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When I was in college, my goal was to make Donald Trump look like a pauper.

I had a dorm room to myself, and everyday I would sit in there and devour the Wall Street Journal trying to learn all I could about making loads-o-cash. I didn’t have posters of scantily clad women on my walls (although if Scarlett Johanssen… never mind), instead I had full page ads of initial public offerings that were advertised in the Journal. If an IPO ad was anything less than a full page, I didn’t put it up – they weren’t worth my time if they couldn’t afford or were too cheap for the full page.

Favorite movies at the time: The Secret of My Success with Michael J. Fox, and Wall Street with Michael Douglas – “Blue Horseshoe loves Anacott Steel.” I probably had less than three dollars in my checking account, but give me some room and I’d make my own movie.

The summer I graduated from college, I took a trip to New York City and had a perfect stranger take my picture in front of my temple, Trump Tower. I thought a name change to Toles Tower was not too far out of my reach.

Obviously, none of that came to pass; however, other than not being Daniel Craig good looking, I’m not at all disappointed with my life. I know exactly how blessed I am. In many ways I feel like I do make Donald Trump look like a pauper, just not the way that I had originally planned.

I had spent a great deal of time building these temples all around me and I was a busy little priest running around satisfying the needs of those I worshipped, but over the course of the years, those temples began to crumble, eventually turning into these great piles of rubble.

This past week on Wednesday night, we watched the last episode of In the Dust of the Rabbi, and we were taken to Didyma where the great temple of Apollo is located. The temple was massive. One hundred twenty-two columns, each over 60 feet tall and 8 feet thick, supporting a roof that reached a height of over 90 feet, and covering an area of approximately 60,000 square feet. Massive. Considering they didn’t have the benefit of our modern machinery – and even if they had! – it was impressive.

Our tour guide, Ray Vander Laan, talked about how much time it took to build such place and the amount of money that it would have cost. And then he showed us what it must have been like to walk into such a place, how the size of the temple alone would radiate this sense of power and awe. What remains today? There’s a picture of it on the front of your bulletin. Some parts still stand, but basically it is all rubble.

We, as the human race, are good at building temples. They are all around us. Not only do they come in the form of our goals or buildings, but we turn people into temples as well. For example, you can Google the “Twitter Counter.” This fun little web site tells you who has the most followers on the social networking site Twitter. Coming in at number 100 on the top 100 is Kevin Durant (It is sad, but I had to Google him. He’s a basketball player for the OKC Thunder). He has 13.6 million followers. Just above him was Paris Hilton.

Coming in at number 3 was Taylor Swift and number 2 (Dear Lord, please save us!) was Justin Bieber. And numero uno with 88 million followers – any guesses? Katy Perry. There are 88 million people who not only want to know, but need to know when she sneezes. Yes, we will build a temple out of and to anything. We will go there to worship, we will make the appropriate sacrifices, and we will give to support it. Yet, like the temple of Apollo, these too will crumble and turn into nothing more than rubble.

No. I’m not trying to suck the fun out of life. Life is a riot and filled with things to see, experience, and enjoy; and I hope you do just that. My goodness, if you happen to be a Justin Bieber fan, then go buy his records and get yourself a front row seat at his concert, but don’t make him the recipient or place of your worship.

While Cyrus was emperor of the Persian empire, on the southern border of the empire, there lived a great chieftain named Cagular who tore to shreds and completely defeated the various detachments of Cyrus’ army sent to subdue him.

Finally the emperor, amassing his whole army, marched down, surrounded Cagular, captured him, and brought him to the capital for execution. On the day of the trial, Cagular and his wife were brought to the judgment chamber. He was a fine looking man of more than 6 feet, with a noble manner about him, described as a magnificent specimen of a man. So impressed was Cyrus with his appearance, that he said to Cagular: “What would you do should I spare your life?”

“Your Majesty, if you spared my life, I would return to my home and remain your obedient servant as long as I lived.”

“What would you do if I spared the life of your wife?”

“Your Majesty, if you spared the life of my wife, I would die for you.”

So moved was the emperor that he freed them both and returned Cagular to his province to act as governor. Upon arriving at home, Cagular reminisced about the trip with his wife.

“Did you notice,” he said to his wife, “the marble at the entrance of the palace? Did you notice the tapestry on the wall as we went down the corridor into the throne room? And did you see the throne on which the emperor sat? It must have been carved from one lump of pure gold.”

His wife could appreciate his excitement and how impressed he was with it all, but she only replied: “I really didn’t notice any of that.”

“Well,” said Cagular in amazement, “what did you see?”

His wife looked seriously into his eyes and said, “I beheld only the face of the man who said he would die for me.”

John writes, in the opening verses of his Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.”

Towards the end of his Revelation, John writes, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.  And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
‘See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.’”

Jesus was in the beginning before time began. When all things have passed away, when all things have turned to rubble, He will remain. As he said in our reading, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

Like Cagular’s wife, there is no harm in taking notice of the “temples” around us, but we don’t go to them to worship. And we must never get so caught up in it all that we no longer behold the face of the One who not only said that He would die for us, but did truly die for us and rose again.

Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the beginning and end of all things, and he is the beginning and end of each of us. Temples will always be built, but over time, even the greatest ones will fall into rubble. Therefore, behold the face of the One who is eternal. Behold the face of the One who died and rose for you. Behold the face of Jesus, our resurrected Savior.

Let us pray: Lord, we believe in you: increase our faith. We trust in you: strengthen our trust. We love you: let us love you more and more. We are sorry for our sins: deepen our sorrow. We worship you as our first beginning, and long for you as our last end; we praise you as our constant helper, and call on you as our loving protector. Guide us by your wisdom, correct us with your justice, comfort us with your mercy, and protect us with your power. Through Christ our Lord, the Alpha and Omega, we pray. Amen.

Boudreaux was drunk and lay sprawled across three entire seats in the movie theater. When the usher came by and noticed him, the fumes of liquor just reeling off him, the usher leaned in and whispered, “Sorry sir, but you’re only allowed one seat.”

Boudreaux groaned but didn’t budge.

The usher became more impatient. “Sir, if you don’t get up from there, I’m going to have to call the police.”

Once again, Boudreaux just groaned.

The usher marched briskly back up the aisle and called the police.

The officer arrived, surveyed the situation, and asked, “All right, buddy, what’s your name?”

“Boudreaux,” he moaned.

“I’m Cajun too. Where ya come from, Boudreaux?”

With terrible pain in his voice, and without moving a muscle, Boudreaux replied, “Da balcony.”

We know that when the Greeks and then the Romans came into Judea, they brought with them their gods. There was a god for everything. One for good crops, one for fortune, one for war. In addition, there was also a benevolent god of healing: Asclepius. You may be familiar with two of his daughters, Hygieia (hygiene) and Panacea (universal cure). His symbol, known simply as the Rod of Asclepius, is a staff with a snake wrapped around it. You may recognize that from your doctors office.

At the time of Jesus, Asclepius was quite popular and the temples that were dedicated to him, Asclepions, served as hospitals for the sick and places for those who could not be healed to come and receive assistance.

Our Gospel reading stated, “Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids– blind, lame, and paralyzed.” This pool of Beth-zatha / Bethesda was only a short distance from an Asclepion, a temple to the healing god, which has led many scholars to state that the pool of Bethesda was associated with this temple.

As Jesus is walking alone through this area of Jerusalem, he saw a man who had been lying by the pool for thirty-eight years. Jesus asked him, “Do you want to be made well?” The man responded by saying there was no one to help into the water when it was “stirred up.” Whether it was an underground pool bubbling up or water coming in from some other source, the water was “stirred.” The superstitious believed that the first one in the pool when it was stirred would receive the healing that was being presented.

As an aside: some of you may remember this story from years ago, but with one other detail. If you have a more contemporary version of the Bible you will see in John, chapter 5, the verse numbers go from 3 directly to 5. Verse 4 has been omitted. It reads, “for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water.” Those who study these things say that this verse was added much later to provide some explanation as to what was happening, but that it was never in the original text. It is an interesting detail, but really has no bearing on the event. End of rabbit trail.

What is clear is that the man held to some superstitious belief associated with god Asclepius that if he got into the pool first, when it was stirred up, he would be healed. To him Jesus asked, “Do you want to be made well?” That is a loaded question.

Do you want to be made well? The smart aleck in me would want to pop up and say, “Well, duh! I’ve been trying for thirty-eight years! Of course I do.” But then again, maybe not.

In his book, Fuzzy Memories, Jack Handey writes, “There used to be this bully who would demand my lunch money every day. Since I was smaller, I would give it to him.

“Then I decided to fight back. I started taking karate lessons, but the instructor wanted $5 a lesson. That was a lot of money. I found that it was cheaper to pay the bully, so I gave up karate.”

The man had been sick for thirty-eight years. He was accustomed to, day after day, coming to the Asclepion where he would be fed and his needs taken care of. If he were made well, then he would have to begin taking responsibility for himself. Perhaps his life was difficult, but after thirty-eight years he may have been comfortable enough. Or, perhaps, after such a long time, he just didn’t care anymore. He was so beat up that he had given into despair. However, whatever the case, in order to be made well, the man had to respond to Jesus.

It is curious that the man does not answer directly. Instead, he says, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.” Obviously Jesus took this as a “Yes,” and brings the desired result. “’Stand up, take your mat and walk.’ At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.”

We know that the words and actions of Jesus often contain more than one meaning. This holds true here. Jesus is using the man’s physical illness to speak to the wider problem of spiritual illness.

So the story, “in the middle of a pagan temple,” becomes “in the middle of a pagan world,” Jesus encounters a man who has been sick, who has been trapped in sin, for thirty-eight years—all his life, and asked him, “Do you want to made well?”

Like the physically ill man, this spiritually ill one had lived in sin a long time. He was accustomed to, day after day, living this life. If he were made well, then he would have to begin taking responsibility for himself. He would have to begin to follow the commands of God. Perhaps his life didn’t turn out the way he had planned, but he was comfortable enough. Or, perhaps like old Boudreaux, he had fallen off the proverbial balcony, he had lived in sin for so long, he just didn’t care anymore. He was so convinced that there was no hope for a ruined soul such as his, that he was defeated, that he simply gave up trying. Whatever the case, Jesus asked him, “Do you want to made well?” For Jesus to bring healing, the man must respond. Jesus said, “Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.” A response is required.

I can’t imagine anyone wanting to remain physically ill and I also have a hard time believing that there are many who want to remain spiritually ill. For most, there is a desire, a need, to be made well, to be holy as He is holy, but how and where to start. It is to these that Jesus asks, “Do you want to made well?” Funny, it is easy to think of Jesus asking this question to others, but always a bit disconcerting when we think He is asking us: “Do you want to be made well?”

In 1953, when Queen Elizabeth II was to be crowned, the invitations went out. For you and I, when we send out formal invitations we will mostly likely include a request: RSVP — “Respondez, s’il vous plait.” Please let us know if you are coming. However, when the Queen’s invitations to her coronation went out, they included the note: “All excuses ceasing.” There is no RSVP necessary. There are no excuses acceptable. The Queen has asked you and you will be there.

If you are one who cannot figure out how to be well, how to be holy, then if you will listen, you will hear the voice of Jesus asking, “Do you want to made well?” When you hear it, think of it as having that little addendum to it, “All excuses ceasing,” and set aside your concerns and those feelings of inadequacy, that you’ve fallen too far to be healed. Stop making excuses for the sins in your life, take responsibility for yourself, and then answer Him.

Jesus ask, “Do you want to made well? All excuses ceasing.”

You answer, “Yes.”

Jesus says, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.”

Some translations have “Stand up” translated as the word “rise.” “Rise” is used a number of times in the New Testament, but in several instances the word rise is used in some very exciting places. For example, when the women came to the empty tomb and the angel of the Lord spoke to them: “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen.”

Jesus ask, “Do you want to made well? All excuses ceasing.”

“Yes.”

“Then stand up, rise, be resurrected, take your mat and walk.”

You being “made well” starts and ends with Jesus, but in order for that work to begin, you must answer Him. You must say, “Yes.”

Let us pray: Praised be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, He who in His great mercy gave us new birth, a birth unto hope which draws its life from the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; a birth to an imperishable inheritance, incapable of fading or defilement, which is kept in heaven for you who are guarded with God’s power through faith; a birth to a salvation which stands ready to be revealed in the last days. Amen.

A preacher retired and moved to the country to enjoy a relaxed life practicing his favorite pastime: yard work. Needing a lawn mower, he rode his bicycle into town to shop for one. On the way he saw a sign advertising a mower for sale. He stopped at the house and a young boy came out to greet him.

The preacher asked about the lawn mower, and the kid said it was behind the house. In the backyard the mower was already running and the engine was sputtering along at idle speed. The preacher increased the speed and mowed a few strips. As he tinkered with the mower, the boy asked the preacher about the bicycle. He said he hadn’t ridden in a few years, but he really wanted a bike. Seeing each had something the other wanted, they decided to make a swap. The boy hopped on the bike and immediately tottered over. The boy looked nervous, but the preacher said, “Keep trying. It’ll all come back to you!”

Later in the day, the boy had gotten the hang of riding his new bike and was riding around town when he spied the preacher pulling on the engine starter rope. The kid stopped and watched for a couple of minutes. He asked, “What’s wrong?”

The reply came, “I can’t get this mower started. Do you know how?”

The kid said, “Yep.”

“Well, how do you do it? Tell me!”, the preacher yelled.

The kid replied, “You have to cuss it.”

The preacher rose up indignantly. “Now you listen here. I am a preacher and if I ever did cuss, not saying I have, I’ve forgotten how to do it after all these years.”

With a wise look on his face well beyond his years, the kid said, “Preacher, you keep on pulling that rope and it’ll all come back to ya.”

I think I was living in Dallas at the time, because I was in a very crowded place – a restaurant or a mall. I was walking along, minding my own business when I suddenly caught the scent of a woman’s perfume. I thought my knees were going to buckle. No, it wasn’t that the perfume was all that remarkable, probably just some dime store variety, but I had this girlfriend in high school and it was the only kind of perfume she wore. I looked around to see if I could spot her, knowing full well that more than one person had worn that brand of perfume. Yet, in that single smell, it all came back to me. All the fun of high school and thinking you were in love. All the memories of friends, hanging out, going to parties, and just being a stupid teenager. It all came back.

I’m weird when it comes to movies. Any movie will probably do, but when I find one I like, I don’t mind watching it again. There are however, some that I’ve watched many times and never seem to get tired of them: Harry Potter – especially 7.1, Lost in Translation, Station Agent, and the Swedish version of the Girl with Dragon Tattoo (I, as a priest would never really watch that, but I’ve heard it’s really good. It stars Noomi Rapace, not quite a Scarlett Johansson huba-huba, but close.) When it comes to these movies, the opening music begins and I’ll just settle in and smile. It all comes back. I know the entire story. I can quote the lines. Happiness.

On the night before He was crucified, we know that Jesus and his disciples shared the Last Supper. Following the meal, he taught them many things, and prayed for them, but just before he prayed he said to them, “You believe at last! But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone.” We know that shortly following these events, he was arrested. At his arrest, we also know that Jesus statement was fulfilled, the disciples fled. One of them, probably Mark, was so afraid that he ran off naked.

These past few weeks we have been reading about the events following his resurrection: the women discovered the empty tomb and how He appeared to the disciples on two separate occasions while they were holed up in the upper room.

Soon afterwards, the disciples must have decided that it was safe to leave, and fulfilling what Jesus had said, they went home, returning to the Lake of Tiberias, also known as the Sea of Galilee. Why? Probably because they did not know what else to do. They knew that Jesus had risen from the dead, but they didn’t yet know what that meant.

So today, we find Peter and the gang sitting by the Sea of Tiberias. Since he didn’t know what to do, Peter decided to go back to what he knew – fishing. The rest of them said they would go, but in doing so, you can feel their disappointment. The last three years had been so amazing. They had walked with the Lord. Witnessed so much – lives changed, miracles, new ways of understanding God, and now… now it was back to the nets and the boats. Back to the way things were. And just to pour a little lemon juice in a paper cut, they fished all night and didn’t catch a thing.

As the sun was coming up, someone called to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” Our translations puts a question mark after the sentence, but knowing who said it, I wonder if it should have been a period. Anyhow, he asked if they had any fish, and you hear the answer, “No… does it look like we’ve caught any fish. Oy!” But then they are told to cast their nets on the other side of the boat and they caught so many fish they couldn’t haul them in.

It happened for the disciple whom Jesus loved, John, first: it all came back to him. The voice. The miracles. Purpose. Mission. Life. ”It is the Lord!” When John said this, it also all came back for Peter: “When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea.” It all came back to them and they were restored to Jesus. They were renewed.

There are some, but I do not think there are many who intentionally walk away from God. For most who find themselves distant from the Lord, it has more to do with life, busyness, or simply out of the discipline of what a life with God entails. Whatever the case, there is an emptiness, a dryness that grows between us and our God, which is really unfortunate; but just as that perfume or movie or whatever the “trigger” may be has the potential to bring back memories and emotions, the same is true in our relationship with God, if only we will look up from all the distractions of the world, that busyness, and allow ourselves to once again catch a scent of the Jesus. If we will allow His voice spoken to us through prayer and His Holy Word to remind us of our true First Love. ”It is the Lord!” — Let it all come back to you.

St. Josemaría Escrivá writes, “What a strange capacity man has to forget even the most wonderful things, to become used to mystery! Let’s remind ourselves… that the Christian cannot be superficial. While being fully involved in his everyday work, among other men, his equals; busy, under stress, the Christian has to be at the same time totally involved with God, for he is a child of God.” (http://www.escrivaworks.org/book/christ_is_passing_by-point-65.htm)

Let it all come back to you and rediscover how near your God truly is. Rediscover what it is to be a child of God and renew your purpose in Him.

Let us pray: Glory to you, O Lord our God, Your love calls us to be your people. By sharing our many and diverse gifts we share in your mission. We ask you, Lord, to shape us into a community of faith. Nourish us by your word and sacraments that we may grow into the image of Jesus. Through the power of your Holy Spirit, heal us that we, in turn, may heal the wounded. Form us to be instruments of love, justice, and peace in our land, and send us to proclaim your saving work. Renew us, Lord, that we may renew the face of the earth. Amen.

There was a large group of people. On one side of the group stood a man, Jesus. On the other side of the group stood Satan. Separating them, running through the group, was a fence.

The scene set, both Jesus and Satan began calling to the people in the group and, one by one – each having made up his or her own mind – each went to either Jesus or Satan. This kept going. Soon enough, Jesus had gathered around him a group of people from the larger crowd, as did Satan. But one man joined neither group. He climbed the fence that was there and sat on it. Then Jesus and his people left and disappeared. So too did Satan and his people. And the man on the fence sat alone.

As this man sat, Satan came back, looking for something which he appeared to have lost. The man said, “Have you lost something?” Satan looked straight at him and replied, “No, there you are. Come with me.” “But”, said the man, “I sat on the fence. I chose neither you nor him.” “That’s okay,” said Satan. “I own the fence.”

On the first Sunday after Easter we always read the account of Doubting Thomas, and I still believe that Thomas gets a bad rap. Yes, he doubted, but it wasn’t long before this that Jesus said he was going to return to Judea and all the disciples were responding in fear, “You can’t do that! They just tried to kill you and you want to return?” Yet it was Thomas who said, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” That took a lot of courage, so instead of picking on him, I would like us to consider another aspect of our text today. You can actually see it.

Jesus appears to his disciples the second time. Thomas is present. Jesus says, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

If you look at you insert, you will see Jesus’ words: “Do not doubt but believe,” then there is a period, followed by a closing quote mark, a space, and finally, the word “Thomas” begins the next sentence. Today, I would like us to not consider the words of the text, but instead, that one space. That small space between the time Jesus stopped speaking and Thomas responded, because that one space of time is the most critical moment in Thomas’ entire life. It is the time of decision.

For those of you who know the movie, The Matrix, it is red pill / blue pill time. For those of you who don’t know the movie, The Matrix, it is truly a decision between eternal life and eternal death.

Not all of our decisions are so vital. British prime minister Herbert Asquith once spent a weekend at the Waddesdon estate of the 19th-century Rothschild family. One day, as Asquith was being waited on at teatime by the butler, the following conversation ensued:

“Tea, coffee, or a peach from off the wall, sir?”

“Tea, please,” answered Asquith.

“China, India, or Ceylon, sir?” asked the butler.

“China, please.”

“Lemon, milk, or cream, sir?”

“Milk, please,” replied Asquith.

“Jersey, Hereford, or Shorthorn, sir?” asked the butler.

Life and death are not hanging in the balance with such decisions; however, the decision in that space – that space between the invitation of Jesus to believe and your response to that invitation is vital, and although sitting on the fence is an option, it is not advisable.

Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and out of slavery. Following their forty year trek through the desert, they came to the Jordan River. However, due to his disobedience, it was not Moses that led the people into the Promise Land. That duty fell to their next leader, Joshua. At a certain point, Joshua summoned all of Israel and had them renew the covenant that they had made with God. In concluding, he said: “Now therefore revere the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River, and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. Now if you are unwilling to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

Choose this day whom you will serve. That’s one of those verses you will find printed on coffee cups, cross stitched on pillows, and painted on door plaques, but it’s a bit weightier than a simple catch phrase. “Be decisive. Right or wrong, make a decision. The road of life is paved with flat squirrels who couldn’t make a decision.” The author of that is unknown, but since Leslie posted it on Facebook, it must have been somebody important who said it. Joshua said, Choose this day whom you will serve—either God or something else—but don’t be indecisive.

It is a bit lengthy for a sermon quote, but it is too good not to share. From C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity: When the author walks on to the stage the play is over. God is going to invade, all right: but what is the good of saying you are on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else—something it never entered your head to conceive—comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left? For this time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing; it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last forever. We must take it or leave it.

Yes, Thomas doubted, but in the space provided, he made a decision. The time is now. Make your’s.

Let us pray: Breathe into us Holy Spirit, that all our thoughts may be holy. Move in us, Holy Spirit, that our work, too, may be holy. Attract our hearts, Holy Spirit, that we may love only what is holy. Strengthen us, Holy Spirit, that we may defend all that is holy. Protect us, Holy Spirit, that we always may be holy. Amen.