Luke 18: 9-14 10-23-2022 (As built, Amite #517)
- Trust… As in who do you trust…
- The year is seventeen seventy-six and our country… our colonies are about to embark on a great war… as a result of such man everybody is trying to choose up sides… it’s not a question of if… it’s a question of when… and it’s not a question is it going to be Lexington or not… it’s just going to be when… so the colonist have gotten together and decided they need an emergency response… so the way they would do it would be to send out messengers if you will… once the war starts in Lexington the would announce to certain riders and then they would proceed outward… some to the North some to the South and some to the East and West… each responsible for their respective cities… and when the war starts in Lexington it is quite simple… you proclaim that the war has begun… you are to proclaim that the redcoats have attacked Lexington… and a call to arms… the war has begun the redcoats are in Lexington this is a call to arms… as a result of it they start to get their teams together and then they realize they’re one short… they have a guy going to the North and to the East and they even have one going to the west… but they have no one going to the South… so they do a little this that and the other… and they’re talking to different people an they said man we got this guy… he’s twenty three years old… he said he’s the guy... he’s the best rider we’ve got… he can ride like there’s no tomorrow… he's familiar with the territory… the bottom problem is he’s twenty three… and man when the war starts will he stay the course can he finish what he started… can we trust him to finish… man as a result of it… it goes back and forth and they talk about this guy and that guy… finally they said look unless you got a name and a body he’s our boy… let me tell you… thank God we got him… because let me tell you when that first shot is fired in Lexington that man is out like a shot… he goes from Lexington to Worcester and he does it in about two days… as a matter or fact his horse dies when he comes in… he get’s him another horse and he goes all the way to Connecticut to New York and back… he does it in like five days… he goes three hundred and something miles… and everywhere he goes the war has begun… a call to arms… the fight is in Lexington… man my brothers and sisters in Christ if we did not trust this guy… there wouldn’t be any country to have now because nobody would have been warned… you see you know the story right… listen my friends and you shall hear the famous ride of… Israel Bissell… oh that’s right see you trusted the history books… his name is Israel Bissell… Paul Revere makes a whole twenty miles before he’s captured… my brothers and sisters in Christ it’s all about trust…
- That is that Gospel… my brothers and sisters in Christ a Pharisee and a tax collector have entered the temple and they have decided to go pray simultaneously… this is how it works in their world… as he walks in as a pharisee he obviously has clout… he is standing… so he gets to be a little closer to the alter… as a result the tax collector comes in… but you heard what the pharisee says right… he says look Lord I thank you for hearing my prayers… and as a result I am not an extortionist… I’m not a cheat and surely I’m not a tax collector Lord… and of course the tax collector there is just beating his breast… now stop you need to understand this… you are a first century Jew… Christ is a Jew… his family is Jew he is circumcised as a Jew… he is crucified as a Jew… this is how you must look for him… as a result this is how you understand… a Pharisee is somebody who’s highly respected… they have clout… they have means they are called in their terms the separated ones… they do not get along with the Sadducees… the Sadducees are like… it’s like Republicans and Democrats… actually it’s not even close but I digress on that issue… that was a bad example… the fact of the matter is the only thing they have in common is they both hate Christ… a Pharisee is someone who believes int eh first five books… and then they also believe in traditions… how you wash your hands… you can only walk a mile on Sunday… how you make sure you clean your forks and knives before and after a meal… a Sadducee is someone who only believes in the first five books and does not believe in the life hereafter… they are not even priest… they are sad you see… get it… okay I worked really hard to get that in there I’ll tell you now I really did… my brothers and sisters in Christ here’s the problem the tax collector is Jewish but he’s a Roman citizen… so the Jews hate him because he works for Rome… Rome hates him because he’s Jewish… sometimes he charged a little more for his own benefit… this was not the case with Matthew even though Peter thought so… the fact of the matter is this is the problem… did you listen to the pharisee… he prayed to himself… therein lies the problem he trusted in himself… as a matter of fact my brothers and sisters in Christ if you listen to what the other gentleman did the tax collector… he beat his breast and bowed his head… my brothers in Christ therein lies the point… the tax collectors trust is in God and the Pharisee is entrusted into himself…
- Go back in scripture… our best players are the ones that trusted God even at the extent of their own peril… my brothers in Christ say what you want about Paul… when he is Saul do you know how notorious this guy was… he had so much clout that he could actually go to a synagogue… get a letter… getting approval to kill who he wished… so much so that when he came into town now only did he get the best seats in restaurants… oh but he did… but he had all the clout that he needed… he could gather up whoever he wanted Christian or otherwise and he can have they martyred… so guess what… when he get’s blinded for three days the good Lord approaches if you will through apparition through a vision… through understanding… through a dream… and tells one of the disciples to go and cure Saul… go to second street and lay hands on him… you know what his response is to God… do you know who this guy is… why don’t we just leave him blind we got a better chance of survival… he said no… trust me… he’s going to be the greatest orator of our day… and the gentiles will come to believe in him… and furthermore believe in me… so he’s got to go cure him… and I got to believe that when he goes to cure him… he probably runs in whoop you’re cured and I’m out… because you don’t know what he’s going to do… but that’s where the good Lord’s at… he said man you got to learn to trust him… you got to learn to trust me… my brothers and sisters in Christ say what you want about Peter… but let’s be honest… my brothers and sisters in Christ at the end of the day his trust in Christ was so great that he’s decided that he could walk on water and he must have because the good Lord didn’t carry him back to the boat… he must have trusted the good Lord because he said Lord I left everything for you… I’ve got a wife… I’ve got a family… I’ve got boats… I’ve got nets… I’ve got people that depend on me… he’s crucified upside down and for three days proclaims the gospel… stand on your head for five minutes and tell me how you feel… my brothers and sisters in Christ our best players are the people that trust at their own peril… do you know what It must have been for the lady to go up and touch the good Lords tassel when the apostles are all around him and the tassel is not in the bottom of your garment… the tassel is up here… when the lady who’s hemorrhaging is trying to get to Christ to touch him… she’s got to work through the crowd… knowing full well that even though they’re told to get away they probably pushed and shoved her… she works her way in just to touch a tassel… for she knows that she trust him… you know what’s amazing my brothers and sisters in Christ the same woman that touched the tassel… is the same one that we come to believe now known as Veronica… the one that took the veil and wiped his face… if she doesn’t trust enough to touch that tassel… she wont have the courage to wipe his face to give us the veil that we still have two thousand years later… my brothers and sisters in Christ do you know how much trust you had to have in God to give to your tomb… and you were a Pharisee… Arimathea and Nicodemus… do you know how much trust you had to have in God because let’s be honest as soon as the Pharisees the Sadducees and the Sanhedrin know… that you gave up your temple to God… you don’t have a 401K… you ain’t got a 201K… you ain’t got a k… you’re on the lamb… my brothers and sisters in Christ the same held true for Longinus… how much trust did you have in your wellbeing to stand up in front of everybody and say truly that man was the son of God…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ here you and I sit two thousand years later… how much trust do you have in him… well I’ll tell you what let’s see… my brothers and sisters in Christ can the good Lord trust you enough… that when somebody comes to you and says let us pray… that you will stand up and you will make the sign of the cross… clearly and distinctly… and make no apologies for being Catholic… I’ve already been everything else… my brothers and sisters in Christ for sixteen hundred years and at the time of Martin Ludher… that’s his real name… for sixteen hundred years you’re either a Jew or you were Catholic… Catholic means according to the whole… that if you worship in one place… you sing the psalms… you listen to the readings and you break bread… the Acts of the apostles… you were no longer considered Jewish… my brothers and sisters in Christ will you stand up… like the prophet Ezekiel said that the sign on your forehead will save you… will you stand up… can he trust you to do that… can he trust you to break out the Hail Mary… oh that’s right you don’t want to offend anybody.. but you have no problem offending her… somehow or another people think we adore her when we only venerate her… my brothers and sisters in Christ if they said man tell me are you Christian… would he trust you enough to say absolutely I’m Catholic… my brothers and sisters in Christ if the good Lord can’t trust you and I on the little things then how’s he going to trust us in the big things in the world to come… my brothers and sisters in Christ do you understand… do you trust the sacraments to lead you from redemption to salvation… do you trust the sacraments to get you in his church from redemption to salvation… oh I see… that’s right once saved always saved… well here’s the rest of the skinny… the Greek word for saved is Sozo… there’s a past tense... there’s a present tense… and there’s a future tense… and every time the good Lord said you must persevere to the end in Matthew and Mark’s gospels… my brothers and sisters in Christ he’s saying you must finish what you started… see because you can honestly say that Judas… believed him to be the savior of the world… held the dang man’s money… actually proclaimed him to be the Messiah… and the last thing Christ says to Judas… is you’re the son of perdition… Satan entered him… better you never been born… my brothers in Christ so much for once saved always saved… you mean to tell me once saved always saved but you can kill… adultery… steal… bear false witness… covet your neighbors goods and spouse… oh that’s right the commandments are sticky notes I forgot that part… my brothers and sisters in Christ do you not understand… do you trust the church enough… not the powers to be… the church herself… her… do you trust her to take you from redemption to salvation… redemption is the crucifixion… salvation is the pearly gates… how you and I get from redemption to salvation… follow the seven signs… that’s why he showed up… that’s why he came incarnationally… that’s why he went into the river Jordan to get baptized… to show you and I what it was like… what needs to be done… have you seen the river Jordan… could you pick a more polluted river… doesn’t change the fact it's nothing more then a big ditch… but the fact is he showed up and he did it in person… he showed up in the wedding of Cana… my brothers and sisters in Christ are you trusting enough to go to follow the interstate… you get on the interstate at baptism… you drive a little further and guess what there’s a toll bridge… where you confirm… grab the word… you confirm what your parents said of you… that you believe in the teachings of the church… you believe in Jesus Christ the Messiah… and you believe the blessed mother is ever virgin… and guess what you drive down this interstate… you may wish to get married… well get in the carpool lane… you may want to get in the bike lane that’s where I’m at… because we’re all by ourselves and you can tell by the way we drive I digress… you can pull over in the emergency lane and man you can be anointed… you got call boxes along the way… you can talk to any priest and go to confession… Hebrews five I will choose priest among men for the forgiveness of sins no one is tot take it upon themselves… my brothers and sisters in Christ it’s all predicated and built on the eucharist… and if you stay on that bridge and you’ll get to the point where I come to anoint you… I give you bread for the journey home… I put oils in your hand to anoint you… and we hear your confession and make you ready to stand before our Savior… do you trust our Savior enough… my brothers in Christ the question for you and I today is who do you trust… please tell me you don’t trust what’s going on in D.C. please tell me you don’t trust what’s going on with the Powers to be even in Holy Mother Church… please tell me that you’re not trusting the news… well then where is your trust at… then it has to be in him… then it has to be in the sacraments… do you trust him enough to believe in him that you will go to confession… you’ll go to adoration… you’ll receive the eucharist… you will attend mass… do you trust him enough my brothers and sisters in Christ to proclaim him publicly… because he said if you do not acknowledge me in public I will not acknowledge you before my Father… here’s the point… if you can’t do it in the little things we’re not going to do it in the big things… my brothers and sisters in Christ I’m telling you… you got to learn to trust him… you’re either all in or you’re all in… you can’t be partial on this… I can’t pick and choose what I like… I don’t like this part… you either in or you’re out… you’re either Catholic or you’re not… you’re either part of the church or you are not… you are either a follower of his or you are not… my brothers and sisters in Christ before Pentecost… the batting average of the apostles was about eight precent… that’s right… only one out of the twelve… said you’re the son of the living God… flesh and bones didn’t tell you that my father in Heaven… my brothers and sisters in Christ only three of the twelve went with him to the garden… even though all of them went… three of them stayed next to him… my brothers and sisters in Christ once Pentecost happens every one of them is martyred for Christ… they even tried to boil John in Oil before they put him on the island of Patmos… so here you sit two thousand years later… who do you trust… it’s got to be an all-day everyday thing… It’s not a sometime part time thing… do you start your day with prayer… do you end it with prayer… do you start it at the meal and do you end the meal with it… do you make sure that you proclaim it when you go visit with people… can the good Lord trust you enough that when it comes time to talk to others about your faith and your belief in Jesus Christ that you will do it… that you will defend the fact that she’s ever virgin and stop passing the buck… defend the fact that you have to go to confession you can’t go directly to the big guy… go back to Leviticus five and six… my brothers and sisters in Christ I’m telling you if we cannot be trusted on the little things we will not be trusted on the large things…
- And I leave you with the words of Mark Twain… if you were honest… you will be trusted… and if you’re trusted… just be honest… because then you’ll never have to remember what to say…
