Luke 24:13-35 4-23-2023 (As built, Amite #540)
- Busy… as in too busy… way too busy…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ… imagine… think back man it’s the nineteen fifties and our country is just coming out of a war… and people are looking to be refreshed they need to be entertained… they’re looking for a little more quote me time… leisure time… three executives get together and decided that we’ve come up with these concepts that we would like to pitch to people like Hasbro… Etc… these big time executives about more entertainment… so this one guy goes and he’s with his family they live on a farm and he noticed how much enjoyment that his children get by just simply being on the farm playing with the vegetables… coming up with faces using the different types of vegetables for eyes and noses Etc… he goes to an executive and he said I’ve got this great idea… he said man we’re going to come up with this game for kids and we’re going to use it coming from a garden… the executive said man I’m way too busy to even entertain such a thing… he said man I’m telling you the kids love it… dismissed him totally… he finally gets to another executive and he says man we’ll entertain it… so they start coming up with sister yam… brother spud… they had children called the spudettes… this is true y’all… and as a result of it the next thing you know they come up with a game that you and I use and they use all these different vegetables to come up with different faces… and you say you don’t learn in the church my brothers and sisters in Christ… absolutely it’s Mr. Potato Head… so man the second executive man he says man that gives me some energy to pitch my petition… he said what is yours… he said man look I’ve got this idea we make pies… my wife and I we have a little bakery… we go to these different places they eat the pies… the next thing you know we see them just tossing them around… I go to this one college and they’re actually using them on a golf course… just the plates themselves… as a matter of fact we call them Pluto platters… today we call them frisbees… oh y’all are well advanced my brothers and sisters in Christ… well let’s just see how good you really are let’s see… so the last guy comes up and says well man if you can do Mr. Potato head and you can do frisbees… surely you would take my idea… they tell him the exact same thing… we’re way too busy… as a result he brings it to them he says well listen to what it is… he said we’ve got this board and when you spin the dial it’s got two pointers… and if it points to shoes it will tell you what socks to match and if it points to shirts it would tell you what clothes that match… and he says man we call it king footsie… and he said no we’re not going to do it… he said no I’m telling you it’s going to work… well I’ll tell you what he gets in and goes to another executive he says no too… Johnny Carson takes it… and the Gabor sisters play it on television… and as a result of it they called it the pretzel… but you and I call it… twister… oh ya’ll are all exempt from taxes my brothers and sisters in Christ…
- My brothers and sisters in Christ that has absolutely nothing to do with our gospel today… my brothers and sisters in Christ it’s about being too busy and almost to a fault… they’re so busy worrying about the world and living in the world the two men that are walking… Cleopas and his son… have no idea of the world to come… remember listen now… stop you have to remember this you are a Jew… and you’re living in the first century these are the things that you need to know… first it’s a Sunday… Christ is crucified three days before my brothers and sisters in Christ they’re in Emmaus which is exactly seven miles from Jerusalem… and to the Jewish world the most complete… seven being complete… so therefore they are completely where they need to be… now here’s the irony… is they know Christ … those two men are actually related to Christ… the irony is even with everything that went on… the women that went to the tomb… all of the things that had happened… why weren’t they back in Jerusalem… why are you still on the road to Emmaus… because did you listen to him… they still don’t believe… they called him a prophet… and then they said well we thought he was the one of great deeds and the blind see… the lame walk and the dead rise… but then all of a sudden now he’s just a prophet so now not only are you not believing what the women said… either you’re not believing who you’re talking to… this is why the good Lord intentionally disguises himself… because he wants to know what do you really feel… seeing is believing Thomas… but blessed are those who do not see and still believe… I.E these two guys… that’s us… two thousand years later that’s us… my brothers and sisters in Christ listen to what happens… on the road to Emmaus he starts talking to them… can you imagine having a bible study with Christ himself… that’s what they just had… if you want to learn about me go back to Moses and the prophets… if you do not study the Old Testament you will not know what to look for… there was a Joseph in the Old Testament who saved his family fleeing Egypt… there’s a Joseph in the New Testament that saved the Holy family fleeing to Egypt… it’s always better… Elijah wore camel skin and ate locust and wild honey… and talked of the Messiah… John the Baptist wears camel skin… eats locust and wild honey… and baptized the Messiah… they had blessed bread in heaven… you have the bread of life it’s always better… you want to understand the New Testament you better understand the old… that’s why he’s telling them go back and study Moses and the Prophets… my brothers and sisters in Christ the greatest part of that whole passage is he takes the bread and he breaks it… he blesses it and then he disappears… he’s in the bread… that’s how I’m going to come to you from now on… because if I came to you any other way you would not partake of it… that’s why I come to you in the body blood soul and Divinity… under the auspices of wine and bread… because if I came in any other way y’all wouldn’t believe… I stood in front of you… showed you my wounds you still didn’t believe… people said the tomb was empty… Simon said he talked to me… what are you doing in Emmaus… my brothers and sisters in Christ the same problem then is the same problem today… they’re so busy staying in the world they forgot about the world to come…
- Our best players are the ones that finally realize that man we’re just renters… think about it… if they’re so busy living and doing their job they forget to do their job… who better than Pilate… Pilate is the ruler of Jerusalem… for all intense purposes the governor… can you imagine you’re having a conversation with Christ and say… what is the truth… you’re talking to the truth… my brothers and sisters in Christ he’s so busy trying to hold on to his job… that years later he’ll actually take his own life… everybody who judged Christ took their own life… Herod the Great… Herod Antipas… Judas and now Pilate… my brothers and sisters in Christ they are so busy trying to hang on to the world they forgot about the world to come… if Saul is living one way… all of a sudden becomes Paul it’s because he gets that vision if you will for three days to realize I can’t be so busy that I forget what my job is… my brothers and sisters in Christ all of our best players realized… the wealthiest man in all of Jesus’s time is Lazarus… then Martha and Mary the sisters of Lazarus… The wealthiest man of his day… one of the closest friends Christ has… that guy within sixty days after the resurrection of Christ walks away from everything… not selling it and walking away… just walking away… same thing Peter did walking away… the same thing Andrew, James and John did… at some point my brothers and sisters in Christ you can’t be so busy in the world today you forget about what you’re playing for… the world to come…
- You and I sit here two thousand years later… I ask you how busy are you with the world to come… versus the world today… well I’ll tell you what… let’s see… my brothers and sisters in Christ are you so busy driving that you don’t take the time while you’re driving to say a Rosary… to listen to the Divine Mercy… to turn off the radio… if you’re so busy that you’re on your cellphone or you’re too busy listening to music… you’re too busy… you’re playing for this world not the world to come… if you spend more time texting than you do praying then you’re too busy with this world than the world to come… if you spend more time in front of your computer than you do with your spouse and your family you’re too busy in this world… moreover you won’t see the world to come… and if you do it won’t be the one you envision… my brothers and sister in Christ therein lies the problem… everything in this world is one big test… that’s all it was meant to be… the very nanosecond… the nanosecond you die while we’re all in hospital… or wherever we may be at everybody’s bedside… let’s be honest… not everybody at that bedside is that worked up about the passing of you and I going… think about it… somebody around that table is thinking about your golf clubs… somebody around that table is discussing the car… somebody is discussing how they’re breaking up the money… that very second you are before God and judgment has happened… no if no and no buts… there’s no negotiation… there’s no arbitration… there’s no mediation… it’s done it’s final it’s over… it’s done… Heaven Hell or Purgatory… that’s where we’re going… and guess what nobody else is praying… because we were so busy in the world we forgot about the world to come… you and I got one job and one job only… it’s to get to heaven… and to get our children to heaven… that’s our job… work is a means to an end… my brothers and sisters in Christ you’ve got to remember if you’re going to the same amount of masses this year than last year you’re backing up you’re neutral… you went to the same amount of confessions this year than last year you’re neutral… you’re going backwards… if you’re not moving forward you’re going backwards… you’re never neutral to him… you’re either going towards him or away from him… if you’re too busy to do his work… then you’re going to be too busy to get to the kingdom of Heaven… you forget my brothers in Christ the nanosecond you and I die… that’s it… nobody is coming to our aid… nobody’s going to speak on our behalf… I’m asking you to stop and think what you are doing… how much time do you spend in prayer versus on your phone… how much time do you spend in front of the computer or television than you do in scripture… how much time do you spend praying the rosary or just talking to our Savior versus doing all these ancillary items… my brothers and sisters in Christ what is your rule of life… what is it that you live by no matter whether you’re on vacation… or you’re here or you’re at work… what is your rule of life… is it to get to heaven… therefore your words and actions justify everything that you do… that work is just a means to an end… that showing up just on Sundays is just not enough… maybe you need to go to adoration even if it’s just for a few minutes a week just to say thank you God for your mercy and giving me a roof over my head and clothes on my back… and still… albeit briefly the greatest country in the world… my brothers and sisters in Christ I’m telling you the time is coming and the world that we live in is spinning far faster than you can imagine… it’s out of control… it’s not going to get better just cause… it’s not going to get better just because we want it to… if you don’t bend a knee and start praying… do not get caught up in the management of the church… until Francis sits in the chair of Peter and proclaims this to be an absolute… then he’s entitled to his opinion just like you’re entitled to yours… doesn’t change the fact that you know the truth it’s about your vineyard and your family… you’ve got to get to heaven… everything else is irrelevant…
- Don’t be so busy doing your job that you forget to do your job…
