they said he wept so hard after denying our savior… that they said he had creases in his cheek that never healed… my brothers and sisters in Christ do you know how humble you must be to have people say that you didn’t even take care of your family or you abandoned them… you don’t think that he heard that you gave away your business and you didn’t even get paid for it… as his boats languished on the Sea of Galilee… my brothers and sisters in Christ what if you’re Lazarus… the one that’s the great friend of Christ… the one that has all the money and the means… when the good Lord resurrects… do you know within about sixty days… he walks away from everything… and eventually becomes a bishop with no money… My brothers and sisters in Christ the Gospel today is about being embarrassed… My brothers and sisters in Christ are you embarrassed to make the sign of the cross in public… are you embarrassed to defend her honor… because you don’t know enough… well man I don’t know how to defend it… then you need to study it… my brothers in Christ are you embarrassed that when people say are you Christian you say absolutely I’m Catholic… are you embarrassed my brothers and sisters in Christ to say man I do go to confession… Hebrews five… I will chose priest among men for the forgiveness of sins no one is to take it upon themselves… my brothers in Christ are you embarrassed enough that you’re worried about your job and your reputation… yet our savior was a carpenter… who didn’t even have sandals for most of his life… are you embarrassed because you only have certain types of clothes… yet he only had one set… they took that off of him at the crucifixion… did you know at the crucifixion if she doesn’t give up her veil… he would have actually been crucified with no clothes on… how embarrassing could that have been…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ here you and I sit two thousand years later… at what point will you stop apologizing for being Catholic… at what point will you not stop and plant you flag and say enough is enough… that he doesn’t care what kind of car you have… or what kind of 401k you have… doesn’t care about the clothes you have or the house you live in… or the camp you have or do not… at the end of the day you and I will stand before him… naked and alone… and judgment will come… tell me how much will that mean to you now…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ I leave you with the words of John Wooden… the great basketball coach… he said talent comes from God… you need to be humble… fame comes from man… so at least be appreciative… he said conceit comes from within… you better be humble… because if not I’m going to embarrass you… my brothers and sisters in Christ if you and I do not proclaim him to be the savior of the world… and acknowledge him as Jesus Christ our Lord and savior… he will not acknowledge us before his Father… if you are embarrassed to pray the Hail Mary… then how do you think she must feel… are you embarrassed to say that you’re Catholic… then how must he feel… if you’re embarrassed to say that you’re a follower of Jesus Christ and you will not partake of the conversation… you will not partake of the drink… you will not get involved in this party… and I will not date unless we play it by the rules and be morally responsible… then I can tell you… then you and I are going to be embarrassed… you need to plant your flag… and humbly say all things come from him…
- Amen…
