Year
A Advent 3
Text:
Matthew 11:2-11 – Should we expect another?
Have
you ever bought something you’ve seen advertised and then been disappointed
once you’ve gotten it home?
Over
the years I’ve fallen for a few items on TV shopping.
As
I’m pounding my way on the cross-trainer at the gym there is an ad on the TV
above me showing people standing on a vibrating board that can melt away my fat
and give me the body I’ve been looking for and I ask why I don’t just buy one
of those and not worry about all this physical exertion.
I
recently bought the hurricane mop because the guy on the ad made mopping look
like fun and how it could clean anything with a simple wipe of this
technologically designed mop.
After
it arrived I asked myself – is this really what I saw on TV?
It
can be very disappointing when your expectations are not met.
John
is an example of that.
He
had high expectations of Jesus.
This
was the one whose sandals John was not worthy of doing up.
This
was the one who was going to make John’s baptism look so lame compared to what
Jesus was going to bring.
So
fired up was John that he stood up to the Pharisees and called them a brood of
vipers.
But
something has changed.
His
expectations of Jesus did not arrive.
John
took on the wrong person when he took on Herod and was now in prison.
It
sounds like John is beginning to have doubts and wants confirmation from Jesus:
Are
you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another? (Matthew 11:3)
What
I like about Jesus’ response is that he doesn’t criticise John.
He
doesn’t tell John’s disciples – go and tell John – you of little faith – why
are you doubting.
Just
like he didn’t criticise Thomas when he doubted Jesus’ resurrection, Jesus
understands why John would be struggling to believe.
In
fact Jesus upholds John publicly despite his doubts:
“among
those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist (Matthew
11:11)
John
was a great preacher and prophet, but his expectation of the promised Messiah
didn’t fit Jesus.
And
that struggle is something each of us can go through at times.
John
wanted someone who would turn the religious and political order upside down;
John
wanted a Messiah who would sweep away the unreligious and the corrupt.
Instead,
John hears that Jesus was eating with the tax collectors who worked to collect taxes
to support Rome, the enemy.
Jesus
wasn’t judging and condemning sinners.
Instead,
he was sitting down to meals with them and making God’s forgiveness so easily
available to them.
Jesus
was encouraging people to forgive their enemies -- including their Roman
enemies!
Things
hadn’t worked out the way John expected.
John
was expecting fire and brimstone against the enemies of God!
John
the Baptist knew exactly who Jesus was.
He
jumped for joy in his mother’s womb when the two mothers met. (Luke 1:41)
In
last week’s Gospel, John introduces Jesus as, “I baptize you with water for
repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not
worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and
fire.” (Matt 3:11)
John
the Baptist knows perfectly well who Jesus is.
So,
why is he questioning?
John
questions just like we question at times.
John
is in prison!
The
Lamb of God is not saving John from prison, and the one who is supposed to take
away the sin of the world is not taking away the sin of Herod.
Maybe
John misunderstood just what Jesus’
mission was in “taking away the sin of the world” and that it was forgiveness.s
Would
you blame John the Baptist or anybody to doubt in such situation?
He
expected more of Jesus.
Maybe
that’s what we want from Jesus too.
We
want Jesus to walk into Parliament and stop them from legalising same-sex
marriage and euthanasia.
We
want Jesus to demand that Christian schools and churches be allowed to only
employ only Christians.
Isn’t
that what we expect Jesus to do?
We
gather in prayer vigils and vote for Christian members of Parliament to ensure
God’s will is done.
And
yet we see the opposite happening.
We
see the church stripped more and more of its rights and privileges.
In
Jesus’ answer to John it is not about power and authority as John saw it.
It
was about a different type of power and authority vastly different to how the
world sees and uses power and authority.
Jesus
tells John’s disciples to go back and tell him what you see and hear around me:
the
blind receive sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the
dead are raised and the poor have good news preached to them.
In
other words, Jesus came to show God’s love and mercy.
Jesus
power and authority was shown by helping those in most need, those who didn’t
have anyone else to help them, or anyone who could help them.
It
is about justice.
Jesus
didn’t come, as John had hoped, to destroy the wicked, but to restore the
downtrodden; to give all people grace and mercy.
Jesus
was inviting the sinner back to God.
Even
today, some still take offense at the kind of Saviour Jesus turned out to be.
Some,
perhaps including some of us, want him to close the door on anyone different
from ourselves.
We
have our list of those who shouldn’t make it in.
But
Jesus came to set us free from that way of thinking
-to give us sight where we are blind
-to open our ears to what we have been
ignoring
….-to
give us a voice to speak out for the poor.
….
To loosen our tongues to speak God’s love and mercy rather than judgment.
Uncertain
times can rattle us and cause doubts in our faith and spiritual journey.
When
we face adversity and disasters, we question if Jesus really is the Saviour of
the world or should we expect another.
We
question why bad things happen, why God is not there for us.
We
fall into the trap of thinking that God only exists in good times.
And
it’s in those difficult times we cannot hear or see God’s presence.
Doubting,
like John the Baptist, is part of our spiritual journey.
Part
of our spiritual struggle as sinful human beings is to doubt.
Even
at his ascension some of the disciples continued to doubt:
It
says: The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had
told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.
(Matthew 28:16.17)
Sometimes
we have to wait in uncertain, and anxious moments to see how God is working.
Advent
is a season of waiting, expectation, and preparation for the coming of Jesus –
first at Christmas but also at the end of time.
We
know the certainty of the birth of Jesus – it’s what we celebrate every year.
Yet,
we are still waiting for the second coming of Jesus.
This
time of waiting can be an anxious and fearful time.
There
is chaos in different parts of the world.
We
have our fair share of chaos causing disappointment, anxiety, fear, and anger
in our lives.
More
people question the presence of God than those who believe.
As
Christians, during Advent we are to reflect, and pray while waiting for the
coming or our Lord.
As
baptised children of God we were once blind and deaf, but now we can see and
hear God’s good news.
If
we keep our eyes and ears open, we will hear and see plenty of God’s mighty
work even in bad times.
It
is time for us to share the good news and hope with others especially with
those who are in doubt.
Despite
what our eyes see and ears hear we know that Jesus is returning and until then
he gives us eyes and ears of faith.
And
so James says: Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord…
See, the Judge is standing at the door.
It
is hard when we go through life expecting that God is going to act a certain way
if we have faith in him.
But
this life is not where God’s promises have been made other than the one Jesus
made when he said – “I am with your always till the end of the age” (Matthew
28:20) because it is at the end of the age when God’s promises will be
fulfilled.
And
so Jesus says until then: Don’t let your hearts be troubled – trust in God,
trust also in me: I go to prepare a place for you, and I will come back and
take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
Another
promise Jesus made.
That’s
what eyes and ears of faith see and hear.
Come
Lord Jesus come.
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