Third Sunday of Advent, cycle A

MATTHEW 11:2-11
JOHN THE BAPTIST AND JESUS ALMOST CERTAINLY KNEW EACH OTHER WHEN THEY WERE GROWING UP. AFTER ALL, THEY WERE PRACTICALLY THE SAME AGE AND THEIR MOTHERS WERE RELATED. JOHN CAME FROM A WELL-OFF FAMILY. HIS FATHER, A JEWISH PRIEST, GOT A SALARY AND OTHER PERKS. BUT WHEN JOHN GREW UP SOME INNER COMPULSION CAUSED HIM TO LEAVE EVERYTHING BEHIND AND GO OUT INTO THE DESERT. AND EVERY CHRISTMAS SEASON WE HEAR THOSE WORDS OF JOHN: REPENT! THE MESSIAH IS COMING, AND HE WILL SEPARATE THE WHEAT FROM THE CHAFF, AND THE CHAFF HE WILL CAST INTO THE FIRE. EVEN NOW THE AX IS AT THE ROOT OF THE TREE; BEAR GOOD FRUIT, OR YOU WILL END UP AS KINDLING! AND JOHN SAID, YOU THINK I'M SPECIAL? WAIT FOR THE ONE WHO IS TO COME, I AM NOT WORTHY TO UNFASTEN HIS SANDAL. I BAPTIZE WITH WATER, HE WILL BAPTIZE WITH FIRE. AND ONE DAY, JOHN TELLS HIS DISCIPLES, AS JESUS WALKS BY, “BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD” AND MANY DESERT HIM TO FOLLOW JESUS; AND HE SAYS, “HE MUST INCREASE, I MUST DECREASE.”
AND NOW, AS JOHN IS IN PRISON, WAITING, IT TURNS OUT, FOR HIS EXECUTION, IS HE HAVING DOUBTS? IS THAT WHY HE SENDS HIS DISCIPLES TO JESUS, TO ASK HIM, “ARE YOU THE ONE, OR SHOULD WE LOOK FOR ANOTHER?” BECAUSE CLEARLY, JESUS DID NOT FIT JOHN'S IDEA OF A MESSIAH. JOHN, IN LINE WITH THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETS, EXPECTED A KING LIKE DAVID TO COME AND SAVE ISRAEL AND MAKE IT A GREAT COUNTRY, AND MAKE THE JEWS A GREAT PEOPLE. JOHN EXPECTED A HIGH PRIEST, WHO WOULD FINALLY LEAD THE PEOPLE IN WORSHIPING GOD THE WAY HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE WORSHIPED. AND JOHN EXPECTED THAT WHEN THE MESSIAH MANIFESTED HIMSELF, THE WORLD WOULD BE TURNED UPSIDE DOWN. CERTAINLY IF JESUS IS THE ONE, IT DOESN'T FEEL LIKE IT; JESUS IS GOING AROUND HEALING PEOPLE, TELLING THEM THAT GOD IS LIKE A FATHER, EATING WITH TAX COLLECTORS AND SINNERS, LEADING A BAND OF FOLLOWERS FROM GALILEE OF ALL PLACES – OUT IN THE STICKS. “ARE YOU THE ONE, OR SHALL WE LOOK FOR ANOTHER?”
JESUS, IN HIS ANSWER TO JOHN, GENTLY REBUKES HIM. LOOK, HE IS SAYING, WHAT DID THE PROPHETS SAY ABOUT HOW THINGS WOULD BE WHEN THE MESSIAH CAME? THOSE VERY THINGS ARE HAPPENING RIGHT NOW. YOU'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR SOMEONE WHO FITS YOUR IDEA OF A MESSIAH, WHEN YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN LOOKING TO SEE WHETHER MESSIANIC THINGS ARE HAPPENING.
JOHN HAD GOTTEN HIS PROPHECY PARTLY RIGHT, BUT LIKE YOU AND I, LIKE ANY HUMAN BEING, HE COULD NOT SEE BEYOND HIS OWN IMAGINATION. IF YOU ARE IN CHURCH TODAY, YOU CAME HERE HOPING TO ENCOUNTER THE LIVING GOD. AND MANY OF US DO, WHEN WE COME TO CHURCH. BUT DID YOU ENCOUNTER THAT SAME GOD DURING YOUR WEEK OUT THERE IN THE WORLD? BECAUSE GOD IS ALWAYS BREAKING THROUGH, SHOWING HIMSELF, SPEAKING TO OUR HEARTS – COMMANDS, CONSOLATION, SUGGESTION, REVELATION – IT IS ALWAYS GOING ON, WE'RE JUST NOT TUNED IN. AND HE IS ALWAYS SHOWING US HIMSELF – HIS BEAUTY IN NATURE, HIS LOVE IN A FRIEND OR A SPOUSE, A CHILD OR A PARENT; HE OFFERS UNION WITH US WHEN HE COMES TO US IN THE PERSON OF SOMEONE IN NEED, SOMEONE POOR, OR SICK, OR DISTRESSED. OH, YES, GOD IS PRESENT IN THIS CHURCH. BUT HE IS OUT THERE IN THE WORLD AS WELL, IF ONLY WE OPEN OUR EYES, IF ONLY WE LOOK BEYOND OUR PRECONCEIVED NOTIONS OF WHAT GOD IS LIKE.
BUT JESUS ISN'T THROUGH. HE TURNS TO THE CROWD, THE PEOPLE WHO JUST HEARD HIM SEEM TO CRITICIZE JOHN. TO THE JEWS, PROPHECY WAS A VERY IMPORTANT PART OF THEIR RELIGIOUS LIFE. EVER SINCE ELIJAH, PROPHETS HAD RISEN AMONG THE PEOPLE, TO CRITICIZE KINGS AND TO SET THE PEOPLE STRAIGHT. AND EVERYONE KNEW THERE WERE FALSE PROPHETS. A FALSE PROPHET WAS LIKE A REED, SAYING ONE THING ONE DAY, ANOTHER THE NEXT DAY, DEPENDING ON WHO WAS PAYING HIM. A FALSE PROPHET DIDN'T GO FOR LIVING IN THE DESERT EATING LOCUSTS; THE FALSE PROPHETS THEN, AS NOW, LIVED IN LUXURY. THEN THEY WOULD GO OUT IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE AND MAKE THEIR PROPHECIES; NOW THEY APPEAR ON RADIO AND TELEVISION. JOHN IS A REAL PROPHET, JESUS SAYS, THE GREATEST OF ALL THE PROPHETS. JOHN REALLY DID MAKE THE RIGHT CALL, HE REALLY DID POINT OUT THE MESSIAH, AND PREPARE THE PEOPLE FOR HIS COMING. AND LATER IN HIS CAREER, JESUS WILL CONFIRM WHAT JOHN HAS PREDICTED WHEN JESUS DESCRIBES HIS OWN SECOND COMING. FOR JOHN IS RIGHT, THE MESSIAH WILL COME DOWN FROM HEAVEN, TO JUDGE, AND TO SEPARATE, AND TO SAVE AND TO CONDEMN. ONLY NOT YET.
THERE ARE NO PEOPLE GREATER THAN JOHN, NOT SO FAR; BUT ANYONE WHO IS IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN WILL BE GREATER. AND THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS ALREADY HERE, AND THOSE IN THE KINGDOM ARE JESUS' BROTHERS AND SISTERS, THE ONES WHO CAN WALK DOWN THE STREET AND SEE GOD, THE ONES WHO CAN LOOK AT A FLOWER AND SEE GOD'S BEAUTY, THE ONES WHO CAN SCRUB A KITCHEN FLOOR OR CHANGE A DIAPER, AND SEE HOW THAT IS PART OF GOD'S GREAT ONGOING CREATIVE WORK; THE ONES WHO CAN LOOK AT A BEGGAR ON THE STREET, OR SEE A PICTURE OF A KILLER IN A NEWSPAPER, AND SEE THAT SOMETHING OF GOD STILL SHINES THROUGH THAT PERSON.
JOHN HAD A VERY CLEAR IDEA OF WHAT THE MESSIAH WAS ALL ABOUT. HE WAS NOT WRONG, BUT HIS VISION WAS INCOMPLETE. ADVENT IS A TIME FOR US TO RE-ASSESS OUR OWN VIEW OF THE MESSIAH, WHO WAS NOT FOUND IN A CHURCH OR A PALACE, WHO DID NOT BURST ONTO THE SCENE LEADING AN ARMY OF ANGELS, WHO DID NOT HURL LIGHTNING BOLTS AND SPEAK WITH THUNDER. WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT THE MESSIAH WAS THAT BABY BORN IN A STABLE, TO EXHAUSTED PARENTS TRAVELING FROM A LITTLE FARMING COMMUNITY IN THE NORTHERN PART OF ISRAEL, SO FAR FROM JERUSALEM? AND WHO WOULD THINK THAT THIS COMING WEEK YOU AND I WILL MEET THE MESSIAH – GUARANTEED – BUT MOST OF US WON'T RECOGNIZE HIM. UNLESS WE ARE MEMBERS OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.