Matthew 11:2-11
Are You the One?
James Sledge December
15, 2013 – Advent 3
“Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait
for another?” What
a strange question, at least it is coming from John the Baptist. When Jesus
came to be baptized by him in the Jordan River, John had initially refused. “I
need to be baptized by you,” he protested. Jesus was the one he had
foretold, the one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit. Why on earth would
John baptize him. But Jesus had insisted, saying it was necessary “to
fulfill all righteousness,” and John had relented. Now however, John
seems to be having second thoughts. Maybe Jesus was not who John thought he
was, who he hoped he was.
Have
you ever been really sure about something, only to doubt or even regret it
later? I may have told you before about a seminary classmate whose call to
become a pastor led him to go back to college to finish his degree so he could
be accepted at seminary. Then he flunked out in his first semester at seminary.
I don’t know what happened to him after that, but I’d be surprised if he still felt called.
In
today’s economy there are many who went to college and pursued a degree,
assuming that it would lead them to a good and rewarding career. But now such
hopes seem to have evaporated, and they may wonder about or regret their
earlier choices.
Six
years ago, people bought houses, certain that the value would only go up. The
nation elected a black president and hoped that this meant we had turned a
corner on racism and entered a new era. But if anything, racist attitudes seem
to have been inflamed.
The
list goes on and on: the coach who will finally turn our team around or the
politician who will change the way Washington works. On a personal level there
is that acquisition that will make us happy, content, cool, or hip, and there
is that new job that is perfect and will leave us fulfilled and rewarded. But
things don’t always work out like we had hoped.
John
the Baptist had felt a call from God. He was supposed to get people ready for
something wonderful and new. God was about to change everything, and people
needed to prepare, to repent, to clean the slate so they join in this new
thing. A Messiah was coming who would toss out the corrupt leaders at the
Jerusalem Temple, who would lift up the
oppressed, make sure Herod got what was coming to him, and restore
Israel to its former glory. As John said about this Messiah to those who came
for baptism, “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing
floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn
with unquenchable fire.” Something’s a ‘coming , folks, and you’d
better get ready.
But
now John was in prison, wondering what Herod would eventually do with him. As
John awaited his fate, he surely knew it would not end well. And nothing he had
expected seemed to be happening. Herod was still in power. Rome was still in
power. The Temple priests were still in power, and the world didn’t look any
different. No wonder he sent some of his followers to ask Jesus, “Are you the
one?”
Luke’s
gospel tells of a very similar disappointment from some of Jesus’ disciples on
the day of Easter. Two disciples on the road to Emmaus meet the risen Jesus but
do not recognize him. These two have heard the women’s story of the empty tomb
and angels who said Jesus was alive, yet they say, “But we had hoped that he was the
one to redeem Israel.” We had hoped he was the one. But hopes don’t
always pan out.
I
think John the Baptist asks a question that a lot of church folks would like to
ask but often aren’t willing to say out loud. “Are you the one?” That’s a big
question, and who knows where it might lead? For some, asking such a question
threatens their faith. For others, asking the question would force them to
define their faith. Better to leave it unsaid.
I
wonder if the gradual evolution of Advent into a month long Christmas
celebration doesn’t arise, at least in part, from an avoidance of John’s question.
Christmas is all about celebrating a beautiful, wonderful, hopeful story
without actually getting too deep into that story’s implications, without
worrying too much about the identity of this babe in a manger.
Advent,
on the other hand, is about getting ready, about changing so that we began to
fit and conform to the new thing this baby will bring. But that involves
difficult questions about who Jesus is, who we are, and what it means to follow
him. Let’s just celebrate Christmas.
Are
you the one? I’m not sure it is possible to be a Christian without answering
that question, and so it is a good thing John asks it for those of us who
scared or embarrassed or hesitant to ask it ourselves. One of my preaching
commentaries said, “It is a relief when someone else asks our question. We are
doubly helped when the one who does the asking is the brightest kid in class.
If the one with all the answers does not know the answer, then we do not feel
so bad about not knowing it ourselves.”[1]
And John, the one Jesus says is the greatest prophet ever born, asks, “Are you
the one?”
Jesus
answers, but as so often happens, his answer is somewhat elliptical. He speaks
of his healing ministry which, like health care in America, has profound social
implications. The blind, lame, and deaf had no real possibilities in Jesus’
world. All they could do was beg. Jesus ministers to this bottom tier of
society, and he says that he brings good news to the poor, to the destitute and
oppressed.
And
as Jesus finishes his answer for John, he includes this curious line. “And
blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me,” who does not stumble
over Jesus, who is not embarrassed or scandalized by him. But there is much
about Jesus that bothers us, that embarrasses and offends us. He says things
that make us squirm, and insists we do things we’d rather not. At least the
baby Jesus at Christmas doesn’t have any of these problems. He’s just a baby, a
sweet story with animals and angels and shepherds and talk of peace on earth.
But this is Advent, and not Christmas.
And we are preparing for this one who is coming, whom we are called to follow,
and John asks the question that we often avoid, and that must be answered. “Are
you the one?”
_____________________________________________________________________________
Some
time ago, Diane (our other pastor) noted that there are almost no images of
Jesus in our church; no paintings on the walls, no stained glass windows depicting
him. Now granted there is lot of really bad, Jesus artwork out there, and I
don’t mind its being absent. But this nearly complete absence is rather
conspicuous when you think about it.
What
does your picture of Jesus look like? More importantly, who is your Jesus? Where
does he fit into your faith and into the possibilities and hope and joy we
celebrate at Christmas? Jesus is the hinge point of Christian faith, its
absolute center. Forget trivial, ridiculous concerns about keeping Christ in
Christmas, about “Merry Christmas” rather than “Happy Holidays.” I’m talking
about Jesus as the very core of what we will soon celebrate, the very core of the
faith we profess, and the very core of the life we are called to live. And for any
of that to make sense, for Christian faith to make sense, Jesus must be, in
some way, The One.
Are
you the one? Jesus apparently was not the one John had been expecting, but
Jesus invited him to look again and see God at work. And in this season of
waiting and preparing, we would do well to engage John’s question, to look
again at Jesus, and hopefully discover that we can indeed glimpse the one who
is to come.
All praise and
glory to the one in whom all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.
[1] Bartlett, David
L.; Taylor, Barbara Brown (2011-05-31). Feasting on the Word: Year A, Volume 1,
Advent through Transfiguration (Kindle Locations 2704-2706). Westminster John
Knox Press. Kindle Edition.
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