John 13: 31-33, 34-35 5-15-2022 (As built, Amite #497)
- Glorify… how do you give credit my brothers and sisters in Christ… how do you give credit to the good Lord… how do you glorify God…
- The year is seventeen seventy-six… Our country… our colonies are about to embark on a great war… a revolutionary war… they have decided that their only chance of survival… their only chance to win if you will… well… it’s George Washington… he said he would take the job as commander and chief… under two circumstances… two conditions… one… I do not want a salary… just pay my expenses… can you imagine that playing out today… can I just say… about to run off the plane okay… and he said the second thing is… we will give credit to God… we will glorify Him… we will have days of fasting… we will have days of prayer… and days of thanksgiving… they all agree… he goes down I think to a little city… it’s about I don’t know a couple hundred miles outside of Boston… that’s where his troops are gathered… he goes to meet them and they introduce him as the new commander and chief and he tells them two quick things… one… we will not be here very long we will leave at dark… number two… we are headed to Boston… man all of a sudden he said man you could see it in his troops… one of them had the courage to raise his hand… he said general… there’s ten thousand red coats in Boston… there’s over two hundred and fifty ships… I don’t know how many canons… do what now… we’re three hundred miles… he said listen to me… under the Good Lords protection and His guidance… we are going to leave at dark… we’re going to take the canons… all fifty of them that we got… we’re going to take them with us… we’re going to travel all night every night… I am actually going to walk with you so that I am with you every step of the way… we’re going to get to Boston… we’re going to actually go up around the outskirts of Boston… we’re going to line our fifty canons up at the top… and when General wakes up… he’s going to look up and see that his town is surrounded… your canons cannot shoot up and neither can ours… but ours can surely shoot down… and he says and that’s what we’re going to do… he no longer gets those words out of his mouth… some messenger comes up… General if you will… there’s a note for you… he reads it… according to one of his soldiers… he reads it… he looks up… he says give me a minute… he walks around and they watch him they said he had to be praying… comes back and he says… get the wagons… get the canons… we leave now… we will be in Boston for the morning… I promise you… as a result of it they march all night… the next night they get there… they put all the canons… The general wakes up and man he looks up and there are canons… ringing if you will… Boston… true story… he leaves Boston with all ten thousand troops… not a shot was fired… our first victory… in the revolutionary war… our first major victory… my brothers and sisters in Christ man everybody is just yelling the praises of… man General… Washington man you’re the guy you’re it… man we can’t thank you enough… he said stop… you give glory to God… because if it hadn’t been for him we wouldn’t be here… and we wouldn’t be in the position to win this… you give glory to God… he said no General we need to give Glory to you… and he’s beginning to walk off and he says no you’re not… you’re going to give it to God… because that’s where it belongs… and he beings to walk off and the same gentleman that asked the question said… you know general you never told us what was written on that note… he stopped what he was doing as he was walking away and he said… we were out of gunpowder… it’s all about glorifying God my brothers and sisters in Christ…
- That is that Gospel… seven out of ten lines… the good Lord says who are you going to give credit to… you going to give it to you… to your neighbors… to your friends… to the ones in power… to the ones that have money… the prestige… or are you going to give it to me… now stop you need to understand where we’re at… they’re at the last supper… make sure you understand the setting... the table in the last supper is in the shape of a U… kind of like how you are sitting right here… in the middle of the table is a vacancy… we believe that’s where Judas sat… and the reason we know this… is because James and john were on his right and left… and the only way that he could dip and give an Hors-D’oeuvre instead of passing it in or around… was to pass over... so my brothers and sisters in Christ in the Jewish world… every Passover meal that you went on… that I went on… back in the day… you would drink four cups at every Passover meal… the first cup is if you will the cup of… like an introduction… the second cup is a reliving of what it was like back in the day… when they went out into the desert… when Charlton Heston went out into the desert… got it… as a result of it he dips and he hands him an Hors-D’oeuvre… he eats it and then he leaves… then the cup of blessing… that’s the one that we celebrate here… this is the one where he says this is my body… this is my blood… now Judas has left… my brothers and sisters in Christ he’s telling them look… my time is short… and so will yours be… so you better learn to give credit where credit is due… the only thing we bring to the table… the apostles ourselves… myself included… is sin… my brothers and sisters in Christ and he’s telling them… some day they are going to come for you… if they came for me… so imagine… now this is how it works… Peter… Linus… Cletus… Clement… Evaristus… Alexander… telesphorus… Hyginus… all the way to Frances… the first Forty popes… their average reign… could be anywhere from three to eight years… usually about five years… that’s how long it takes them to catch up with you and kill you… why… because remember… Christianity… ability to worship freely… doesn’t happen until the year four hundred… contrary to what most people think… Constantine didn’t make… catholicity… legal… he made all worship legal… because he was pagan… even though his mother St. Helena was not… that being said… my brothers and sisters in Christ… go back to where we were… at the end of the day when push comes to shove… every Pope dies… so when Peter goes to Linus because he’s got to tell Linus before it’s time… Linus… here are the keys… sometimes I wish I’d have been there for that conversation… no I’m… I’m good… you got a bunch of other apostles give it to them… because as soon as you put the bullseye on my back I’m not going to make it… sure enough he lasts about seven years… and then all the way down the line… so my brothers in Christ he’s telling them… your time is short… you better make sure you give me the glory so that I can protect you… all things come through me…
- My brothers in Christ go back in scripture… you know what’s amazing… I’m telling you… you and I know scripture better then we give ourselves credit… the fact of the matter is all I would have to do is explain something to you… and you would say oh I remember who that is… you may not recall the name but you’d remember where they came … for example… how does Veronica glorify God... by giving up her only clothing... her veil... how does Arimathea glorify God… giving up his tomb… don’t you understand…There’s no public cemetery… I’m going to tell you where he's getting buried… well actually he’s going to be martyred… my brothers and sisters in Christ about a year later he will be martyred for the faith… my brothers and sisters in Christ what about St. Paul… man what does he give up… everything… money… fame… fortune… he gives up everything… he’s got to go back to being a tentmaker just to make ends meet at night… man what about Longinus… you know we walk past this guy all the time… do you know what he gave up… he gave up his 401K… yeah… that’s right… when you’re a Roman centurion… and you’re a lead dog… like he is… man your life is good… in other words… when you retire… you retire well… so for him to proclaim truly… that man was the son of God… his 401K… it ain’t even a 201K… it ain’t ok… yeah now you got it… within a year and a half he will be beheaded… every one of the people that glorify God… from Simon of Cyrene… to Veronica… to Arimathea… to Mary Magdalene… to Lazarus who’s the wealthiest man of his day… and yet… do you know when Christ finally resurrects him... do you know he walks away from everything…
- My brothers in Christ here you and I sit two thousand years later… how good are you and I at glorifying God… well let’s see… do you glorify God my brothers and sisters in Christ by the way you speak about him… do you glorify God on how you pray to him… do you glorify God on how you do adoration if you do it at all… do you glorify God about how you teach about him… well let’s see… my brothers and sisters in Christ how do you glorify God when the word MF… Or GD… comes out of your mouth… forty thousand words in the English language… and you can’t find other words to fit in besides curse words… especially those two… my brothers in Christ do you and I glorify God… by the way we send an email… or text message… do you not understand… the good Lord said in the book of revelations… I will judge you by everything you did with your body… everything… you do with your body I will judge you… based on good or evil… there is no neutral ground with him… you’re either walking towards him or away from him… so you’re either glorifying him or you are not… if he reads your email… and he does…your text message… and he does… the Facebook… and he does… are you glorifying God… will you glorify God my brothers and sisters in Christ when they ask you to pray… will you make the sign of the cross clearly and distinctly… will you glorify his Mother by saying oh I’ll pray and you break out the hail Mary knowing full well you’re going to be the only one pitching that prayer… do you glorify God in protecting his mother when they say she is not ever virgin… you got to stop hanging your hat on the facts… that people come to me all the time and say… you know father… you know the church hasn’t been teaching scripture… because if it had been I’d be better at it… I can’t defend the faith… hold on a minute… I’ve been here ten years… if you went to mass every Sunday… just on Sunday… for three years you heard the entire bible… three times in a row… now that I’ve been here ten years… there is no excuse for not being able to defend… she has to be ever virgin… we glorify God by what… saying I’m not really sure… I don’t know where it’s at… do you take the time to study it… do you glorify God by spending more time on your cellphone then you do in the bible… do you glorify God by spending more time watching the news… I mean who would do that… I mean do you really think you’re going to get happy after watching it… my brothers in Christ do you glorify God by getting involved in gossip or do you glorify him by standing up and saying I need to step away from this… I tell you what better yet… let’s pray for them… how do you expect them to get better if you and I don’t pray for them… my brothers and sisters in Christ who are we giving credit to… how many times have I seen professional athletes… I’d like to thank my coaches… my players… and the owner… okay God didn’t even make the top three… at the end of the day we have no self-made gifts… you know what’s amazing my brothers and sisters in Christ we’re nothing but renters… and while we’re on the topic… let’s finish the race… come tomorrow there will be a big vote… and the vote will be whether or not we should kill our children… as if we should be voting on this… as if it’s a health issue… surely isn’t for them… my brothers and sisters in Christ… I pray the supreme court sticks to their guns… do you honestly believe the good Lord is going to bless us… oh I got it… because we have a good economic policy… does it look good to you… oh I understand… we have good foreign relations… does it look that way to you… my brothers and sisters in Christ how can we keep going back to him… saying bless what we do… and our country… and we kill his children… did he not just say love one another… my brothers in Christ how many times do I hear people say… man you don’t understand father… It’s my body… no that’s the problem… it’s not… it is not yours… it is not mine… we are renters… he’s already told you and I… you are not a master of your own life… nor of your own death… and you have been purchased at a great price… we’re going to have to stand before him and get judgment with everything that we’ve done… what is he going to say when you and I go before him… and he says how did you vote… oh that’s right… you were too busy… somebody else will vote for you… man I ain’t got time to call my representative … I’m busy… it’s your soul… what are you going to say when he says where are my children… oh well look Lord … everybody has the right… where are my children… well you don’t understand everybody has got free will… oh yeah you got free will… and I’m going to promise you… he will not bless our country… he will not bless what we do… he will look the other way… and we will reap what we sow… you must stand up… and let it be heard… that it is now enough… no more… it is wrong to kill our children… under any pretext…
- Amen.
