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Third Sunday in Advent, 12/11/2016
Sermon on Matthew 11:2-11, by Ryan Mills
When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” 4 Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. 6 And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” 7 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? 8 What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. 9 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is the one about whom it is written, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ 11 Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son +, and of the Holy Spirit.
Well it’s hard to believe that two weeks from right now will be Christmas morning! When I was a child it was around this time in Advent that the waiting began to just become excruciating. Like many children, we just couldn't wait for Christmas! Every morning at breakfast we would mark another day on our family Advent Calendar, just desperate for Dec. 25 to come. And every day, our parents would say, “Be patient, be patient-- good things come to those who wait.”
At this time of year we all seem to wait like eager children. And yet we know our anticipation so often leads to disappointment. We store up so many hopes for Christmas-- hopes for family togetherness and peace on earth, hope to create a perfect celebration with all our problems fixed—and inevitably by the evening of December 25 we wind up disappointed. In fact we know that the day after Christmas is one of the busiest shopping days of the year, for it is the day on which we say, “This isn't what I had hoped for,” and ask for a refund or exchange.
So I think in a way we can all relate to John the Baptist in prison today. Everything John had hoped for in Jesus, all of John's expectation about what difference Jesus would make, none of it had came to pass, John was impatient with Jesus and wanted to know if he could stand in line to get a refund or exchange. So John sends Jesus a disappointed message this morning--“Are you the one who is to come?” he asks, “or should we wait for another?”
Maybe that's your question this morning: Is our Lord the one? Or should you stand in line to wait for another?
Just like John, everything we might expect or hope for from God is not always fulfilled in the way we'd like, or with the timing we'd like. Sometimes the things we hope for the most are not fulfilled. Maybe it's an illness that we or a loved one suffer, or the troubles of our family. Maybe it's a time of difficulty we're going through, or maybe it's wondering about an uncertain future. Like John, we wish God would just snap his fingers and fix things the way we want it, right now.
But instead, into all these places of lack, of loneliness, and of despair this morning, God gives a promise: That the wilderness shall be glad! The desert shall rejoice and blossom! Any place that is barren, any place of emptiness in our lives, any lack we have is met and filled with God's own promise: that when God himself arrives in the flesh blind eyes shall see, deaf ears hear, lame limbs walk, and speechless tongues sing for joy.
Jesus responds to John’s question this morning, and Jesus responds to our own disappointment and impatience this morning: “You know the Scriptures, so don’t you know this is the kind of Lord I am? I make blind men to see, I make the ears of the deaf to hear, I make the lame to pick up their mats and walk, I make those who cannot speak sing for joy, I bring Good News for all people. For I bring wholeness and life and forgiveness and salvation wherever I come to. And I come to you here and now, this morning,” says your Lord, “I make you who are spiritually blind see my grace, see my undeserved love for you. And I make you who are spiritually deaf hear my living and active word. And I make you who are weary and heavy burdened to leap for joy because of what I have done.” “And,” Jesus says, “I make you who are dead, who have no hope, I make you alive; I make you who will physically die to be alive forever because I have died for you and am now alive forever, and so you are mine.” says your Lord and God.
That is the promise we are given this morning:
That we are made to see, because his eyes winced in pain.
That we are made to hear, because his ears heard, “Crucify him.”
That we are made to leap with joy, because he carried the heavy cross.
That are made alive, because he himself suffered and died.
That we are filled with good news, because was completely emptied.
That's the promise we're given today, of what Jesus has done and promises to do, and Jesus says, “Blessed are you if you are not offended at me. Blessed are you if you can admit the hard truth about yourself and so receive the truth that is me.” Yes, John the Baptist was great, but you and me here this morning, when we trust in what Christ has done for us, when we are not offended by him, but instead embrace him with all our hearts and souls and mind and strength, when the center of our lives becomes Christ and his overwhelming love for us, then we have entered into the Kingdom, then even in our weaknesses, and even in our disappointments, all things are ours, then we are already great in the kingdom, because we belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
While all God's promises are true already, they're also something that we wait for, while we can count on them, we also wait for them to come true. The letter of James read today tells how to live in this between time, in-between when God has come, and when he will come again in glory.
James tells us, today, like a good parent, “be patient”, be patient, beloved. The word “patience” in the Bible comes from the word to “suffer”--patience is a form of suffering, of bearing with, of putting up with: having patience with ourselves, having patience with each other, most of all having patience for God's promises to flower and bloom. Patience is hard for all of us, but we can be patient when we know we're loved, as James reminds us over and over again, calling you and me “beloved.” James says, “Beloved, think about a farmer, or a gardener, the promise is there in the seed, the fruit in there in the bud, the flower is in the bulb, the oak is in the acorn.” Farmers know its on its way, and plan accordingly even if they don't yet see it; so be patient like that, knowing you are loved, like the prophets be strong, be committed to God's promises even when you haven't seen them come true yet . And most of all, do not grumble against each other. Being patient can make us cranky, especially with each other, but in being patient, suffering with each other, in going out of our way to bear with one another, especially as a church family, we reflect the love of God who is slow to anger, patient with us, and abounding in steadfast love, calling us his beloved.
“Be patient,” parents say, “good things come to those who wait.” Indeed. But good things are already here for those who believe. As all the earth awaits the coming of the Lord, we wait with patience, wait knowing we are loved, wait for that great day when the wilderness shall be glad, and the desert will rejoice and blossom. Believing in Him who makes the blind to see, the deaf to ear, the lame to walk, and the speechless to sing, we await his coming again, helping each other by strengthening each other's hands and hearts as we wait. Until the one who came once as a babe in Bethlehem, comes again in glory-- and everlasting joy shall be ours. For Good things come to God's beloved ones, who in patience wait.
So, Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
And the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.