The Gospel for December 17, 2004 (Ember Day)
Matthew 11:2-15
Now John had heard in prison what Christ was doing and he sent his disciples to ask him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to expect someone else?’ Jesus answered, ‘Go back and tell John what you hear and see; the blind see again, and the lame walk, those suffering from virulent skin–diseases are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life and the good news is proclaimed to the poor; and blessed is anyone who does not find me a cause of falling.’ As the men were leaving, Jesus began to talk to the people about John, ‘What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swaying in the breeze? No? Then what did you go out to see? A man wearing fine clothes? Look, those who wear fine clothes are to be found in palaces. Then what did you go out for? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet: he is the one of whom scripture says: Look, I am going to send my messenger in front of you to prepare your way before you. ‘In truth I tell you, of all the children born to women, there has never been anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of Heaven is greater than he. Since John the Baptist came, up to this present time, the kingdom of Heaven has been subjected to violence and the violent are taking it by storm. Because it was towards John that all the prophecies of the prophets and of the Law were leading; and he, if you will believe me, is the Elijah who was to return. Anyone who has ears should listen!
A Study and Reflection
This text (and its peers) have appeared often in the past few weeks. Just this morning I received the sermon preached by Rufus Lusk this past Sunday, on this text. Rather than my re-hashing my thoughts so soon after exposing them, I'm offering Rufus' excellent thinking on the subject:
Sermon Delivered at
New Hope Lutheran Church, ELCA
www.newhopelutheran.org
Columbia, MD
"Are You the One?"
The Rev. Rufus S. Lusk III
Third Sunday of Advent, December 12, 2004
Scripture: The Gospel of Matthew 11:2-6
Messengers from John the Baptist
When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by
his disciples and said to Jesus, "Are you the one who is to come, or are
we to wait for another?" Jesus answered them, "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. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at
me."
Who was John the Baptist?
On the face of it this is a very peculiar question, posed by the
disciples of John the Baptist to Jesus of Nazareth, "Are you the one who
is to come, or are we to wait for another?" After all, hadn't John
baptized Jesus? Didn't John have an "insider's view" of this situation?
Didn't he know who Jesus really was?
Let's roll back the story a little and try and understand how we
get to this point in Matthew's Gospel narrative.
Who was this character John the Baptist anyway? Clearly he was something
new in the history of Israel, yet he also had deep connections with the
great prophetic tradition of God's Word being delivered by strange
messengers such as Amos, Isaiah and Jeremiah. Like the prophets of old,
John the Baptist wore odd clothes (2 Kings 1.8) and had an unusual
vegetarian diet, "Now John wore clothing of camel's hair with a leather
belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey."
(Matthew 3:4) Moreover, his stark message captured the heart of the
prophetic tradition, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."
(Matthew 3:2)
John the Baptist, whose garb and eating habits were somewhat
other-worldly, i.e. "bizarre", was nevertheless focused absolutely on
this world consequences of behavior. He didn't care an iota about
someone's ancestry, "Do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have
Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones
to raise up children to Abraham." (Matthew 3:9) and he certainly didn't
go out of his way to butter up his audience, "You brood of vipers! Who
warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of
repentance." (Matthew 3:7b-8)
Moreover, John introduced a remarkable innovation. He initiated a new
ritual of baptism in water to signify that someone had assented to God's
way. No one else in the history of Israel had ever baptized before.
Apparently, droves of folks came to be baptized by him. "Then the people
of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region
along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan,
confessing their sins." (Matthew 3:5-6) Whereas the dominant ritual of
introduction to the holy community up till this time was circumcision,
which made it only available for men, now with baptism the way of God
was fully opened to women. This was a sea change in a patriarchal
culture! John's signature rite was so unique from all that had come
before that it becomes appended to his name-John the Baptizer. And so
John is baptizing, all the while declaring, like any good prophet, that
there is one who is greater than he, who is still to come. "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." (Matthew 3:5-6)
John's startling question -- "Are you the one who is to come, or are we
to wait for another?"
And so a young rabbi, in his 30th year, Jesus of Nazareth, comes
out to John. And John says to him, that he should not baptize Jesus, but
Jesus should baptize John. Jesus demurs, saying let it be for now, and
John baptizes him. "And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up
from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the
Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice
from heaven said, 'This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well
pleased.' " (Matthew
3:16-17)
The story now turns its spotlight onto the actions of Rabbi
Jesus as he preaches and teaches and heals and, like John, gathers his
own disciples. We don't hear anymore about John the Baptist until this
present story in Matthew 11. Moreover, there are two critical points to
note with John's
reappearance: apparently John continued to have his own devoted
followers and he has now been imprisoned at Machaerus, about five miles
east of the Dead Sea, by Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great, the
murderer who killed the innocent children at Jesus' birth. And so, from
his prison cell, John sends this startling question to Jesus, "Are you
the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?"
How could John doubt?
How can John possibly doubt? Of course this is the Messiah! No
doubt about that. Next question please. After all, didn't the dove come
down on Jesus at his baptism? Didn't a voice from heaven declare, "This
is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." What more
evidence does one have to assemble? One would think that a voice from
heaven would constitute the ultimate "trump card" of Messiah evidence.
Well, let's cut John some slack and say that he was just trying to be
thorough in doing his due diligence. Maybe John was also a part of those
radicals, loosely known as the Zealots, who imagined that the coming of
God's Christ, God's Messiah, would bring with it fire and brimstone on
all malefactors, bad actors. There is, after all, good evidence of that
in some of the prophets themselves. When Isaiah looks forward to the
coming kingdom of God's Messiah he proclaims, "Here is your God. He will
come with vengeance, with terrible recompense." (Isaiah 35:4b) God's
coming will not be a "happy day" for those whose actions stand in
opposition to God. John was very much in this Isaiah tradition when he
said, "His (The Messiah's) 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." (Matthew 3:12) Who
could really fault John in prison, anticipating his beheading, (see
Matthew 14:1f.) for imagining that the ongoing cruel fate of the
country, continuing to lie under the heel of Rome wasn't exactly an
indication that the Messianic Age had dawned. If the Age of the Messiah
was supposed to usher in a "Peaceable Kingdom" of love, justice and
mercy, John was clearly having trouble viewing that as he looked out his
prison cell. So through back channels John sends a heartfelt query to
Jesus, "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?"
How does Jesus respond?
And how does Jesus respond? Does he say, "Look, John, don't you remember
the dove? What about the voice? Of course, I'm the Messiah. Get with the
program!" No, Jesus doesn't stand on what has happened before. Nor does
he talk about himself per se. He doesn't state, "Look. John, my father
sent me on a mission and I'm actually the second person of the Trinity,
so believe
it, darn it, and get on board." No, rather Jesus directs John's
disciples
to observe what is happening, here and now. "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." Notice that each of theses actions has to do
with a blessing, with the enhancement of life. These are the signs of
God's healing which in the prophet Isaiah indicate that the Messiah is
here, that the new age has broken in. "Then the eyes of the blind shall
be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap
like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy." (Isaiah
35:5-6)
The late Tom Hora, a spiritual teacher par excellence disguised as an
ordinary psychiatrist, used to say that a true spiritual path had to be
"existentially valid". What in the world does that mean? A true Way of
God has to prove itself applicable in existence, in every day life. In
other words, for us very pragmatic Americans, it has to work, to result
in healings -- a little more peace, a little more assurance, a little
more gratitude, a little more love, a little more joy, a little more
justice; all of which are a lot more grace. And that is what Jesus is
saying. "Hey John, of course, I'm the Messiah, how else could all this
good stuff be happening!"
This points directly to the fact that the way that the Way of Jesus is
spread not through force and the way of the sword, but through acts of
loving mercy which bless peoples' lives.
Good doubt
My Yale Divinity School classmate, Will Willamon, now a
Methodist bishop and formerly the preacher at Duke University, likes to
say that you can't get to Christmas without going through John the
Baptist, and so in our lesson today John is a prominent actor, but his
is not an assertion of faith. Thomas isn't the only doubter in the
Gospel stories. Here is John the Baptist as John the Doubter. "Are you
the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" Actually, I
find this a comfort. Here is John, who has the inestimable privilege of
baptizing the Messiah, of witnessing the divine approval of Jesus, and
he still has doubts! In spite of everything John's not totally convinced
that Jesus is the Messiah. But note that John does something with those
doubts, he asks a question. This is so incredibly important to us on the
spiritual path, genuine doubt leads to actual questions. Unlike the
blindly obedient suicidal followers of Osama Bin Laden our Messiah
doesn't demand an unquestioning faith. Rather the way of Jesus is to
honor the question, "Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will
find; knock, and the door will be opened for you." (Matthew 7:7) On the
wall of my daughter's 5th grade classroom at Travilah Elementary School
is the motto, "If you ask dumb questions, you are dumb for five minutes;
if you don't ask dumb questions, you are dumb forever."
A true disciple is getting smarter through honest questions. Doubt is
good if it helps shape a sincere question.
"Are you the one?"
Sometimes Jesus speaks to us very cryptically and we need to struggle
with his words, if we are to receive a blessing, just as the patriarch
Jacob wrestled with an angel through the night. (Genesis 32:22)
"And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me." What could this
really mean? Why did Jesus really say this to John? Let's flip it
around and make it a tad more positive. We could paraphrase it as,
"Blessed or happy are the ones who understand my way." And part of that
understanding is honestly asking those questions, which John does so
well, even though they might seem dumb or embarrassing or even
disrespectful.
John the Baptist's great question, "Are you the one who is to come, or
are we to wait for another?" is really the central question for all of
us as we consider Jesus of Nazareth. Indeed, the whole of the Gospel of
Matthew is really a response to this question. And isn't this a question
which we have all asked, in so many ways, over so many years? "Jesus of
Nazareth, in the midst of confusion, are you the One to give direction?
In the midst of rejection, are you the One who assures me of God's love?
In the midst of grief, are you the One who comforts? In the midst of
war, are you the One to bring peace? In the midst of darkness, are you
the One to bring light? In the midst of lies, are you the One to bring
Truth? Jesus of Nazareth, are you the One?"
Martin Luther says that God continually surprises us. If you and I had
been planning the grand entrance of the Messiah I doubt very much we
would have done it this way, sending him to a captive race at the
outskirts of the known world, and starting his ministry by being
baptized in the River Jordan by this strange prophetic character, John.
Nevertheless, the biggest surprise is that this One, Jesus of Nazareth,
lives and reigns, and blesses our lives. If we honestly question and
seek and search, he reveals himself to us as Messiah, and we can then
join in the praise of Isaiah, "For a child has been born for us, a son
given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
(Isaiah 9:6)
"Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" As we
come this morning to the Table of Jesus let us reflect on this great and
surprising gift that God is for us and has sent Jesus to show us the
Way. We don't need to wait for another.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
To be removed or added to New Hope's e-sermon distribution list, please
send an e-mail to rufus@revlusk.com
Copyright, 2004, New Hope Lutheran church, ELCA
A Collect
O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light riseth up in darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what thou wouldest have us to do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices, and that in thy light we may see light, and in thy straight path may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
5:20:30 PM 
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