Matthew 4:1-11 2-26-2023 (As built, Amite #534)
- Resilience… absolutely resilient… to take a punch… to take a hit… to get back up when everybody else has counted you out… for somebody to backhand you and you to move on as if nothing has happened…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ if I were to ask you who had the most popular hands in the world… over the last I don’t know decade or two decades or so… there was a survey done to show who has the most popular hands in the world… and the most popular hands in the world are not who you think they are… as a matter of fact the second most popular hands in the world they happen to have to do with a guy who’s an excessive painter… he’s kind of eclectic but I got to tell you his paintings still to this day resonates throughout the world… as a matter of fact the third most popular according to the survey are seen usually every Friday on the ways of the cross… especially if you saw the movie the passion…I digress… keep that thought though… the three most popular hands in the world… it’s about the fifteen hundreds and if there’s one guy in Germany who’d absolutely the poster child for resilience… it’s Mr. Dürer… I’m telling you that guy can do… does do everyday twice on Sunday… he can and does do it all… he’s got to do it all… he’s got eighteen children… if you could see the number of women in here in their face when I said eighteen… that’s right and here’s the kicker… they all slept in the same bed… oh and you say y’all have a tough life right… twenty people counting him and his wife… and he’ll tell you he was making money as a goldsmith but eighteen mouths to feed twenty counting him and his wife… doesn’t work he became a coal miner… every day he said it he still proclaimed it… I’m going to do what I’ve got to do… my job is to protect and provide… I’ve got too many mouths to feed so man it didn’t matter what day he’s in the coal mine and he’s after it… well I’ve got to tell you if there is a chip off the old block it’s his son Albert… Albert can play… Alberts got it that gene passed on fully and functionally into Albert… he’s laying in the bed with his seventeen siblings… he turns to his youngest brother and says look… tomorrow before we go to mass.. tomorrow before we go to mass… good make sure you’re listening to that… he says we’re going to flip a coin… the winner goes to college… the other remains and works… when you finish or whoever finishes college comes back and then the other one goes… his brother said no we can’t do it that way… he said look we can’t both make it initially… but we can in the long haul you just got to be resilient… so tomorrow after mass we flip a coin… sure enough they flip the coin… makes sure his brother wins… his brother goes to the academy and you may not know him but you do but you don’t… I’ve got to tell you it’s a three or four year program… two years into the program his name is a household name… so much so man my brothers and sisters in Christ he did a painting of Adam and Eve still shows up today… everybody thought that was the bomb… he did one on the animals in the garden of Eden… that ones even better then the first one… artist, sculptor or construction whatever it may be… painting… his brother is the guy… well after three years he’s so popular he graduates… he comes back his family is excited… all the children are there… the family, the mom and the dad… and he comes back and they’re sitting around the dinner table and he says look before we get started I just want to say thank you to my brother Albert… for what he’s done… because it was absolutely resilient that he allowed me to do what I do best… but now I’m back so that you can go… so I would like to raise my glass to my brother… everybody raises the glass but Albert… Albert stands up and says my brother as much as I would love to raise my glass to you he said my fingers have been broken so many times I can’t even hold the glass much less lift it… he said I’m telling you that because I do thank you for your honor… he said but man I wouldn’t do it any other way… I want to thank you for finishing what we agreed to… and he said well now it’s time for you to go… he said man where am I going to go… my hands don’t work they’re broken… the arthritis the joins this that and the other… but he tells his brother… let me do this one thing for you… if there’s anything I can do to give back since nobody else is going to be able to help you… I would like to take a picture in a mold of your hands… I’d like to paint them and sculpt them… you know my brothers and sisters in Christ they’re the most popular hands in the world… everybody thinks these are Christ’s hands it’s Albert Dürer’s hands… that his brother had sculpted for him… these are the most popular hands in the world… of one of the most resilient people ever to be in the world… that’s amazing… my brothers and sisters in Christ everywhere you go they think they’re the hands of Christ they’re the hands of Albert Dürer because of his resiliency… and for the record for the second most popular hands in the world you’ve seen the painting in the Sistine Chapel where God is lunging to touch Adam… his body is portrayed out… his arm is straight and his finger is even protruded… and Adam is leaning back… his arm is cocked back… his finger is even cocked back more… those two hands are Michelangelo’s hands and that’s the point they’re the most popular hands in the world… my brothers and sisters in Christ do you know what’s amazing… that gap between those two fingers is free will… it might as well be a mile… more importantly my brothers and sisters in Christ you know what’s amazing… the third most popular hands in the world… is during the crucifixion scene of the passion… the hands that are holding the spike that goes into Christ’s hands… are none other than Mel Gibsons hands…
- Why do I tell you these things… because it’s all about resiliency my brothers and sisters in Christ your ability to take a hit… to keep going… be pushed aside and to stand up… to dust yourself off and get in the game… that is that Gospel… that’s the point… the Devil goes after the good Lord three separate ways… now remember this you’re a first century Jew please remember this… the Bible was written to explain why things were done… not how things were done it’s not a physics book… the good Lord is trying to make sure that you can understand the genealogy of Jesus Christ… that’s why he starts with Adam and Eve and goes all the way though him and then in Matthew and Luke’s gospel he goes all the way backwards to Adam and Eve… man and woman… to prove to you that this is all true… now with that being said… you need to understand the good Lord goes in the desert for forty days… and if you notice nowhere in the script it says on Sunday’s he takes a break he grabs a beer and runs back in… right exactly right… so nobody gets Sunday off… he went without food and water my brothers and sisters in Christ that’s why he’s tempted with bread… so therefore you and I just can’t do more we have to sacrifice to go with it… my brothers in Christ did you notice that every time the evil one tempts him it’s the same temptation that he went after Adam and Eve… Adam and Eve see the tree they want it… he said look if you throw yourself down the angels will save you… they saw the tree they knew it would taste good… turn them stones to bread… lust of the flesh… I’ll give you all of these kingdoms… it was his to give since the fall of Adam and Eve… if you just bow down and worship me… now this is what you don’t know… that the good Lord quotes him scripturally each time… but here’s what you don’t get… remember when he told him if you want to throw yourself down then throw yourself down and the angels will save you… heres what they’re not telling you… that prayer I just read to you… his response is psalm ninety-one it’s the exorcism psalm… so when they exercise the devil to remove him that’s the psalm that they’re going to be praying… that’s why the devil can quote it from scripture because he’s been hearing it now since the beginning of time… so he’s using it against the good Lord and the good Lord is saying no you need to think about what you just said because it’s the prayer that removes you from the body… my brothers and sisters in Christ the good Lord was tempted the same way he’s going to go after you…remember forty days in the desert he spent… Moses spent forty days on the mountain talking to him for the Ten Commandments… Elijah fasted for forty days… brothers in Christ that’s why you and I have to run it all the way out… this is why you and I shouldn’t be celebrating with a big crawfish boil on one of the most Holy days of the world… on Good Friday the day he’s butchered… and you and I are celebrating… what’s the point… my brothers and sisters in Christ isn’t it important for you and I to at least make one ways of the cross during lent… I mean why else would we come here…
- My brothers in Christ of all the people in scripture the one guy who I would tell you is a poster child for being resilient… he’s the Albert Dürer before Albert Dürer… he’s the man before Mr. Dürer… it is Peter himself… I’m telling you that boy can take a hit… and how many of us would have taken his hits… sequentially and still been the vicar of Christ… how many of you and I would have got back up and preached after he already called him Satan… I mean the first time you meet him you’ve been fishing all night and here this carpenter steps into your boat… what to tell you how to build one… now he’s going to tell you how to fish… do you know why he says what he says… Peter to Christ… after the incident… because when he throws the nets out he doesn’t just say oh you want to fish more look come on let me help you… you know how he threw the nets out… with a little bit of an attitude… oh you want nets out there great… you want some over there I’ll throw one over there… and guess what… he catches so many fish he drops to the bottom of the boat and says depart from me Lord I am a sinful man… if that ain’t bad enough he’s standing right next to him… the next time he’s in the back of the boat… the good Lord is up in the front… in the bow… the storm is so great Peter’s got this I’m a fisherman my Lord my God… I’ve been on the Sea of Galilee my whole life I can handle storms… it becomes so bad he’s got to yell to the Lord do you not care we’re about to perish… the good Lord gets up and rebukes the wind… an inanimate object he rebukes… because it wasn’t inanimate… it’s because the devil had proclaimed it to happen… that’s why he’s rebuking it… my brothers and sisters in Christ is that not enough for you and I to step back and say man we better be careful how we walk with this guy… remember this… the first time they’re side by side… the next time they’re about ten feet apart… the third time… he’s fifty yards off the bow… Lord if it is you tell me to come… Come… how many of you and I would’ve stepped out of that boat… how many of you and I would have gotten out on that water and started walking… how many of you and I when Peter started to sink would have said man I’m coming for you hand in there I got you… I got your back… how many of us would even have dared to do that… make sure you understand Peter walked out there and he had to walk back because the good Lord didn’t carry him… the next time the good Lord makes the proclamation…the good Lord calls him Satan… how many times do you got to get clubbed in the head before you finally say you know what maybe it’s better I just don’t say a dang thing… and let me just see how this thing plays out… because every time I do it I end up making a fool of myself… that’s resilience… my brothers and sisters in Christ and if that ain’t bad enough man if you’re going to wash my feet you might as well just wash my head my brothers in Christ he denies the Savior three times… and did you listen to the denial have you ever read it… first he denies Christ… then he denies being with Christ and the apostles… it gets bigger… then the third time he says I’m not even a part of that nationality… the sin gets bigger… this is why the good Lord wants him to come to him… to be like David have mercy on my Lord don’t throw me out I admit my sins… my brothers and sisters in Christ don’t you understand… Peter got beat like a dog… now granted some of it is self-inflicted but give him his due… for thirty-three years he proclaimed Christ to be the Messiah… he walks away from his family and let me tell you Porphyria his wife’s not engaged… he’s in trouble… as a matter of fact he gets crucified upside down and for three hours… proclaims the gospel… stand on your head for five minutes and tell me how you feel… for thirty-three years you walk away from everything you own everything you knew and everything you thought was going to come your way and you have no children that we know of… and you give it all up because you do what you do… the grace you get is crucified upside down… that is the measure of Peter’s resolve… that man is absolutely resilient… Mary Magdalene every bit as much if not more so… same thing with Veronica who disrupted the crucifixion just to get his face on a veil… that is absolutely resilient… regardless of what happens to me I’m only going one way…
- Well now here you and I sit two thousand years later… how resilient are you and I… how well do you take a hit and keep walking… how well can you take back biting and not respond… how long can you take that email… that text message… and feel like you know what they threw garbage at my feet but I’m not picking it up… well let’s see… my brothers and sisters in Christ we’re seven days into lent… have you even started… have you given up anything… at all… my brothers and sisters in Christ what’s the point… you and I can pray right outside in the parking lot and the difference between that prayer and this one is the sacrifice of the mass… he told Peter… you will not get rid of those demons until you learn to fast and abstain… your prayers are not strong enough… the vicar of Christ who’s going to be martyred upside down you’ll lose your family you lose everything you owned… your prayers are not strong enough… well how well do you think ours are going to resonate… he said you need to fast and abstain… my brothers and sisters in Christ will you go ahead and be resilient during lent when nobody else has given up anything… when you sit at a table and everybody else is eating but you… will you stick to your guns instead of trying to placate everybody and say I’m sorry I’m fasting… for no other reason I’m just telling you so that you will know… my brothers and sisters in Christ will you make sure that you give up something that does sting a little bit… because then what’s the point of the sacrifice… my brothers in Christ will you make sure you make the sign of the cross when no one else does… are you resilient to tell people that when they ask you are you Christian yes I’m Catholic absolutely… will you break out the Hail Mary or are you too worried about what others may feel… Mary Twain’s is right… if there’s a fence between heaven and hell it’s owned by the devil himself… when are you and I going to start being resilient to our faith… that no matter what anybody else says thinks or does… the only thing you and I care about is that we’re walking towards him and not away from him… that we are no longer neutral… you can’t afford to be natural… look at the world that we’re in… my brothers in Christ how many times do you need to get an email before you just stop responding… my brothers and sisters in Christ do you have to win every fight… do you have to make sure you have to have the last word in every argument… you’ve got to be resilient in the teachings of the Church… love of God and love of neighbor… what good does it do for you to tell someone that you love them and it’s somebody you love already… do not tax collectors do the same… this is what you and I need to understand it’s love of any neighbor… especially the one you don’t like… my brothers and sisters in Christ I’m asking you to be resilient now because if you are not resilient in the small things… you will not be resilient in the big things to come… listen to me… if you can’t make it through forty days of lent… with giving up one sacrifice… what is going to happen as this world troubles down this road… you think it’s going to get better… you think the managements going to wake up and things are going to get okay…you think that war in Ukraine is not going to grow legs and now become a full-fledged war… World War III… my brothers and sisters in Christ if you and I are not resilient to our faith… then we will not be able to be resilient to the ways of the world… I’m warning you my brothers and sisters in Christ… this is why we have the time to prepare… we need to prepare spiritually for what is to come… the fight is on our doorstep… this war is going to come… digital currency is going to come… how resilient are you to it… how resilient are you… oh that’s right you don’t want to read the book the warning because that’s conspiracy theory… well how about you just read the book so at least you’re well read… if nothing comes up you’re bulletproof… if somehow Mr. Biden wakes up tomorrow and he’s got an intellect well then gosh dog…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ I leave you with this… of all people… George Carlin… yeah after that homily George Carlin… somebody asked him… off the record George how involved is the devil in things… he said off the record he’s everywhere… he said man that monkey gets on your back… he ain’t letting go… who’s going to let go first you or him… he said man you’ve got to get him off your back and keep going because he’s coming after you… you’ve got to get him on your back you’ve got to get him off… you’ve got to persevere you’ve got to get up… you want to have a pity party have a pity party… but after you get through get back in the game… all you’ve got to do is stay truthful to the church and be resilient… so he gets on stage and he says I have only one thing to say… he said just because you get the devil off of our back… he said so as not to offend people I’ll change it… so as to get the monkey off your back remember this… just because you got him off your back… doesn’t mean the circus left town…
- Amen...
