Targets And U-turns
Sermon
Sermons On The Second Readings
Series I, Cycle C
His father had once served as the pastor of the largest Baptist Church east of the Mississippi River. He asked me to go to the meeting with him. I replied that I would be honored. His name was John. I was privileged to accompany John to the meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous in which he received his pin for his first year of sobriety. When he addressed the group, his first words were, "My name is John and I am an alcoholic." It was my first A.A. meeting. I experienced as much church at that meeting as I have experienced in many church meetings. I was overwhelmed by the compassion and camaraderie.
As I left, and many times since I have wished that we would start every church gathering for worship or ministry and state, "My name is ___________ and I am a sinner!"
It is the foundation upon which the fellowship is formed. It is that which we have in common with each other. It is that which binds us together in the fellowship we call the church. It is the fact that we are sinners. We all are sinners! Any debate about that? Does anyone wish to counter -- to argue the point?
In 1966 I was privileged to hear the noted author and then pastor of the First Methodist Church in Houston, Texas, Dr. Charles Allen. He looked as if he were six feet nine inches tall and appeared as if he weighed 38 pounds. He had the longest southern drawl. It took him ten minutes to say anything! But when he did, it was well worth hearing. I was spellbound.
I never shall forget him saying, "Now, you can tell a man that he had diphtheria and it may be the truth. But it is not good news! You haven't told that man the good news until you tell him that there is a cure for diphtheria. You can tell a man that he is a sinner and that is the truth. But it is not the gospel! You haven't told that man the gospel until you tell him that there is a cure -- a remedy -- for his sin! That remedy is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the gospel!"
That's the message that everyone wants to hear, needs to hear, because all have sinned! "But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known" (v. 21). There is good news! The gospel proclaims that God, through Christ, has provided a way out of our sinful state. There is forgiveness for all our sin because Christ has died for all sinners. No one does a better job in explaining this than does Paul in the book of Romans and in our text in particular.
Paul pronounces that God's righteousness now comes separate from the law. "Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin" (vv. 19-20 NIV). God's righteousness, God's way of righting wrongs, now is manifest apart from rules, regulations, and religion. God's gift of putting us in right standing and relationships with him and others comes to us quite independently of the law.
Of course, the law has its purpose to make us conscious of wrong (v. 20). Because of the law we are aware that we exist in sin -- a state or condition of sin! Because we are in sin, we commit sins, acts of commission and omission. We do things that we should not do and fail to do things we should do because we are sinners.
Karl Barth in his 1918 Commentary on Romans emphasized that we must hear the "No!" of God. We must hear God's no to all our sins and to all our own efforts to make ourselves right! There is nothing we can do, in ourselves, to rectify our sinful situation.
Abraham was a good man. He heard God's voice, left home for a place he knew not where, and even believed God's absurd promise that he and Sarah would produce an heir. He was a good man, but not good enough! Noah was a good man. He built an ark on dry land, heeded God's warning, and preserved the race. He was a good man, but not good enough! Moses was a good man. He overcame his own lack of confidence and speech problems to become God's spokesperson to free the Hebrew people. He was a good man, but not good enough! Samson was a good man. He became God's warrior, mighty in battle. He was a good man, but not good enough!
David was a good man! He was a successful king, prepared for the building of the Temple, and even authored many of the Psalms. He was a good man, but not good enough! John the Baptist was a good man! He was the greatest of prophets, the Elijah-like forerunner of the Messiah. He even baptized Jesus! He was a good man, but not good enough! Mary was a good woman. She had the incredible audacity to believe upon the word of an angel that a virgin could have a baby. Indeed, she was the mother of Jesus! She was a good woman, but not good enough! Paul was a good man. He was the most devout of Jews, the most missionary of Christians and the very writer of the text that awes and inspires us today. He was a good man, but not good enough! Even with the very best, there can be no claim to sufficiency.
A recent country music song sung by Trace Atkins was titled "I'm Trying!" He woefully recalls the excellent advice given to him by significant adults, all of which he had been unable to keep and can only lament, "I'm trying!" Paul says that trying has nothing to do with it. He would agree with Mae West when she admitted that "goodness has nothing to do with it!" Now, God rights our wrongs completely independent of our ability or inability to keep the law.
Paul continues to add that faith in Jesus is the new way of experiencing God's just righting of wrongs. "But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify" (v. 21 NIV). "But now!" But now, a new era has begun. A new age has dawned. God now deals with us in a new way. Jesus Christ is now the new point of entry into God's reconciling love as well as the lens through which it is focused.1 Because we cannot, God can and does through Jesus Christ.
Paul develops his polemic by adding that all must experience this new way of righting wrong because all have sinned. "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (vv. 22-23 NIV). All of us are sinners. Each one of us has sinned. Created in the image of God to be truly human, we have sinned. We willfully and deliberately have chosen our own fate of alienation from God and its subsequent death. Rather than obey God and live in fellowship with him, we have stubbornly and defiantly disobeyed God, sealing our separated state.
It is not a matter of degrees, whether one is a big sinner or little sinner. It is not a matter of rearing, whether one had a more conducive environment or not! It is not a matter of intelligence, whether one knew better or not! It is a matter of fact that we all are in the same boat. We have no excuse! We are all sinners and each one of us has sinned.
There are many words translated sin in the Bible, at least ten in the New Testament. In the Old Testament the major emphasis is upon the word transgression or trespass. "Trans" means to "go through." Here the connotation is predominantly to go through one of God's red lights. God has established laws, the Ten Commandments and others, and to sin means that we have broken the rules, disobeyed the law, therefore we must suffer the punishment. Jesus expanded the concept of sin to go beyond the categories of commission and omission and described sin as "missing the mark," an archery term. Jesus used the word hamartia (it is found in the Old Testament, as well) to emphasize that we have missed the target -- the mark -- the goal, purpose, or vision that God has for us. We are not the dream God dreamed for us when he gave us life. Frank Stagg points out that his word also carries accompanying guilt and punishment.
John Claypool says there are at least two ways that we "miss the mark" of God's intention for our lives. One way we miss the mark of God's intention is to seek to be more than we are. This is the self-chosen path of arrogance or aggressiveness wherein we ignore or deny our own limitations and get beyond our own boundaries. Claypool named Adolf Hitler as a vile example of one who aggressively ignored his own limitations. Reading the Nihilistic philosophy of Frederick Neitzche, he fashioned himself as a member of a superhuman master race whose supposed superiority should give them rule of the world. God, if there was one, sought to hold down humankind. The supermen were above restraint, morality, and even deity himself, thought Hitler. And millions paid with their lives for his crazed idiocy.
The ancient Greeks had a word for it! It was the word hubris, sometimes translated pride or the tendency man has to try to go beyond himself, to try to be more than he is, to try to be God.
Claypool noted another way we can miss the mark of God's intention. This is when we slink into being less that we are. This is the self-chosen path of apathy, timidity, or irresponsibility wherein we lazily shirk our obligations and have no sense of ought, must, or should. Dr. Claypool names another Adolf as an example of such callousness -- Adolf Eichmann, the conscience-less puppet in charge of the "final solution of the Jewish problem." At the Nuremberg trials, when faced with the responsibility of the murder of millions, this tragically apathetic mouse of a man only shrugged lamely and said, "I was just doing what I was told to do." Here was a spineless bureaucrat who took orders and never once questioned or altered their maniacal purposes or deadly consequences. To get along, he went along and thought nothing of it. Eichmann definitely was less than God created him to be and created untold privation as a result.2
Harvey Cox, arguably America's greatest theologian, reminds us that in some sense the sin of Adam and Eve was that of apathy. It was easy just to let the serpent tell them what to do rather than show some spunk, take a stand, hold a conviction, exhibit some fortitude, and stick to one's guns. And yes, they, too, received a lasting punishment for their disobedience and for being less than God created them to be. We can miss the mark of God's intention by being more or less than we are.
What we are or were before we sinned, what God created us to be is to be truly human. It was Kierkegaard who said that the essence of sin is the steadfast refusal to be one's own true self. So, we all are sinners. We, each one, have committed sins and have tried to be more or less than we are, than God created us to be. Created in the image of God, our loving Lord fashioned us to be truly human, as was Jesus. And we fall woefully short.
Is there any way out? There is a first step. The wonderful Roman Catholic storyteller, William Bausch, relates: In Vienna, Austria, you will find a church in which the Hapsburgs, the former ruling family of Austria, are buried. It is said that when royal funerals finally arrive at the church for the burial rites, the mourners leading the funeral procession knock at the door to gain entrance. "Who is it that desires admission here?" a priest asks through the locked door. "His apostolic majesty, the emperor!" calls the guard. "I don't know him," answers the priest. A second knock follows and a similar question is asked. This time, the funeral guard announces the deceased as "the highest emperor." Again, "I don't know him," echoes throughout the vaulted burial chamber. Finally a third knock is heard. "Who is it?" "A poor sinner, your brother," comes the final answer. Then the door is opened and the royal burial completed.
The first step is to say the same about our condition, as does God. The first step is to confess that we are sinners. That admission opens the door to the new era dawned by God to forgiveness and restoration. With our confession of depravity, the process of wholeness begins.
Paul proceeds to proclaim that the death of Jesus upon the cross is the unique, unparalleled event by which and through which this deliverance occurs! They "are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished -- he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus" (vv. 24-26 NIV). The death of Christ upon Calvary's tree is the pivotal event, the turning point in human history. Now, beyond a shadow of a doubt, God has taken the initiative, exhibited his boundless love, given his only son, and done for us that which we could never do for ourselves.
Alas and did my Savior bleed
and did my sovereign die?
Would he devote that sacred head
for such a worm as I?
Yes, Virginia, there is a way out of our sordid state for "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself" (2 Corinthians 5:19).
I can still remember, although I was very young at the time, watching my paternal grandmother make soap. I think that sometimes ashes are added to the mixture that eventually could make one clean. Isn't it odd of God to use destruction and death to provide the way by which we are cleansed? Our sinful ashes, confessed before God, combined with repentance (a 180-degree u-turn in the direction of our lives) and God's power is the plan by which every sinner's soul is cleansed and made whole. That is the gospel! Talk about good news!
This grace gift of God's goodness becomes ours when we receive through faith his loving offer and accept his punishment for ours. "Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling." It's the way! It's the only way for everyone!
As he creates us anew, old things have passed away, all things have become new, we embark upon the journey toward the goal, the target, the mark for which we have longed, that of being like Jesus. Our goal is nothing less than Christlikeness. It is the road to attaining an authentic life, a passionate spirituality, joy and freedom-giving forgiveness. It is the path toward fulfilling the potential God had in mind when he fashioned us. We are in the process of becoming truly human, just like Jesus.
Therefore, since God has treated us not as we deserve, but with grace, we are free to behave graciously toward others. Harold Warlick tells a beautiful story of a man by the name of Dapozzo. In 1943 Dapozzo was convicted by a Fascist tribunal. He was condemned to death, but because he had four children and a wife, he was given a term in the concentration camp. After eight months in the concentration camp, he weighed only eighty pounds. His left arm was broken and was left to mend without any medical attention. His body was covered with scars.
On Christmas Eve the commandant of the concentration camp punished him because he had shared his faith in Christ with the other prisoners. The commandant filled a beautiful table with the finest of foods and made Dapozzo stand for an hour while he feasted on all that was before him. After he had finished feasting, he brought out a small brown paper bag and said, "Dapozzo, your wife is a good cook. For several months she has been sending little cakes that she has baked for you, and I have eaten them all. And I will now eat the one she has recently sent to you."
Dapozzo then realized that that vile and cruel man was eating the food right out of his children's mouths. But his response was this, "You are a poor man. I am a rich man, because I am saved by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." With that Dapozzo was angrily dismissed.
When the war was over, Dapozzo began searching for this evil and vile man. After ten years, he found him. He went to see him with a Protestant minister and a poorly-disguised package. At first the commandant did not recognize this former prisoner. Dapozzo said, "Do you remember Prisoner 175?" The man did not. Dapozzo said, "Do you remember Christmas Eve, 1943?" and with that the man was horrified.
He backed up against the wall and said, "You have come to seek revenge!"
Dapozzo said, "Yes!" Then he unwrapped the package and asked the man's wife to make coffee, and they gathered around the table and ate the cake he had brought.3
____________
1. Fred B. Craddock, Preaching the New Common Lectionary (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1987), p. 30.
2. John R. Claypool, "Missing the Mark," an unpublished sermon preached at the Broadway Baptist Church, Fort Worth, Texas, May 2, 1976.
3. Harold L. Warlick, Homeward Bound (Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishing Company, 1991), p. 117.
As I left, and many times since I have wished that we would start every church gathering for worship or ministry and state, "My name is ___________ and I am a sinner!"
It is the foundation upon which the fellowship is formed. It is that which we have in common with each other. It is that which binds us together in the fellowship we call the church. It is the fact that we are sinners. We all are sinners! Any debate about that? Does anyone wish to counter -- to argue the point?
In 1966 I was privileged to hear the noted author and then pastor of the First Methodist Church in Houston, Texas, Dr. Charles Allen. He looked as if he were six feet nine inches tall and appeared as if he weighed 38 pounds. He had the longest southern drawl. It took him ten minutes to say anything! But when he did, it was well worth hearing. I was spellbound.
I never shall forget him saying, "Now, you can tell a man that he had diphtheria and it may be the truth. But it is not good news! You haven't told that man the good news until you tell him that there is a cure for diphtheria. You can tell a man that he is a sinner and that is the truth. But it is not the gospel! You haven't told that man the gospel until you tell him that there is a cure -- a remedy -- for his sin! That remedy is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the gospel!"
That's the message that everyone wants to hear, needs to hear, because all have sinned! "But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known" (v. 21). There is good news! The gospel proclaims that God, through Christ, has provided a way out of our sinful state. There is forgiveness for all our sin because Christ has died for all sinners. No one does a better job in explaining this than does Paul in the book of Romans and in our text in particular.
Paul pronounces that God's righteousness now comes separate from the law. "Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin" (vv. 19-20 NIV). God's righteousness, God's way of righting wrongs, now is manifest apart from rules, regulations, and religion. God's gift of putting us in right standing and relationships with him and others comes to us quite independently of the law.
Of course, the law has its purpose to make us conscious of wrong (v. 20). Because of the law we are aware that we exist in sin -- a state or condition of sin! Because we are in sin, we commit sins, acts of commission and omission. We do things that we should not do and fail to do things we should do because we are sinners.
Karl Barth in his 1918 Commentary on Romans emphasized that we must hear the "No!" of God. We must hear God's no to all our sins and to all our own efforts to make ourselves right! There is nothing we can do, in ourselves, to rectify our sinful situation.
Abraham was a good man. He heard God's voice, left home for a place he knew not where, and even believed God's absurd promise that he and Sarah would produce an heir. He was a good man, but not good enough! Noah was a good man. He built an ark on dry land, heeded God's warning, and preserved the race. He was a good man, but not good enough! Moses was a good man. He overcame his own lack of confidence and speech problems to become God's spokesperson to free the Hebrew people. He was a good man, but not good enough! Samson was a good man. He became God's warrior, mighty in battle. He was a good man, but not good enough!
David was a good man! He was a successful king, prepared for the building of the Temple, and even authored many of the Psalms. He was a good man, but not good enough! John the Baptist was a good man! He was the greatest of prophets, the Elijah-like forerunner of the Messiah. He even baptized Jesus! He was a good man, but not good enough! Mary was a good woman. She had the incredible audacity to believe upon the word of an angel that a virgin could have a baby. Indeed, she was the mother of Jesus! She was a good woman, but not good enough! Paul was a good man. He was the most devout of Jews, the most missionary of Christians and the very writer of the text that awes and inspires us today. He was a good man, but not good enough! Even with the very best, there can be no claim to sufficiency.
A recent country music song sung by Trace Atkins was titled "I'm Trying!" He woefully recalls the excellent advice given to him by significant adults, all of which he had been unable to keep and can only lament, "I'm trying!" Paul says that trying has nothing to do with it. He would agree with Mae West when she admitted that "goodness has nothing to do with it!" Now, God rights our wrongs completely independent of our ability or inability to keep the law.
Paul continues to add that faith in Jesus is the new way of experiencing God's just righting of wrongs. "But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify" (v. 21 NIV). "But now!" But now, a new era has begun. A new age has dawned. God now deals with us in a new way. Jesus Christ is now the new point of entry into God's reconciling love as well as the lens through which it is focused.1 Because we cannot, God can and does through Jesus Christ.
Paul develops his polemic by adding that all must experience this new way of righting wrong because all have sinned. "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (vv. 22-23 NIV). All of us are sinners. Each one of us has sinned. Created in the image of God to be truly human, we have sinned. We willfully and deliberately have chosen our own fate of alienation from God and its subsequent death. Rather than obey God and live in fellowship with him, we have stubbornly and defiantly disobeyed God, sealing our separated state.
It is not a matter of degrees, whether one is a big sinner or little sinner. It is not a matter of rearing, whether one had a more conducive environment or not! It is not a matter of intelligence, whether one knew better or not! It is a matter of fact that we all are in the same boat. We have no excuse! We are all sinners and each one of us has sinned.
There are many words translated sin in the Bible, at least ten in the New Testament. In the Old Testament the major emphasis is upon the word transgression or trespass. "Trans" means to "go through." Here the connotation is predominantly to go through one of God's red lights. God has established laws, the Ten Commandments and others, and to sin means that we have broken the rules, disobeyed the law, therefore we must suffer the punishment. Jesus expanded the concept of sin to go beyond the categories of commission and omission and described sin as "missing the mark," an archery term. Jesus used the word hamartia (it is found in the Old Testament, as well) to emphasize that we have missed the target -- the mark -- the goal, purpose, or vision that God has for us. We are not the dream God dreamed for us when he gave us life. Frank Stagg points out that his word also carries accompanying guilt and punishment.
John Claypool says there are at least two ways that we "miss the mark" of God's intention for our lives. One way we miss the mark of God's intention is to seek to be more than we are. This is the self-chosen path of arrogance or aggressiveness wherein we ignore or deny our own limitations and get beyond our own boundaries. Claypool named Adolf Hitler as a vile example of one who aggressively ignored his own limitations. Reading the Nihilistic philosophy of Frederick Neitzche, he fashioned himself as a member of a superhuman master race whose supposed superiority should give them rule of the world. God, if there was one, sought to hold down humankind. The supermen were above restraint, morality, and even deity himself, thought Hitler. And millions paid with their lives for his crazed idiocy.
The ancient Greeks had a word for it! It was the word hubris, sometimes translated pride or the tendency man has to try to go beyond himself, to try to be more than he is, to try to be God.
Claypool noted another way we can miss the mark of God's intention. This is when we slink into being less that we are. This is the self-chosen path of apathy, timidity, or irresponsibility wherein we lazily shirk our obligations and have no sense of ought, must, or should. Dr. Claypool names another Adolf as an example of such callousness -- Adolf Eichmann, the conscience-less puppet in charge of the "final solution of the Jewish problem." At the Nuremberg trials, when faced with the responsibility of the murder of millions, this tragically apathetic mouse of a man only shrugged lamely and said, "I was just doing what I was told to do." Here was a spineless bureaucrat who took orders and never once questioned or altered their maniacal purposes or deadly consequences. To get along, he went along and thought nothing of it. Eichmann definitely was less than God created him to be and created untold privation as a result.2
Harvey Cox, arguably America's greatest theologian, reminds us that in some sense the sin of Adam and Eve was that of apathy. It was easy just to let the serpent tell them what to do rather than show some spunk, take a stand, hold a conviction, exhibit some fortitude, and stick to one's guns. And yes, they, too, received a lasting punishment for their disobedience and for being less than God created them to be. We can miss the mark of God's intention by being more or less than we are.
What we are or were before we sinned, what God created us to be is to be truly human. It was Kierkegaard who said that the essence of sin is the steadfast refusal to be one's own true self. So, we all are sinners. We, each one, have committed sins and have tried to be more or less than we are, than God created us to be. Created in the image of God, our loving Lord fashioned us to be truly human, as was Jesus. And we fall woefully short.
Is there any way out? There is a first step. The wonderful Roman Catholic storyteller, William Bausch, relates: In Vienna, Austria, you will find a church in which the Hapsburgs, the former ruling family of Austria, are buried. It is said that when royal funerals finally arrive at the church for the burial rites, the mourners leading the funeral procession knock at the door to gain entrance. "Who is it that desires admission here?" a priest asks through the locked door. "His apostolic majesty, the emperor!" calls the guard. "I don't know him," answers the priest. A second knock follows and a similar question is asked. This time, the funeral guard announces the deceased as "the highest emperor." Again, "I don't know him," echoes throughout the vaulted burial chamber. Finally a third knock is heard. "Who is it?" "A poor sinner, your brother," comes the final answer. Then the door is opened and the royal burial completed.
The first step is to say the same about our condition, as does God. The first step is to confess that we are sinners. That admission opens the door to the new era dawned by God to forgiveness and restoration. With our confession of depravity, the process of wholeness begins.
Paul proceeds to proclaim that the death of Jesus upon the cross is the unique, unparalleled event by which and through which this deliverance occurs! They "are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished -- he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus" (vv. 24-26 NIV). The death of Christ upon Calvary's tree is the pivotal event, the turning point in human history. Now, beyond a shadow of a doubt, God has taken the initiative, exhibited his boundless love, given his only son, and done for us that which we could never do for ourselves.
Alas and did my Savior bleed
and did my sovereign die?
Would he devote that sacred head
for such a worm as I?
Yes, Virginia, there is a way out of our sordid state for "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself" (2 Corinthians 5:19).
I can still remember, although I was very young at the time, watching my paternal grandmother make soap. I think that sometimes ashes are added to the mixture that eventually could make one clean. Isn't it odd of God to use destruction and death to provide the way by which we are cleansed? Our sinful ashes, confessed before God, combined with repentance (a 180-degree u-turn in the direction of our lives) and God's power is the plan by which every sinner's soul is cleansed and made whole. That is the gospel! Talk about good news!
This grace gift of God's goodness becomes ours when we receive through faith his loving offer and accept his punishment for ours. "Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling." It's the way! It's the only way for everyone!
As he creates us anew, old things have passed away, all things have become new, we embark upon the journey toward the goal, the target, the mark for which we have longed, that of being like Jesus. Our goal is nothing less than Christlikeness. It is the road to attaining an authentic life, a passionate spirituality, joy and freedom-giving forgiveness. It is the path toward fulfilling the potential God had in mind when he fashioned us. We are in the process of becoming truly human, just like Jesus.
Therefore, since God has treated us not as we deserve, but with grace, we are free to behave graciously toward others. Harold Warlick tells a beautiful story of a man by the name of Dapozzo. In 1943 Dapozzo was convicted by a Fascist tribunal. He was condemned to death, but because he had four children and a wife, he was given a term in the concentration camp. After eight months in the concentration camp, he weighed only eighty pounds. His left arm was broken and was left to mend without any medical attention. His body was covered with scars.
On Christmas Eve the commandant of the concentration camp punished him because he had shared his faith in Christ with the other prisoners. The commandant filled a beautiful table with the finest of foods and made Dapozzo stand for an hour while he feasted on all that was before him. After he had finished feasting, he brought out a small brown paper bag and said, "Dapozzo, your wife is a good cook. For several months she has been sending little cakes that she has baked for you, and I have eaten them all. And I will now eat the one she has recently sent to you."
Dapozzo then realized that that vile and cruel man was eating the food right out of his children's mouths. But his response was this, "You are a poor man. I am a rich man, because I am saved by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." With that Dapozzo was angrily dismissed.
When the war was over, Dapozzo began searching for this evil and vile man. After ten years, he found him. He went to see him with a Protestant minister and a poorly-disguised package. At first the commandant did not recognize this former prisoner. Dapozzo said, "Do you remember Prisoner 175?" The man did not. Dapozzo said, "Do you remember Christmas Eve, 1943?" and with that the man was horrified.
He backed up against the wall and said, "You have come to seek revenge!"
Dapozzo said, "Yes!" Then he unwrapped the package and asked the man's wife to make coffee, and they gathered around the table and ate the cake he had brought.3
____________
1. Fred B. Craddock, Preaching the New Common Lectionary (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1987), p. 30.
2. John R. Claypool, "Missing the Mark," an unpublished sermon preached at the Broadway Baptist Church, Fort Worth, Texas, May 2, 1976.
3. Harold L. Warlick, Homeward Bound (Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishing Company, 1991), p. 117.
