I meet a lot of people by accident. It is just my lot, it seems. Either I amble up to somebody and start
talking (thinking they are somebody else) or people come and start talking to
me, thinking I am somebody else. At
first, I was pretty put off by it, but before long, I’ve learned to roll with
it. I mean, we can all learn something
from everybody and we should be open to new experiences every day. Sometimes things go really well and we both
walk away from the encounter having learned something or have just enjoyed each
other’s company. Sometimes, things go
bad and then there is awkward moment that happens before one of us leaves. But mostly, it’s ok.
I
remember this one time, however, when I was NOT who was expected. I was visiting somebody in the hospital and
they clearly thought I was the priest to come and give them last rights. Now, it’s important to know that this person
was not anywhere close to dying. They
had come in for a relatively minor problem, but because I had been identified
as a clergy member, they assumed that the end was near for them. So, before I could stop her, out came a list
of every sin she had committed…and we are not talking about minor ones here! “Pastor, I had an affair with my neighbor and
I never told my husband, I committed insurance fraud and I have a bunch of
unpaid parking tickets!” There was an
awkward silence as she caught her breath, in which the doctor was able to say,
“Ma’am….you are going to be fine.” She
looked at the doctor…then looked at me…then looked around the room at everybody
who was in the room. I have never seen
anybody look redder.
I
was not who she expected…but then again, she was not in the situation she had
thought. I don’t know what ever happened
to her, but I like to think that she took that moment as a real opportunity to
look at her life, to rejoice in it and to change.
Today’s
Gospel reading is about expecting the right
person. Advent is about waiting with
joy for the right person to come and to set all things new.
In
our lesson, we find John the Baptist in jail.
John is one of those types of people we should probably expect to find
in jail. After all, he was bold in his
proclamation and spoke the truth to power.
He even confronted Herod about his practices and that is why he wound up
in jail.
Prison
is a place of waiting…waiting either for release or for death. German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who
spent the last two years of his life in a prison cell, reflected that “A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes, does various
unessential things, and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of
freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent.”[1] But John is waiting and he is uncertain about
his waiting around. He is not sure what
it is all about.
John had initially
pointed out Jesus from the crowd. When
Jesus emerged from the crowd to be baptized, John declared, “Behold the Lamb
of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) He says this with
such confidence and such boldness that today’s text has us do a double
take. John has now been waiting in
prison for a long time, that he sends his messengers to Jesus and asks the
question, “are you the one to come, or should we expect another?”
Talk about an
embarrassing question to have asked.
Could you imagine the discussion that John’s disciples have on the way
to meet Jesus? “So…he boss seemed pretty
sure of himself…” “Yeah…what do you think Jesus will say?”
It might be easy for us
to look down on John, but don’t we do the same thing and ask the very same
question? We might have a little bit
more wiggle room…after all, it’s been two thousand years , and Jesus still has not
returned. It’s been two thousand years
and those miracles have not been as often as they were when Jesus walked the
earth. It’ s been two thousand years and
some of us might begin to wonder… “Jesus, are you the one to come? Or should we expect somebody else?”
We get tired of waiting for
Jesus to appear…or we get embarrassed that we are called Christians. Some have answered the question by saying
that yes, we have been waiting for somebody else. Various names have been put
into contention: Mohammed, Joseph Smith, Mary Eddy, and the Bab. Others have said that we put our eggs in the
wrong basket and that we have been failed by God. Others have said that there is nothing
special about Jesus.
Maybe the problem is
with our perception of Jesus.
I often talk to sailors
who say something like this: I have been good and yet God hates me. He doesn’t take care of me! Whatever that
might be…working too much or not getting the duty station they want or not
getting promoted. They get angry at God
and they express their hurt and anger.
But if this is how we view God, you are more than likely to be
disappointed. Because these things will
happen to us. Bad things will inevitably
happen to us and we will be looking for another God.
So we can imagine John’s
disappointment as he sends these messengers to Jesus.
When the messengers get
to Jesus, He responds simply, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the
blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf
hear, and the dead are raised up and the poor have good news preached to them” (Matthew
11:4b-5). Jesus has this way of not
answering the question that actually answers the question and here is no
different. His answer is an affirmation
that the evidence speaks for itself.
Jesus is looking back to
the prophesies of the Old Testament,
specifically Isaiah 35. Here we read,
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf
unstopped; then the lame man leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute sing
for joy. (Isaiah 35:5).
This was the time that was
supposed to be inaugurated by the coming of the Messiah. Isaiah had prophesied a time when the curse
would be overturned and the kingdom of God would be established. Jesus is saying that not only is he the one
to bring this about, but that it is in fact happening as! This is the significance of the coming of
Jesus, and it is one that the Church needs to recapture.
The third Sunday in
Advent is known as ‘joy’ Sunday. At
about this time during the holiday season, most of us have probably lost our
joy. Stress has overtaken us as we have
struggled with crowds to find Christmas presents. We have endured office Christmas parties and
we have watched enough holiday movies to drive us crazy. Where is the joy? We may ask.
And we are probably not
alone in asking this. Thousands of
people around the world are asking along with us: where is the joy? Where is
the joy that promised at Jesus’ coming? Where is the healing that was supposed
to come along? Where is the blind that can see? Where is the deaf that can now
hear? Where is the restoration of relationships, the politics that are not
corrupt? Where is the answer to life’s problem?
Let’s be honest, the
world has expected more from the church and from the gospel. The Church has often spoke about the
greatness of Christ, but this has fallen on the deaf ears of the world.
I remember when I was
younger…well in high school…and meeting a high school exchange student from
Japan. She was Buddhist and could not
understand the Christian faith. She had a problem with the way we celebrated
Christmas because we all talked about the ‘happiness’ and ‘joy’ of the season,
but all she saw was sorrow and depression.
She could see nothing true about what we sung about or what we said was
the holiday season.
And we have to say that
this is true. There are so many people
stuck in the prison of their poverty, their depression, their addiction during
this time of the year that they are truly asking, “are you the one we expected
or should we look for someone else?”
Should we look for another answer, should we look for another Messiah?
But the joyous message
of the Church has always been: NO! Jesus is the Messiah! Jesus is the one who
sets all things New! Jesus is the one who truly reveals God’s design for us!
But what about the deaf?
The Blind? The poor? What about those who are stuck in prison? What about those
for whom the gospel was promised and yet there seems to be no delivery? Is
there any true GOOD News for them?
It may be hard for us,
in our age of twenty four hour news cycles and addictions to anti-depressants,
to believe that there is any good happening in the world. But there is!
It is found in the work
of people like Shane Claiborne who has revitalized entire neighborhoods in
Philadelphia by rehabbing old abandoned buildings and giving them to the
poor.
It is found in the
ministry of men like Oscar Romero who identified with the poor and oppressed in
El Salvador to the point of giving his own life.
It is found in the work
of institutions like the International Justice Mission that tries to liberate
people trapped in the prison of slavery.
It is found in the work of local churches that work for reconciliation,
salvation and peace. Martin Luther King,
Jr called this work the creation of the Beloved Community.
There is good…GREAT news
for them! God is at work in the world, utilizing the church to shed his glory
and his kingdom! We are there to offer life to those who are outcast, good news
to the poor and hope to the infirm.
Advent invites us to
wait for God, but it also invites us to see God at work and to delight in the
work of the Lord. We are not to expect
anybody else, because the one who has come is the one whom we have waited for
and Christ is the one to establish this kingdom. In this, we hope, in him, we rejoice.
