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?” 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.”
As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written,
‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’
“Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
Sermon by the Rev. Carole Horton-Howe
I was at an event on Friday and ran into some friends I hadn’t seen in quite awhile. Of course I asked about their families. One friend told me that earlier in the week, his wife had called him about noon and asked him to pick up their daughter when her ballet rehearsal ended at 4 o'clock. So my friend says okay I'll leave work a bit early pick her at 4 o'clock.
At 3:05, my friend receives a call from his seventh grade daughter who says “dad, rehearsal ended early. Can you come get me right now?” My friend said, “all right I’ve got to wrap up some loose ends, finish a Zoom meeting. And then I’ll come get you.” The distance between seventh-grade daughter and the church where he’s serving is about a 10 minute drive.
At 3:15, my friend receives another call from his daughter, “Dad, where are you?” “I think,” my friend said, “I need to help my daughter reset her expectations.” And I thought of Advent and John the Baptist and our gospel today. That’s a great way to look at Advent, this season of expectation in which we find ourselves. But also one where we are invited in to examine and even reset our own expectations.
Our lessons this morning, I think, reinforces this. First we hear about the relationship between the people of Israel and John the Baptist. Israel expected the prophet of the Messiah to come in and confirm them - confirm their righteousness to comforting them because of their heritage and rich traditions. But instead, they are summoned to the wilderness where they are confronted and challenged and called to repentance.
Today I think we’re also hearing Jesus help John the Baptist to reset his expectations. We find John in prison, a stark reminder of how his prophetic witness had been received. In the first century, prison was a way station and not a final destination. People were kept in prison awaiting trial until they were exonerated, exiled or executed. During their incarceration, prisoners could have contact with supporters and so be able to keep up on the news of the day. So it’s John likely heard from his own disciples of Jesus’ teaching and healing.
John, as he sits in prison, most assuredly knows that his own path on earth will likely end there. There is no realistic scenario that will allow him to continue preaching and proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom of God. And it seems he is having a severe existential moment about his life's work. He's hearing things that run slightly contrary to his expectations of the Messiah. This is very common and understandable. All the gospels report that those who encountered Jesus were regularly confused about who he really was. Jesus himself eventually asked his disciples “who do people say that I am.” They think you are Elijah. They think you are Moses the answers came.
Do we now find John questioning his lifelong path and wondering did he misunderstand from the beginning what Jesus was about? So John sends his disciples to Jesus to ask that crucial question – “are you the one we’ve been waiting for?”
In response, and so lovingly, Jesus replies with a blessing. John knows the prophecies of Isaiah and Jesus reminds him: the blind see, the lepers are healed, the dead are raised. It's already happening, Jesus tells John’s followers. And in doing so, Jesus helps John to see and to hear that the kingdom of God is always nearer than we expect. It's more likely nearer to the street corner where the needy gather than it is to the great halls of power. Just like today: the Kingdom of God is a lot nearer every weekday from 3 – 4 on our patio than it is 2 blocks away at Whittier City Hall.
In our epistle lesson written about 12-15 years after the death of Jesus, James is helping the church itself to reset its expectations. This entire letter is written to a church in conflict but it's a conflict that James sees as a positive. It's what happens when the church decides it’s serious about wanting to be agents of peace and ambassadors of reconciliation, that it really wants to be the sacramental presence of Jesus Christ in the world. Which is complicated stuff.
And so there are going to be disagreements. There are going to be differences of opinion. But James writes to the church: are you going to grumble against each other just because you're going through conflict and you've got some bad actors who are misbehaving? Are you going to turn on one another? Or are you going to work through it together remembering you share the same mission? James likens them to a farmer who has to wait between the rains - between the early rain and then the late rain. The farmer is situated in between, during a season that requires a lot of work and a lot of faith and a lot of patience. It's a dry time. But the rains will come.
This morning, the third Sunday of Advent, we lit the candle of joy the candle. It represents not so much the joy that we have but the joy that we hope for. It's not so much the joy we possess as the joy we are promised. This is not the joy you get from clicking and ordering something and the next day - with free 2-day shipping - it shows up on your front porch. All that is fine. But it’s different. Joy that we're reminded of through these lessons. It is the joy that Christ comes to us in forms of healing and repentance, in recommitment and renewal calling us to reset our expectations in faith, to help one another have faith between the rains.
It is James after all who sets expectations in his letter this way: consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you endure the testing of your faith. For the testing of your faith produces endurance and endurance will have its perfect end: our maturity and our completeness in Christ. That’s a sweet promise.
But it was that hard question that John’s disciples posed to Jesus that really grabs our attention today. John’s question is for Jesus but also for all of us perhaps to help us discern why are we here at this time and in this place today: Are you the one we’ve been waiting for?
Are you the one whose service to others is going to give them new insight into what it means to be a servant of God?
Are you the one who is going to identify the yearnings of the world, bring them into the church and challenge people there to respond with energy and love?
Are you the one who will bring the compassion of Jesus to heal the hearts of family and friends, even when your own heart is breaking?
Are you the one that will so beautifully, so joyfully reflect the light of God into the world that others say to themselves, “I want that, too.”
Are you the one who will stand with victims of abuse, who will find the voice to speak for those who cannot speak?
Are you the one who has no idea what you’re being called to do but is willing to be open and receptive to the workings of the spirit confident that you will see, that you will hear just what that is?
This Advent season we wait for the tiny infant who will teach and inspire and startle and redeem all our longings, and give life to all our questions and inspire us to answer them. Amen.