Luke 17:11 -19 10-9-2022 (As built, Amite # 515)
- Attitude…
- The year is eighteen sixty and his name is Edwin… it’s the start of the war… Lincoln has done all he can do… everybody is choosing up sides… but not so much for Edwin… Edwin has the greatest attitude in the world… he is so humble… he’s the posterchild for humility… here’s the irony… he’s probably the most popular guy per se out side of Lincoln… on the planet… he is the greatest actor of his day… as a matter of fact… he’s so popular in this country he’s equally popular in Great Britain… one hundred consecutive nights Edwin does Macbeth… packed house… people want to talk to him… people want to visit with him… people want his autograph… if they could take a picture of him they would…as a result… you know what’s amazing with Edwin… it never really got to him… he just loved being around people… he just loved life… whether he had money was almost irrelevant… he comes to the United States and people knew of him…man they just always wanted to visit with him… sit and talk with him or have a cup of coffee with him… as the world progresses he finds himself one day on what they a call a platform to catch a train it’s the boarding platform… you’ve seen it in the movies right… that train comes in and because the couplings are too big it kind of jerks when it comes to a stop… and then when it begins to take off it does the same thing until the synergy picks up and it catches momentum… the problem is that the platform starts to shake… coming and going… here he is sitting in the back of the platform and of course everybody notices him… they’re looking over their shoulder… they’re pointing… they don’t know what to do… that’s Edwin… out of nowhere man there is a scream… I’m talking blood curdling scream… that of a mother screaming her boy has fallen between the cars man nobody regrettably nobody moves… less Edwin… man Edwin pushes his way through the crowd… he looks and sees the young boy and literally wraps his leg around the rail… reaches down and pulls him with one hand…while trying to hold himself up with the other… pulls the boy to safety… I’m telling you if Edwin is not there that boy dies… he’s literally going to be split in half…he gives him to his mom and she can barely utter the words thank you… that’s Edwin… right thing right way… didn’t want anything for it just so glad the child is good and goes about his life… he’s got a brother but his brother is a little bit off the reservation… he too tries to act and he actually plays in Julius Caesar… he plays Brutus… go figure… as a result of it man life gets a little convoluted… his brother runs off the reservation… but you know what’s amazing about Edwin… he really never kept the animosity… you know he died penniless and broke… because of what his brother did… but the only thing he cared about… they said at his funeral he only had one set of clothing left…and he kept this letter on him since the day of that proverbial incident… you know the one that you and I just talked about… he got a letter from General Grant… from his Secretary General Badeaux thanking him for saving the life… listen… thanking him for saving the life of a young boy whose father had been killed by Edwin’s brother…saving the life of a young boy whose father had been killed by Edwin’s brother… you see Edwin’s last name is Booth… his brother is John Wilkes… the young boy he saved… Robert Todd Lincoln… it was Mary Lincoln that let out the scream… my brothers and sisters in Christ… but it was his attitude that always won the day…
- That is that Gospel… my brothers and sisters in Christ imagine… ten lepers come to see our savior… they yell from a distance and as a result only one returns to give thanks… and did you listen to the attitude of the one that’s cured… first of all he’s already halfway up the road… remember they are a days walk… literally a day of walking… all the way to get to Jerusalem which is where they need to go… he’s already in route… he decides to come all the way back to see our Lord… he proclaims it publicly… he falls at his feet… he thanks the good Lord… and he acknowledges him as King… and did you notice what the good Lord told him… your faith has saved you… said nothing about the others… my brothers and sisters in Christ it’s all about attitude… now stop and remember now… you are a first century Jew… you and I have come to study Christ as a Jew… for his mother is Jewish and his step-father is Jewish… he is the king of the Jews… crucified as such… he’s also circumcised as a Jew… if you study Christ in English… you’re going to miss what he has to say… I digress… this is how it works in their world… you and I are lepers… and as a result it is a disease they consider highly contagious… this is how it works… if you and I are deemed to be lepers… then we have to make our hair unruly… if you have any hair left… a result of having leprosy… you are to tear all of your clothes so people can see from a distance that you are a leper… when you leave your compound which you must stay outside the city… if you should decide to leave it… which is on you… you have to put your hand above your lips like this and yell out unclean… now there are two results that are going to happen… you yell out unclean you’re a leper… you’re outside your compound… what you meant to say is throw the rocks this way… because you’re going to get stoned… but then again you’re going to die anyway… so they’re hanging out in a place called Samaria… now remember this is in between the sea of Galilee and Jerusalem… and as a result of it there are very few Jewish people there… he’s walking through so they are one the outside of the city… now remember this… nobody told them film at eleven… be here the Messiah on demand… they’ve been hanging out there for several day… because they heard rumor that he was coming… and did you notice when they saw him… they don’t yell out unclean… Jesus Master have pity on us… Jesus Master save us… heal us… my friends in Christ what they’re doing is they’re desperate… their faith is so great do you notice he doesn’t touch them… he says go and show yourself… now this is how it works you go tot go all the way to Jerusalem… there’s four corners in the women’s court… which is about the size of a city block… each corner of the block is a portal… one of them is for the wood for the alter… one of them is for the priest… and one of them is for the lepers… and one of them is for the things that they need for their service… you got to that leper… you got to stay there for seven days… up to fourteen days… does that sound familiar… covid all the way back there that’s right… you go there… now remember my brothers in Christ this is how they determine if you’re a leper… if they’re not real sure if you have it they just know you don’t have it… so you could have impetigo and they’re not really sure… what they’re looking for is to see if the wound turned white and the hairs in the wound change colors… if it did then you’re okay… if you are clean you’ve got to shave yourself bald eyebrows included… you got to get rid of all your clothes and they’re going to give you one garment… you’ve got to be totally clean… this is the guy who decided to come all the way back… lose a day… lose another day going back… so when they become clean… he’s still got seven more days or fourteen more days… what I’m telling you is it was so important for him to come back he didn’t care about giving up the extra time… that is the attitude that we need…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ go back in scripture… our best players… are the ones whose attitude is almost one of resilience… that no matter what you do to them all they care about is his will be done… my brothers in Christ let me ask you you’re standing next to veronica… the crucifixion has come… over one hundred soldiers that’s how many people surrounded Christ… in the crucifixion… they circle you with soldiers… they believe it was about seventy-five that just circle you… there’s one person that’s the town crier… he holds the placard up the INRI telling everybody the crime you committed… and there’s ten soldiers around Christ himself… there’s a leader on each end… and there’s one like Longinus leading the parade… you’re going to walk out there with Veronica that’s who it is actually… we call her Nike in another language… she’s the one that goes out and gives up the veil and stops the entire crucifixion… her attitude was whatever is great for the good Lord is what I want… all I care about… would you and I have gone out there with her… would you and I said look I’ll go with you and make sure you don’t get beat to a pulp… well I’ll go out there and make sure to wipe his face and wipe his hands too… and maybe if we have some water I can bring that too… my brothers and sisters in Christ if you and I had met Saul… and now he became Paul… man his attitude… I mean let’s be honest how many of you and I would have continued proclaiming the Gospel if your first homily they try to stone you to death… what if you got one three boats and they all sank… would you continue to get on a boat to travel… the first time you swam to an Island you got bit by a viper… would you continue to go and see people… would you stand in prison and write letters to your favorite son… my brothers and sisters in Christ… what kind of attitude do you think you had to have… would you followed the legions and men followed you because you saved them more times then you can count… you saved their bacon more then they can ever imagine… and to watch your leader Longinus turn and say truly… that man was the son of God… my brothers and sisters in Christ that’s the attitude and that’s the resolve you and I have to have…
- So here we sit two thousand years later… if somebody was to qualify… if I were to ask your spouse... in ten words or less… okay let’s not use your spouse… a distant friend… and I asked them to say describe in ten words or less… that person’s attitude… would they say oh the glass is always half empty… or they say the glass is half full… would they say oh man it depends on what you catch them… in the morning they’re not morning people… let me help you they ain’t afternoon people either… would they say they always look like the wake up on the wrong side of the bed of nails… they’re always angry… and then they justify it Lord by saying you know Lord that’s just how I am… no he didn’t make you that way… you made you that way… would they say oh man he or she curses like a sailor… forty thousand words in the English language and you can only find MF and GD… you actually believe it’s acceptable to ask the good Lord to damn something… my brothers and sisters in Christ MF comes from the mouth of the devil himself… my brothers and sisters in Christ what is your attitude when somebody keeps calling you… when your family keeps calling you… they got other brothers and sisters and dang they can’t find one other cell number Father… it’s always my phone that rings… it’s my parents it’s my children it’s their children my grandchildren… hey Simon… that’s why they called you… because you can solve it… because you have the right attitude… because you’re all in… and because you’re all in you get all of the grace that goes with it… the more you and I complain because I got that phone call or I got that email I got to help or I got to do this man stop complaining about it and thank God somebody thinks enough of you to call you… the attitude needs to be I’m all in Lord… your will be done Lord… I came in on this day… I’m going home on this day… I better make all I can in between… because on this day the day I die… is the day that mercy stops… and only judgment remains… and then we’re going to be measured… my brothers in Christ there will be no negotiations… there’s no arbitrations… there’s no mediation… you and I need to settle up… on the very nanosecond… so when somebody calls you Simon… and at work you’re the only phone number… well guess what Simon that solved the problem… whether you get paid for it or not that’s not a reflection on you… the reflection on you is the attitude you bring to the table… do you think Paul did it for money… do you think Veronica got in the way for money… do you think Longinus walked away from his 401K… they don’t have that then but work with me… which is now a 201k… my brothers and sisters in Christ what’s going to be your attitude… don’t you understand… my brothers in Christ everything is attitude… no matter what comes to your table you don’t think the good Lord knew… you think the good Lord just looked out there and said man that’s a million to one shot… I can’t believe they’re handling this… do you honestly believe the good Lord looks down upon the earth… oh my me… that’s a million to one shot… Peter go get Thomas get a look at this… everything that comes to you… everything that comes to you has been ordained… Psalm 127… if you build your house without me you build it in vain… you build your work without me you build it in vain… you build your education without me you build it in vain… you invest money without me you build it in vain… I own everything… this is why when Peter goes to the Lord and says Lord we left everything for you… can you imagine how the good Lord turned and responds… everything Peter… I’m everything you are nothing you don’t have a house that’s my house… you don’t have boats in the galley those are my boats… you don’t have workers those are my children… you have nothing… you don’t have an essence you don’t have existence you have no being you have no intellect… I have everything… I am everything so don’t tell me you left everything… I am everything… and that’s got to be the measure of our resolve that’s what has to be yours and my attitude… don’t you see every day begins and ends on how you start it… if you want to be miserable can I tell you… would they describe you as man father you put this person next to mother Theresa they would suck the life out of her… well man no wonder nobody wants to hang out with you… my brothers and sisters in Christ that’s what I’m telling you… Lincoln was absolutely spot on… you can be as happy as you want to be… attitude is everything… my brothers and sisters in Christ when they asked Lou Holtz how good is attitude… he said look your ability tells you what you could do… if you are talented then you’ll get to chose what you’d like to do… but how great you do it… is predicated on your attitude… my brothers and sisters in Christ I’m telling you… stop walking around like you got the weight of the world on your shoulders… allow somebody to be a Simon for you… you to be a Simon for somebody else… when you pray to the good Lord let me ask you… what’s your attitude when you don’t get it answered… well man I’ve been praying but he’s not listening… I’ve been praying forever for my children… he’s not listening… you ever thought for a minute that the reason that he doesn’t answer your prayer is that once he does he doesn’t hear from you again… until we need something else… you ever thought for a second it’s the only chance he get’s to visit with you is when you come to ask… so therefore he’d like to see you more often then not… my brothers and sisters in Christ what’s your attitude of the church… you’re going to allow somebody to stand in your way… from the Pope on down… well that’s a pedophile issue father that’s malfeasance… they got transexual… they got this gay issue father… they got Francis I’m not sure where he’s at… I’m not going to church till they get it straight… so are you telling me that if you happen to have met Judas along the way… you’re going to dismiss Christ… if you had met Saul before Paul you’re not going to talk to our Savior… my brothers and sisters in Christ at the end of the day it’s your soul… and that’s all I care about… I do not care what he says… or what others say or do not say… I do not care what the hierarchy does or not… I don’t even care what Brandon says… good you’re listening… all I care about is what you think and where you sit… and that you know the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God… my brothers and sisters in Christ what is your attitude about going to confession… and let me tell you something… and if a priest ever dismissed you… was ugly to you… condescending to you… and ran you off… shame on him… and I am sorry… and so will he be… but it doesn’t change the fact that a bad doctor still gives good medicine… you let nobody get in the way when you and our savior Jesus Christ and that eucharist and going to confession… my brothers in Christ you wake up in the morning you get ready for the day… because nothing comes to you that he hasn’t ordained… attitude set’s the table…
- And I leave you with this…I leave you with the words of all people… Johnny Depp… Captain Jack Sparrow… oh yes you know Jack Sparrow… please tell me you do… The problem isn’t the problem the problem is your attitude about the problem…
