Sermon 15.12.2019 3rd Sunday of Advent (A)
Lectionary Readings: Isaiah 35. 1-10, James 5. 7-10, Matthew 11. 2-11.
Our Gospel reading comes from a most interesting chapter in Matthew; in it, except for the briefest sentences setting contexts, we have Jesus speaking throughout. We ‘hear’ Him address different audiences on different issues and like the great teacher that He is, His tone+ emphases varies to suit each particular gathering.
In our passage, with regards to John the Baptist, ‘hear’ Jesus’ admiration, for the anointed baptiser. He tells His listeners:
I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist;
The one aspect, I love about the folk we meet in the bible, is the honesty with which the biblical writers do not gloss over character flaws, or shortcomings. I take this quality of authenticity as a wonderful token of the Holy Spirit.
As with us the folk we meet have no end of shortcomings mixed with virtue ..all in need of God’s love and mercy. Think of Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Rebekah, Moses, Saul, David, Jonah, Hannah, the apostlic companions of Jesus especially John and his brother James, (‘the Sons of Thunder’) and the larger than life character of the wonderful Peter.
There is no place in Scriptures for the fabricated deceits of political correctness.
Our Judaeo- Christian heritage is full to overflowing with ‘a cloud of witnesses’ who have tread the highway to eternity that we now tread. James ,the brother of Jesus, tells us to learn from them.
”As an example of suffering and patience,beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.”
When studying our readings one never knows from where the sermon will emerge. We have the exciting prophetic richness of Isaiah and the blossoming that can take place even if our souls are dry and arid.
For always God’s help is nearer to us than the door. So then our internal
”… wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; li… it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing.”
Then by the action of the Holy Spirit our eyes shall be opened, and our ears unstopped; then we shall leap with vitality, and sing for joy in the LORD.
The reading from James is 4 short verses with a very clear message in which our being patient is written 4 times.
”Be patient… until the coming of the Lord…You must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.”
We believers are still slow to realise that God’s timing is not the same as ours
.For in the LORD’s sight a thousand years are but a day that passes,
We are the current generation of believers who eagerly await his return to us. Hence the importance of us growing in the virtue of patience as we look +wait in expectation….praying come Lord Jesus come and preparing ourselves, with prayer and good works, to see Him face to face.
Our gospel deals with a major crisis of faith in the life of John the Baptist, the cousin of Jesus.
When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?
Bad as John’s physical circumstances are, his spiritual and emotional well-being are in crisis. A crisis of faith +meaning is taking place. What is reportedto him about Jesus has deeply unsettled him. Locked up and isolated he wrestles with doubt and his life long faith+ work is under assault ….. John’s sole function, purpose and responsibility in life was to identify and proclaim;
”… the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”…..(John)came baptising that HE/Messiah/Jesus might be revealed to (the people of God)Israel”…
Now he doubts…..Had he made a mistake and pointed out to the wrong man?
All four Gospel writers describe John’s great preaching ministry in the wilderness, near another Bethany across the Jordan.
Clothed with camel hair and a leather belt…..living on a diet of locusts and wild honey., he ministered the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins to those who sought it and confessed their sins. It was a highly effective ministry.
”Crowds,(from) all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem ..came out to be baptised.”
Even the Temple authorities dispatched the priests, Levites and Pharisees,to engage with him
”and all were questioning…whether he might be Messiah.”
But he declared;
I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord” (for)”After me comes one who is mightier than I..(and)..He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.”
John’s ministry was the voice of the times. He tapped into and help focus the growing sense of expectancy among the Jewish people for their liberating Messiah/King.
But thing were about to radically and permanently change for John and his ministry with the arrival and his baptism of Jesus.
John proclaimed, ”Behold the Lamb of God … I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God”.
The eclipse and decline of John’s ministry started from that moment;
The next day John was standing with two of his disciples and looked at Jesus as he walked by, and repeated ”Behold the Lamb of God”. The two disciple then followed Jesus. One of the disciples was Andrew, Simon/Peter’s brother. The rest is history.
Soon John’s disciples were saying to him;
“Look, Rabbi, the One who was with you beyond the Jordan, the One you testified about—He is baptizing, and everyone is going to Him.”
And John replied; He must increase; I must decrease And so it was. He is being replaced … becoming redundant.
John’s forthright preaching against the immorality of the powerful despot Herod landed John, who lived life under the open sky in a dark dungeon near the Dead Sea…He was cut off from all he had known. Hence his question, frought with doubt, to Jesus.
“Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”
Have I blown my life’s work/mission? Have I failed God and His people ? Did I really read and understand the signs correctly? Did I get it all totally wrong? Jesus is not behaving as we expected Messiah to act.
Our faith’s testing time, is no easy time. It’s a reason why we regularly pray ”Lead us not into temptation/testing”. For here our soul wrestles with the domains of dread, depression and despair. John faces that possibility that in relation to his life’s work ‘he got it all wrong’. What do we hold to when our sense of meaning is disintegrating?
Learn from John and follw his example.
In his dreadful fear He contacted Jesus.He sent messengers. We pray. He waited. We wait.
The form of John’s answer from Jesus was not a ‘yes’ or ‘no’. It came in a form that drove John back into the Scriptures(Isaiah ) and examine his assumptions, reflect on what he has been hearing in the light of Scripture and revise his understanding of what Messiah was to be truly about….In this way the reassuring answer to John’s question…John will find staring him in the face. In order to grow in the Lord, we needs must deepen our relationship and understanding, letting go of false notions.
Jesus said;
“Go and tell John what you hear and see: 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.
The same is true for us. Search the Scriptures in the company of the Holy Spirit of Christ. For we are told;”Seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be open to you”
Let us pray…