John 20:19-23 6-5-2022 (As built, Amite #498)
- Attitude… how’s your attitude… good bad or different… half full or half empty…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ it’s the nineteen sixties… nineteen seventies… his name is Stevie… Stevie grows up in Oregon… and always he’s always wanted to be a teacher… and he just said I love educating people… I just love being part of the equation… he said but I got to tell you… looking back on my life now… he said to be a teacher means to be unappreciated and underpaid… that’s his quote… how true… as a result he moves to main… he gets his degree in college… he finally gets a masters… he goes to teach… he’s literally dead broke… he goes to work for a place called the Hampton Academy’s… and they asked him Stevie… what do you think… and he says well how much am I going to get… it was about a thousand dollars a month… my brothers and sisters in Christ twelve grand a year… he said man I won’t make it… I have a wife… I have a child… my wife can’t get a job… she’s a teacher too… she is working at Dunkin doughnuts… he said I got a seven year old car… I ain’t no phone… he said I take that back I had a phone… I don’t have one now… and you could tell the glass was always going to be half empty… his wife steps in… and says Stevie this has got to stop… it can’t be the glass is half empty… we got a child… it’s always got to be full… so that they know that’s what it’s going to take… Stevie don’t you get it… it’s your attitude that lays the table… that’s what sets the day… that’s what gives us a direction… that’s what gives us a vision… that’s what gives us hope… she said man it’s about your attitude… so she said look I know you like to write… and to read… so why don’t you write something… so he writes a book called I was a teenage Grave Robber… huge hit I can see that… it goes nowhere… go figure… it gets nothing… as a result man he’s about dead broke… his wife says wait just stay the course… teach… we’re making ends meet… as little as that may mean… we’re probably minimalist by now… and as a result we will get there… man he writes another one… he writes it and it goes nowhere… he writes his last one and sticks it in his desk and just says I’m done… his wife’s going through things… paying the bills… and notices that there’s this book untouched… she goes to him … can you do it one more time… can you just give the energy one more step… can you just go make the pitch one more time… pick up your head… clean your face and go pitch it… he pitches the book… he gets forty two hundred dollars for the book… the royalties were off the charts… four hundred thousand in royalties… the book… Carrie… why is it you know that… okay… I digress… my brothers and sisters in Christ then he starts writing the books called The Shining… the X-men… he did the Green Mile… Man my brothers and sisters in Christ man you know him as Stephan King… you know what’s amazing… is years later he’s sitting in an interview… and he’ll tell you… the change in the game was my wife’s decision to make sure that I kept a positive attitude… that’s what won the game… he said man where would I be now if it hadn’t been for that infusion… man keep my head up and stay positive… when everybody else man is getting all sideways… so one reporter asked him… he said so tell me Steve if you will… she said tell me Mr. King now I understand that you have the heart of a child… and he says no… I do not have the heart of a child… I have the heart of a child on my desk… and that’s where I keep it… in other words he’s saying I’m going to continue to write horror… because that’s all that I know to do… but I’m going to make sure it tries to stay positive… now you may not understand the jest of the conversation until you see it… but that’s the point… is that he’s always positive… My brothers and sisters in Christ Stephen King has touched our campus… oh but he has… the gentleman Ned Dameron that did the garden of Gethsemane… he was the number one sketch artist for Stephan King… do you know when he came to us he said I would like to build Christ praying in the garden… and I remember thinking… no… I’m not going to have Jesus praying in the garden with an axe in his head… it ain’t happening… he said no Father give me a shot… give me a chance… I got to tell you that’s why we have what we have… to this day do you know he no longer does anything other then just that… when he goes to shows to show his wares… he only shows the miniature version of these… my brothers and sisters in Christ that… is a positive attitude…
- That is that Gospel… now please understand… the attitude of the apostles… they’re fearful… they are locked in a room… he comes in and says peace be with you… their attitude is they’re mute… he’s got to show him his hands and his side because they don’t believe… they’re doubters… now stop… stop… you’re a first century Jew… you need to understand the setting… the reading of the gospel… is Easter Sunday night… the acts of the apostles… is Pentecost… this is the reason you need to understand this… the Holy Spirit comes twice to the apostles… we believe that he comes twice for two reasons obviously… the first reason was because he needs to teach them… of the ways of the world… the sacraments… how mass will be prayed… how scripture will be evolved… how do you go about preaching … how do you pray about it… how do you distribute the sacraments… why do you and I know this… what’s the first sacrament that he pitches to them… forgiveness… confession… breathes on them and says whatever sins you forgive are forgiven… those you retain are retained… nowhere did he say… just go to me directly… skip you guys…we go directly to the big guy… never said it never implied it… Hebrews five… I will chose priest among men for the forgiveness of sins… no one is to take it upon themselves… he’s got to breathe on them because they don’t believe that’s why their in doubt… did you notice my brothers and sisters in Christ… now remember Thomas isn’t there… did you notice my brothers and sisters in Christ… that he had to show them his hands and his side… he didn’t say wrist either… in Greek he said look at my hands… that’s why we believe the holes were in his hands and not so much his wrist… not withstanding you were actually tied to the crucifix… both with your hands and your waist… my brothers and sisters in Christ… he’s got to breathe on them so they can understand it… so my brothers and sisters in Christ from Easter Sunday night… to fifty days later on Pentecost…the same thing has to happen… he’s got to breath on them to receive the Holy Spirit… the second time he comes on Pentecost… he’s got to teach them about the nine choirs… what about heaven… what does it take to get there… how do you fall into hell… what about Abrahams bosom… where do you go before you get there Lord… and what about Purgatory… oh yeah that’s right Lord it’s an English word written in a book in Greek… we don’t believe in that… well guess what… they do… because their the ones that came up with the name… my brothers and sisters in Christ therein lies the point… it’s all about having the right attitude before you go forward… this is why he sends them out remember this… say what you want about Peter… yeah okay he tried to walk on water got that… you know he cut off a man’s ear… Malchus… got that… he denied his best friend not once… not twice but three times… he got mad at the good Lord because the good Lord called him Satan… say what you want about him… but at the end of the day when push comes to shove… Peter is crucified upside down… and he and his wife have to agree that what he’s about to embark on is no small undertaking… if he doesn’t have the right attitude… they don’t finish this race…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ our best players in scriptures are the ones that weren’t the brightest or the fastest… they weren’t the most powerful… the well-known…the most wealthy… they were the ones that had the attitude… that all things come through Christ… would you have gotten up on Easter Sunday morning when everybody else is sitting around lamenting the fact that the savior is dead… would you have gone to the tomb… would you have dealt with the soldiers who operated on their own spectrum… would you try to go near the rock that you can’t move… would you have put up with the harassment… gotten up early to go near a dead savior versus just sleep in and have a cup of coffee… my brothers and sisters in Christ there’s where Mary Magdalene wins the day… it’s her attitude… that I’d rather be near a dead savior then live people… my brothers and sisters in Christ if you’re Joseph of Arimathea that’s no small task of you doing what you do giving up your tomb… man there’s no other tomb that you can just go roll yourself into… man that’s a family heritage that’s an heirloom… that’s something that your whole family is going to be tied to… he knows that at the end of the day man it’s all about him… albeit within a year he will lose his life over that issue… what it must have been to be veronica… man her attitude was I don’t care if I disrupt the whole crucifixion… I just want his face on my garment… and I only got one so I might as well make it work… can you imagine the courage it must have taken… can you imagine what she must have went through just to walk through the soldiers… can you imagine what it must have been like when she stopped the crucifixion and helping a mass murderer or so they feel… my brothers and sisters in Christ she has no votes as a woman… she took her life in her own hands but if you don’t have the right attitude you don’t do that… if you don’t have the right attitude you don’t give up your tomb… if you don’t have the right attitude you don’t become the vicar of Christ… my brothers in Christ our best players are the ones with the best attitudes… look if you want to see a poor attitude… look at Pilate… Here he is washing his hands and really believing that that somehow or another exonerates him from what he is about to do…To this day two thousand years later… how many times have you and I heard oh well he’s just going to wash his hands of it… my brothers and sisters in Christ he turns to Christ and says what is truth… it’s standing right there… it’s tangible… and you can touch it… my brothers and sisters in Christ can you imagine… what if you’re the bad thief… well there’s an oxymoron… my brothers and sisters in Christ the point being is here he is cursing the good Lord… if you are God get off the cross and take me with you… you’re seconds from being murdered… you’re seconds from having your shins broken and you suffocate… a miserable death… you will literally bounce on the cross… that’s why they tie it to you… and here they sit… he could have easily thought why don’t I just do like my friend… I’ll just have the best attitude and say remember me… cover my bets in case he is… think about what the good thief did y’all… look he’s been carrying a cross for three hours… he never sees one miracle… the blind don’t see the lame don’t walk the dead didn’t rise… how do you go from picking up your cross… to about to lose your life and say… can you just remember me… that is a positive attitude… and look at the response… this day you will be with me in paradise… the garden of Eden… the garden of paradise… Abrahams Bosom… because the gates of heaven will not open until the good Lord is there…
- So here you and I sit two thousand years later… man what is it with your attitudes… or our attitudes… or mine… man Father you don’t understand I’m just not a morning person… well let me help you… you ain’t an evening person either… and come nighttime man… oh my God… we need an exorcist… oh Father you don’t understand it’s the glass is just half empty… well get another glass... man how many times do you got to wake up on the wrong side of the bed of nails… my brothers and sisters in Christ you set your own table… don’t you see… the world is going to spin as it spins… albeit out of control… the evil one is going to do what he does because that’s what he does… how you and I respond to it is on you and I… when you get that phone call getting you to run one more errand before you get home… what is your attitude… when you get up in the morning don’t you see… this is why it’s so important that in the morning you start the day with quiet… you sit down quietly for five minutes… grab your cup of coffee… and just sit still… that’s the only day that the water will be level… you’re going to get into traffic… somebody’s going to give you the sign of peace… or something remotely close… man what’s going to be your attitude when you get to work… you’re looking to take a hostage… man you’ve just got so much venom you’re actually waiting for something to happen just so you can give them the business… then you come back home and destroy your family by spilling it on the table… or you wait for somebody to come home and then spill it on the table just so you can ruin their day too… my brothers in Christ don’t you see… it’s your attitude that set’s the table for everybody… it’s contagious… if it’s half empty it’s going to be half empty for everybody else… but it’s going to get gradually less… my brothers in Christ I’m telling you it’s how you pick your head up… it’s how resilient you are… remember just because somebody throws garbage at your feet nobody told you to pick it up…
- And I leave you with the words of Jack Sparrow… how far have I fallen that I’m going to quote captain Jack Sparrow… in the movie pirates of the Caribbean… you know he’s talking to somebody and the issue is attitude… you remember the story… he’s got a little bit of… do y’all remember that… I’ve been practicing that move so please tell me you at least remember something of it right… he says the problem… isn’t the problem… the problem is your attitude about the problem…
- Amen
