Luke 23: 35-43 20-11-2022 (As built, Amite #521)
- The boys…
- The year is thirty-three … I have lived in Jerusalem my entire life… I am a carpenter by trade I am a work smith… I help with anything… from building homes if you will to shepherding… to taking care of the roads… I even work for Rome… I do a little bit of everything… I am a gentile now living in Jerusalem… so I do not live within the city limits… Jerusalem has fifty-thousand or so people… but it’s the Passover or so they say… it’s that meal they have… it’s about two-hundred fifty thousand maybe even half a million people … you see I live on the outskirts… I live near a mountain range… oh that’s right you call it calvary… we call it Golgotha… it’s called the mountain of the skull… you see I’ve learned now that the skull that we refer to is Adams skull… that’s why you see on the station over there the twelfth station… you see my brothers and sister in Christ the skull at the very bottom… that’s Adams skull… we actually believe that the crucifix was placed right on top of Adams skull… hence why is the new Adam… see I learned that as a Gentile… you see I am Catholic… you’re either Jew or you are Catholic… you see Catholic means according to the whole… that if I worship in one place like I do with you… I listen to the Psalms… I listen to scripture… and I break bread… I’m no longer considered a Jew… I have worked my entire life there… I live in a ten-by-ten house it’s not much I’ll be honest with you It’s made of stone I did it myself… my roof is made of Thatch… I have a little bit of bed… I have a little desk for me to sit at… a chair and that’s about it… I do have a window with no panes in it… but you know what’s amazing I love to sit up some nights on top of the thatch roof and I just stare at the heavens… but I remember this one night in particular… I mean it was so pristine and clear... you would swear somebody painted the stars they just seemed to pulse… they seemed to radiate… it was so peaceful… I was thinking man this is truly a unique Passover… I come down from where I’m at and who’s outside waiting for me… John the apostle… let me tell you about John… everybody likes John… if you don’t like John it’s on you… I bet you if you asked half the people in Jerusalem who’s your favorite friend John would have been their guy… everybody loves John… he invites me to the meal… I said John I’m not Jewish… and he said just come… so I go… we walk down the road and the road’s in Rome… Jerusalem… the roads are about six feet wide… about the size of a railroad tie… that’s where we get it from… as a result I go down the road… and you can tell all my friends have pulled their animals… some of them have them inside their house… that’s why they sleep in a loft and the animals downstairs… we can’t afford it… we’re on the poor side of town… they got their candles burning… at the end of the street about a hundred yards away from my house… is a two story almost white alabaster house with steps on the outside… we walk up the steps and we go in… and there’s a table in the shape of a U… hence why our churches are shaped this way… and as a result I remember thinking so this is the Passover meal… and I remember thinking man how unique is this… and then John says man I want you to meet the boys… man we’re not even in the room and in comes in Nathanial… some people call him Bartholomew… he’s the one in scripture that the good Lord said there’s no duplicity in him… what you see is what you get… he’s an elder statesman… the Good Lord even told him I saw you under a fig tree… we believe the fig tree is the tree in the center of the garden of Eden… hence why they wore fig leaves… you and I use an apple because the Greek word for evil and apple are almost the same thing… Milan… my brothers in Christ I digress… he comes in he has been married before… his wife has passed and he is now a follower of Christ… of all the apostles… everybody… if they want wisdom if they want somebody that’s been in the game… they want somebody that seems to be an even temperament… that’s Nathanial… then comes Thaddeus… Thaddeus is every bit of a foot taller then I am… he is a guy’s guy… when you shake Thaddeus’ hand guess what… you shook the hand of the guy that’s been out there… he is a fisherman… he is a shepherd… he does everything well… little does he know he will be speared to death… his closest friend is Simon… Simon is the one that will come in shortly thereafter… he is a black man actually and actually he was a leper in his prior life…his family left him… he lost everything… actually a man of means… the good Lord cured him… and you could tell he’s got like little blotches… but I got to tell you… you want to talk about a motor… you want to talk about somebody who’s all in… that’s Simon… yeah they sawed him in half… him and Thaddeus actually went into a temple… ran out the demons… when they came out… the person that worshipped in that temple worshipped demons…. He decided okay spear this one and saw this one in half… I’m thinking wow… man what I’ve learned in all these years… no sooner they leave then guess who walks in… my brothers in Christ I forgot to tell you… Nathanial they skinned him alive… they tried to beat him to death and when that didn’t kill him they skinned him… that’s why you see him holding his skin sometimes in a statue… here comes Andrew… he is the consummate introvert… he’s the total opposite of his brother… man he’s so glad to meet people... he shakes my hand he’s very welcoming… unlike the others who are very much at arm’s length… Andrew is an introvert… and come to find out he’s the one who told Peter we’ve met the Messiah… he actually introduced his brother to the Messiah… did you know he will be crucified later… he will be crucified on a cross that’s in the shape of an X… you know why Rome like’s those crosses… oh by the way they have about three dozen types of crosses they use… but whenever they want to feed the dogs… oh that’s right you see the dog’s have to eat too… they like the crucifix in the X… which is why I wear this vestment… because it’s closer to the ground… do you know he’s on the cross for three days Andrew is… miracle after miracle… after miracle… when they tried to take him off the cross he refused… he said you put me up here then here I will stay… and then I meet James the lesser… and I got to tell you this guy’s knees look like camel skin… and I even asked John when he was walking in I said man you can’t miss it what happened… he says… Mark listen to him… when he bends to pray… when you say hey will you pray for me… he drops in the middle of the street… he said I’ve seen him stop traffic… I’ve seen him stop chariots… he’s been in the marketplace… I’ve seen him drop right there… he said he is the consummate prayer warrior… he’s the one just so you know James the lesser… he’s the lesser only because he comes later in time… they brought him up to the pinnacle… in one of the turrets in Jerusalem… it’s about two hundred and fifty feet in the air… this is where the devil brought the good Lord and said I will give you all of this… same temple area… they pushed him off when he wouldn’t deny our savior… you know the fall didn’t kill him they beat him to death… now I know you probably know James right… Johns brother… but I got to tell you when you meet James he’s like John… just in a little different way… he is a little more standoffish in other words he wasn’t like John embracing come visit man you got to come meet him… he embraces John but I got to tell you he shakes hands but it’s very at arm’s length… who are you why are you at our meal… and I got to tell you he’ll be the first to be beheaded in the year forty-four… he's a Roman citizen so he will have the option to choose how he goes… you know what I like about James… what you see is what you get… that’s why he’s one of the big three… that’s why he’s at the transfiguration… that’s why he’s at the garden of Gethsemane… my brothers and sisters in Christ he’s even at the wedding of Cana… after him you know who we meet… of all the best Apostles… the one with the greatest personality… you’ll never guess… Thomas… yeah… he misses the memo… doesn’t make the meeting like you and I would’ve agree that Christ came too… he actually has to stick his finger in his side and his hands… you know what’s amazing… the weekend before easter Sunday… ten of the apostles… because let’s be honest Judas isn’t there and neither is now if you will Thomas… they are in a locked room they didn’t believe either… my brothers and sisters in Christ he had to breathe on them for them to either understand he was present… he has got the greatest disposition… when they go out two by two everybody want to be with him… and everybody loves him… and just so you know… he will be speared to death in India… oh and by the way… when they went to see Lazarus in the tomb… the other Apostles didn’t want to go back with him… why… because they were afraid Christ was going to be speared to death… Thomas was the one that said I’ll go back and die with you… nobody remembers that line... may I remind you be careful what you say… we will hold it over you until you’re dead… my brothers and sisters in Christ man after I met him then I met Phillip… Phillip is Nathaniel’s friend… Phillip is married… Phillip also ran a demon out of a temple… a snake… that’s what they worshipped… the king didn’t like It because he worshipped snakes… he actually pulls him out… crucifies him… albeit upside down… my brothers and sisters in Christ Matthew… the consummate intellect… he knows all the languages… he knows money… he knows denominations… he knows people… and he knows Rome… Rome hates him because he’s a Jew… Jews hate him because he takes care of Roman money… you know what’s amazing… even the apostles struggled with him until they figured out how valuable and how interesting he actually was… he was the consummate intellect… he will be beheaded as well… he had the choice… he’s a roman citizen… oh and let us not forget Matthias who took Judas’ place…he’s beheaded as well… do you know this my brothers and sisters in Christ… every apostle had to be a firsthand witness… you had to see the blind see… the lame walk and the dead rise… you had to be aware of the crucifixion… you had to have been there at the resurrection… you had to be there at the Ascension… the reason Matthias is chosen is because he is a first hand witness… and if you want to know why the Apostles are important… because if you can’t get back to the apostles you can’t get back to Christ that’s the problem… you see if you and I lived in the time of John like I did… if I want to know what Christ did I go to John… or James… Or Nathanial or I go to Matthias… or I go to Simon… Brothers and sisters in Christ that’s who I go to…
- Here we sit two thousand years later if you can’t get to the twelve you can’t get back to Christ… there are forty thousand faiths in the world… thirty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety nine… cannot get back to the twelve… if you can’t get back to the boys you cannot get back to Christ… that’s why we are one Holy Apostolic Church… my brothers and sisters in Christ you know what’s amazing about the twelve… including John himself… they will try to boil John in oil and when that doesn’t work they put him on the island of Patmos… and just so you know… about fifteen years after Christ dies… so about the year forty or forty-five… before the blessed mother assumes into heaven… she gathers the apostles and they pray the creed… she asked each apostle to come up with one line… one immutable truth… twelve lines… twelve apostles… this is why you and I pray the creed… because we are one Holy apostolic church… my brothers and sisters in Christ she want’s it so when they go out into the world that they will proclaim the Gospel… remember this… it’s Peter, Linus, Cletus, Clement, Evaristus, Alexander, Telesphorus, Hyginus all the way down to Francis… I can tie myself to Bishop Munch can tie himself to John Paul the great… and John Paul the great can tie himself all the way back to Peter… My brothers and sisters in Christ when people ask you… tell me what you Catholics believe… I am begging you… just give them the creed… it’s everything… my brothers and sisters in Christ I will read the creed to you… I will pray it with you… and then I will give you the name of the person who said it… for example my brothers and sisters in Christ when the good Lord is with the apostles… did you know they are actually in a Valley near Caesarea Philippi and up on the wall are all the Gods… that’s right there’s like eight of them all up on the walls… all up on the mountain you can still see it today… so who do you say that I am… Elijah… John the Baptist… Jerimiah… my brothers and sisters in Christ it’s Peter that says you’re the son of the living God… and what does Christ say… flesh and bones didn’t tell you that… my Father in Heaven… is it no coincidence that Peter has the first line… that Andrew who introduced his brother to the messiah has the second Line… all twelve lines delineated by the guy who said it…
I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth,
St. Peter
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord,
St. Andrew
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary,
St. James the Greater
Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried,
St. John
Descended into hell, arose from the dead on the third day,
St. Thomas
Ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, St. James the lesser
From whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead,
St. Phillip
I believe in the Holy Ghost,
St. Bartholomew
The Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints,
St. Matthew
The forgiveness of sins,
St. Simon
The Resurrection of the Body,
St. Thaddeus
And Life everlasting. Amen.
St. Mathias
D. My brothers and sisters in Christ I’m begging you to learn the creed… my brothers in Christ my humble apologies I only left out one apostle… Peter… yeah… my ears will be burning for the rest of the afternoon I promise you… this is what I want you to know about Peter… Peter is married his wife’s name is Porphyria… we do not believe they had children… we do believe he adopted later on… you got to remember this… Peter’s name is always listed first… and Judas is always listed last… Peter is the one that does the miracles… Peter is the one that breaks all ties… Peter is the one that decides whether circumcision is valid or not… Peter is the one that reels Paul in if he needs to… but at the end of the day he is the one that becomes the vicar of Christ… my brothers and sisters in Christ he is crucified upside down… his wife Porphyria we believe died either that day or that week with him… right… everybody is part of it… I got to tell you my brothers and sisters in Christ if you and I would have met Peter in the year sixty-six versus the year thirty-three… what you and I would have seen was two totally different men… you think John Paul was a great Pope… and he was… I can tell you he would have paled in comparison to the Vicar himself…
E. Amen.
