3rd Sunday of Advent, cycle A

MATTHEW 11:2-11
IT SEEMS TO BE A UNIVERSAL HUMAN CHARACTERISTIC TO WANT A LITTLE MORE INFORMATION, TO HESITATE JUST A LITTLE BIT, BEFORE MAKING A COMMITMENT. THE WORD “DOUBT” COMES TO MIND, BUT I DON'T THINK THAT'S WHAT I MEAN. DOUBT IS NEGATIVE, WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT IS POSITIVE, OR AT LEAST NEUTRAL. I GUESS ONLY GOD CAN DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE FIRST KIND OF PROCESS AND THE SECOND. THE FIRST WAS WHEN ABRAHAM AND SARAH WERE TOLD THAT THEY WOULD HAVE A SON, AND SARAH LAUGHED, SAYING TO HERSELF THAT SHE WAS WAY PAST CHILD-BEARING YEARS, AND ABRAHAM WAS EVEN OLDER. BUT GOD BLESSED THEM WITH ISAAC. AND THEN WE HAVE MOSES, WHO STRUCK THE ROCK TWICE TO MAKE IT YIELD WATER, AND GOD PUNISHED HIM BY REFUSING TO LET HIM ENTER THE PROMISED LAND. THAT IS THE SECOND KIND OF DOUBT. IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, WE HAVE ZACHARY DOUBTING (THE SECOND KIND) THAT HE AND ELIZABETH WOULD HAVE A SON THAT EVEN THOUGH THE ANGEL PROMISED IT,; AND THEN WE HAVE MARY SAYING “HOW CAN THIS BE, FOR I HAVE HAD NO RELATIONS WITH A MAN” BEING REWARDED BY BECOMING THE MOTHER OF GOD – THE FIRST KIND OF DOUBT.
AND TODAY WE HEAR ABOUT HOW JOHN, SITTING IN HIS PRISON CELL, SENDS HIS DISCIPLES TO ASK JESUS, “ARE YOU THE ONE WHO IS TO COME, OR SHALL WE LOOK FOR ANOTHER?” WHAT WAS GOING ON HERE? JOHN HAD BEEN THERE WHEN THE VOICE CAME FROM HEAVEN AT JESUS' BAPTISM; JOHN HAD SAID TO JESUS THAT JESUS SHOULD BE BAPTIZING HIM, NOT HIM BAPTIZING JESUS; AND JOHN HAD POINTED OUT JESUS AS THE “LAMB OF GOD” AND TOLD HIS DISCIPLES THAT “HE, JESUS, MUST INCREASE, WHILE I JOHN, MUST DECREASE.” BUT NOW, THE LAST VOLUNTARY ACTION THAT JOHN TAKES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT IS THIS HESITANCY, THIS QUESTIONING. “ARE YOU THE ONE WHO IS TO COME, OR SHALL WE LOOK FOR ANOTHER?”
JOHN, AS JESUS HIMSELF POINTS OUT, WAS THE GREATEST OF THOSE BORN UP TO THAT TIME; JOHN WAS THE NEW ELIJAH, AND BELIEVE ME, ELIJAH TO THE JEWS WAS ALMOST LEGENDARY-- NOT ONLY WAS HE THE MOST PROLIFIC AND POWERFUL MIRACLE WORKER IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, EVEN MORE SO THAN MOSES, BUT HE WAS SAID NOT TO HAVE ACTUALLY DIED – TAKEN UP TO HEAVEN IN A FIERY CHARIOT. AND IN THE YEARS WHEN THE RABBIS COMPOSED THE TALMUD, ELIJAH BECOMES A SUPER HERO IN THE LEGENDS WHICH THEY COLLECTED AND STUDIED. AND JESUS CALLS JOHN THE NEW ELIJAH.
THE PROBLEM, YOU SEE, WAS THAT JOHN, EVEN THOUGH FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT OF GOD, EVEN THOUGH HAVING THE GIFT OF PROPHECY, WAS A PERSON, LIKE YOU AND I, AND A PRODUCT OF HIS TIMES AND HIS OWN CULTURE. AND THE MESSIAH, THE ONE WHO WAS TO COME, WAS IN THE POPULAR IMAGINATION A GREAT LEADER WHO WOULD CRUSH THE OPPRESSORS OF THE JEWS, RESTORE THEM TO THE GLORY THEY HAD UNDER DAVID AND SOLOMON. THE MESSIAH WOULD CREATE THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM SPOKEN OF BY EZECHIEL AND OTHER PROPHETS, THE CITY MADE UP OF CRYSTAL AND GOLD AND LIFE GIVING WATER, WHERE ALL NATIONS WOULD COME TO HEAR ABOUT AND SUBMIT TO THE KINGSHIP OF GOD. THE MESSIAH WOULD BE PROPHET, PRIEST, AND KING, ONCE AND FOR ALL, AND THERE WOULD NEVER NEED TO BE ANOTHER.
AND JESUS, THE ONE WHO GOD HAD REVEALED TO JOHN WAS THE MESSIAH, WAS JUST NOT ACTING LIKE THAT. THERE WERE MIRACLES, BUT LITTLE ONES, MIRACLES OF HEALING MOSTLY. THERE WAS PREACHING, AND LARGE CROWDS WHO HUNG ON EVERY WORD, BUT THAT HAD HAPPENED BEFORE WITH OTHER PREACHERS, NOTHING SPECIAL. AND JESUS HAD RAPIDLY MADE ENEMIES OF THE PHARISEES AND THE PRIESTHOOD, WHEN THEY SHOULD BE ALLIES, AND HE HUNG OUT WITH TAX COLLECTORS AND PROSTITUTES AND ATE WITH SINNERS – VIOLATING IF NOT THE LETTER, AT LEAST THE SPIRIT, OF THE LAW THAT HE WAS SUPPOSED TO RESTORE. SO JOHN THROUGH HIS DISCIPLES ASKS, “ARE YOU THE ONE WHO IS TO COME OR SHALL WE LOOK FOR ANOTHER?”
AND JESUS GAVE AN ANSWER, BUT PROBABLY NOT THE ANSWER JOHN WAS LOOKING FOR. JESUS SAID, “GO AND TELL JOHN WHAT YOU HAVE SEEN AND HEARD – THE BLIND SEE, THE LAME WALK, THE POOR HAVE THE GOOD NEW PREACHED TO THEM – THESE, THE PROPHETS HAD PREDICTED, WOULD BE THE SIGNS OF THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH, THE COMING OF GOD'S KINGDOM. IN THE END, JOHN, LIKE ALL THE REST OF US, HAD TO ACCEPT JESUS ON FAITH, NOT BECAUSE OF IRRESISTIBLE PROOF.
AND IT GIVES ME HOPE THAT JOHN, WHO DIDN'T QUITE GET IT, WHO DARED TO VOICE HIS DOUBT, WAS NEVERTHELESS CHAMPIONED BY JESUS. JESUS TURNED TO THE CROWDS WHO FOLLOWED HIM AND MADE IT VERY CLEAR TO THEM THAT JOHN WAS A TRUE PROPHET AND MORE THAN THAT, THE GREATEST OF MEN UP TO THAT TIME.
YOU AND I EACH HAVE AN IMAGE OF JESUS; THE JESUS WE THINK WE KNOW. BUT THAT IMAGE CHANGES WITH TIME, WITH OUR OWN EXPERIENCES, AND WITH OUR OWN STRIVING TO KNOW JESUS BETTER. AND SOMETIMES WHEN THINGS AREN'T GOING WELL, AND WE FEEL LET DOWN BY JESUS, WE MIGHT SAY, “ARE YOU THE ONE WHO IS TO COME, OR SHALL I LOOK FOR ANOTHER?” BECAUSE THE JESUS WE THINK WE KNOW WOULD CERTAINLY NOT ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN TO ME. AND WE PICK OURSELVES UP AND STRUGGLE ON AND LEARN A LITTLE MORE ABOUT JESUS, BUT NEVER ENOUGH, NEVER ENOUGH TO ERASE ALL THE QUESTIONS. AND IN THE END, THERE IS FAITH, THERE IS THAT MOMENT WHEN WE SAY, “LORD, I BELIEVE, HELP MY UNBELIEF”.
AND JESUS CHAMPIONS US AS WELL. WITH OUR IMPERFECT FAITH, WITH OUR DOUBT WHICH COMES SO NATURALLY TO US, WITH THE SEEMINGLY UNBRIDGEABLE GAP BETWEEN WHAT WE ARE AND WHAT WE KNOW WE SHOULD BE, JESUS TELLS HIS FATHER THAT HE LOVES US, THAT WE ARE HIS BROTHERS AND SISTERS; THAT WE ARE THE REASON FOR THE HOLES IN HIS HANDS AND FEET, AND THE WOUND IN HIS SIDE, WHICH HE WILL BEAR FOR ALL ETERNITY; AND HE PLEADS FOR US, HE BEGS THE FATHER TO GIVE US EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING WE NEED SO THAT WE CAN SOMEDAY JOIN HIM.
WE WEAR ROSE COLORED VESTMENTS TODAY, BECAUSE THIS IS A DAY OF REJOICING. LET US REJOICE THAT JESUS OVERLOOKS THOSE MOMENTS WHEN WE HESITATE, WHEN WE WANT MORE INFORMATION BEFORE WE COMMIT, AND DESPITE OUR IMPERFECTIONS, IS RIGHT NOW, TELLING HIS FATHER, OUR FATHER, THAT WE ARE GREAT, EVEN GREATER THAN JOHN THE BAPTIST, BECAUSE WE ARE IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.