{"id":8457,"date":"2022-11-29T05:04:21","date_gmt":"2022-11-29T12:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=8457"},"modified":"2022-11-29T05:06:56","modified_gmt":"2022-11-29T12:06:56","slug":"catch-me-if-you-can-lord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=8457","title":{"rendered":"
Catch me if You can, Lord!<\/div>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Click here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matthew 24:36-44<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A sermon for the Second Sunday of Advent<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many people know the 2002 movie, \u201cCatch me if you can.\u201d It\u2019s the true story of a twenty-one year old young man, a skilled forger, who passes himself off as a doctor, a lawyer, a pilot and the FBI agent who pursues this young man over the course of several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also a children\u2019s game: \u201cCatch me if you can.\u201d It\u2019s similar to tag and hide and seek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We play this game with God as well. Most of all, it\u2019s a game of good works. The whole New Testament is full of exhortations to do good works. It says in the Sermon on the Mount:  \u201cYou, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect\u201d (Matthew 5:48). It\u2019s not only there but is found throughout the New Testament. In 1 Peter 1:15-16: \u201cAs he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; since it is written, \u2018You shall be holy, for I am holy\u2019\u201d (Leviticus 11:44). It\u2019s the same in Romans 10:5 and Galatians 3:21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell,\u201d we say, \u201cbeing a Christian is about doing the best we can. God, you have to measure me according to how I decide I should be measured, my own sense of myself.\u201d Or: \u201cI\u2019m not perfect, but I\u2019m better than others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the text says: \u201cBe perfect.\u201d That means not only the sins you have done, but also those things you should have done and didn\u2019t. You\u2019ve put off a lot and haven\u2019t gotten around to doing what you know you should do. The text says 100%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we say, \u201cWell, Lord, catch me if you can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We go on to the second game. If we took a survey, it would say what everybody thinks or the majority thinks. And the Lord says, \u201cYou mean to tell me that what the Lord is about is decided by survey?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We go to the third game. We say: \u201cBut Lord, you know I have needs. You have to fulfill my needs the way I understand my needs. You, Lord, have to convince me according to the way I see things. And you have to let me be myself the way I understand I have to be myself. You have to give me the feeling the way I feel I should be feeling. I\u2019m going to worship you in my own way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the Lord says: \u201cWho do you think you are? God? You\u2019re setting conditions for God? After all, I made you. You belong to me.\u201d And we say: \u201cCatch me if you can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the fourth game we say: \u201cWell, there\u2019s science.\u201d And the Lord says: \u201cI made it all. I made science.\u201d Then there\u2019s the question of evolution, and the Lord says: \u201cI use evolution. Can you explain to me why there is order rather than chaos?\u201d We answer: \u201cCatch me if you can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also \u201cinterpretation.\u201d The Lord says: \u201cI interpret interpretation.\u201d And we say: \u201cCatch me if you can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, we say: \u201cO.K. Lord, I give up. If you want me to think nice thoughts about you, I will. Three in one and one in three, whatever it is, I\u2019ll say it.\u201d And the Lord says: \u201cYou shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself\u201d (Luke 10:27). We answer: \u201cCatch me if you can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we go on with this understanding of games, this is not a \u201cthink\u201d game but a \u201cdo\u201d game. This is not about thinking about God and how that might be. This is about how God works, what God does, and what he says. He says: \u201cI work my way. I work by coming in a manger as a babe. I work in the proclamation of the Word and the administration of the sacraments. That\u2019s how I work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That means it\u2019s not about worshipping God my way. Not privately. Not on TV. Not on the mountain top. The Lord says: \u201cI act in the preaching of the Word and the giving of the sacraments and not elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we say: \u201cWell, the preacher doesn\u2019t convince me.\u201d And the Lord says: \u201cIt\u2019s not the job of the preacher to convince you. The job of the preacher is to proclaim the gospel and your job is to hear it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We say: \u201cCatch me if you can.\u201d And the Lord laughs. And when he laughs, it\u2019s not the jolly laugh of Santa Claus, it\u2019s the laugh of Psalm 2:4, which is a way of saying: \u201cYou think you can play games with God?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our text for today is on John the Baptist. He is mentioned in all four gospels. To whom is John the Baptist speaking? It\u2019s very specifically said to whom he is speaking. He\u2019s not speaking to the ragged and the poor. He\u2019s speaking to the nice people, like you and me, the good people. What does he say? The translators of Matthew and Luke diminish the edges of this verse, \u201cYou brood of vipers!\u201d (Matt 3:7, Luke 3:7). It should read: \u201cYou\u2019re a bunch of snakes! Repent!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we mumble: \u201cYes, of course, repent. O.K.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember it says: \u201cBe holy. 100%.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matthew 3:7 says: \u201cWho warned you to flee from the wrath to come?\u201d He\u2019s coming to separate the wheat from the chaff, and Matt 3:12 states: \u201cThe chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where is our hope?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our hope is stated by John the Baptist in John 1:29: \u201cBehold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.\u201d On this Sunday every year we are reminded of the painting by Gr\u00fcnewald in which John the Baptist is forever pointing to the dying Christ on the cross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christmas is really about Good Friday and Easter. He came as a babe. Yes, the One who created and made everything comes truly to be one of us in order that he could die and rise again to conquer sin, death, and evil. Thank God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We say: \u201cBut Lord, you can\u2019t do it this way!\u201d And the Lord says: \u201cThis is how I work. This is how I have done it. This is how I am doing it, through the Word, through coming to you in the proclamation and the sacraments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is all summed up by Paul, making use of an early Christian hymn, Philippians 2:5-11:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHave this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTherefore<\/strong> God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Amen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Pastors: As you know, the psalms are in parallel lines. But here Paul added \u201ceven death on the cross,\u201d breaking the parallelism.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matthew 24:36-44<\/p>\n

A sermon for the Second Sunday of Advent<\/p>\n

Many people know the 2002 movie, \u201cCatch me if you can.\u201d It\u2019s the true story of a twenty-one year old young man, a skilled forger, who passes himself off as a doctor, a lawyer, a pilot and the FBI agent who pursues this young man over the course of several years.<\/p>\n

There is also a children\u2019s game: \u201cCatch me if you can.\u201d It\u2019s similar to tag and hide and seek.<\/p>\n

We play this game with God as well. Most of all, it\u2019s a game of good works. The whole New Testament is full of exhortations to do good works. It says in the Sermon on the Mount: \u00a0\u201cYou, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect\u201d (Matthew 5:48). It\u2019s not only there but is found throughout the New Testament. In 1 Peter 1:15-16: \u201cAs he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; since it is written, \u2018You shall be holy, for I am holy\u2019\u201d (Leviticus 11:44). It\u2019s the same in Romans 10:5 and Galatians 3:21.<\/p>\n

Select here<\/a> to read more or here <\/a>for a pdf document.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8457"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8470,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8457\/revisions\/8470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}