Isaiah 7:10-16, Psalm
80:1-7, 16-18, Romans 1:1-7, Matthew
1:18-25
Last week we heard the message of John the Baptist loud and
clear. He was getting the path ready for the Messiah. He was baptizing with
water but the Messiah would baptize with the Holy Spirit. He brought people out
of their comfort zone by taking them into the wilderness, to hear his call to
repent and get ready. John’s ways of delivering this message were a bit on the
dramatic side, but it got it got their attention and they listened. People
listened so much so that they became his disciples, they thought that he might
be the Messiah even though he said he was preparing them for someone else.
This week we have fast-forwarded a bit in the biblical
narrative of John the Baptist. As he awaits his trial before Herod and
what could ultimately be his end John is wondering about Jesus, wondering if
Jesus is the one whom he has been preparing the way for, wondering if his
cousin could be the Messiah. John was wondering because Jesus did not exactly
fit with the idea of the Messiah that the Israelite prophets of old had
foretold. The Israelites thought that the Messiah would be more like King
David, more of a soldier. They were hoping for a hero, a knight in shining
armor who is destined for glory, as many of tales and myths contain. They
were hoping for someone who would ultimately overthrow their foreign occupiers
and bring about a time of peace and a right relationship with God.
But that is not who Jesus is, yet it is exactly what Jesus
did. Jesus did not come in grand fashion, speaking a big game, and flexing his
power. He did not set out to tear down the yoke of oppression and degradation
with the sword and the blood of others. No, instead he sought to reorder
society according to God’s will and not the corruptible will of humans. Jesus
proclaimed the coming of the Kingdom
of God.
He associated with the marginalized, those whom society had cast out to the fringes, left to fend for themselves. He healed the sick, when all other forms of medical treatment had failed and hope for a cure had faded. He befriended tax collectors and centurions, agents of Rome, who were reviled by the Israelites. He may not have set out to change to change the world, but that is what he did. Those in power feared his message. Those without power were given hope. This is the Messiah that God sent to us, not King David 2.0.
He associated with the marginalized, those whom society had cast out to the fringes, left to fend for themselves. He healed the sick, when all other forms of medical treatment had failed and hope for a cure had faded. He befriended tax collectors and centurions, agents of Rome, who were reviled by the Israelites. He may not have set out to change to change the world, but that is what he did. Those in power feared his message. Those without power were given hope. This is the Messiah that God sent to us, not King David 2.0.
This is why John is in jail scratching his head. It
is reasonable to assume that John had heard hushed whispers spoken in the
shadows of the radical nature of Jesus’ actions and message. And so John sends
his disciples to ask Jesus, point blank, if he (Jesus) is the one who is to
come or if the people are still waiting for the Messiah. Of course Jesus does
not give a straight yes or a no to the question, because in typical Synoptic
Gospels fashion Jesus does not declare openly that he is the Messiah. He does
not proclaim himself; he proclaims the kingdom of God.
He says, “look around at what is happening. The kingdom is being seen all
around. The things that Isaiah foretold in his prophecies are now taking place.”
After Jesus makes his typically cryptic response, he seems
to change the subject. As John’s disciples are leaving Jesus turns the
conversation from being about him to being about John. He asks the crowd about
what they have seen and experienced in the wilderness. He tells them that John
is more than a prophet, he is the greatest of all humans. But there are persons
even greater in the kingdom of heaven. They are greater in the sense that,
while John stood before the coming of the kingdom, the disciples of Jesus stand
within it.
The response of Jesus to John’s question is to portray
messiahship in a new way. He shows that he is fulfilling what the prophets had
said the Messiah would do, but he is doing it in a way that is different than
they expected.
Jesus is indeed fulfilling the prophecies that were
foretold of the Messiah. Isaiah writes, “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.” This is the proof that Jesus offers to
John’s disciples so that they can know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he is
the Messiah. These acts of grace are the signs of the presence of God in their
midst. This is what the Kingdom
of God on earth is
supposed to be like. Jesus did not come to gain earthly power. No, he came
among the people to serve them, bringing new life and hope. Instead of casting
away those persons who are at the margins of society, it is precisely to those
people that the Messiah came to restore and save.
The season of advent seeks to open us up to new ways of
thinking and acting. It is a time of expectation and a time of changing those
expectations. It is a time of waiting for the coming of the Savior into the
world. And what happens when he comes? He comes among us to stir us up out of
our routine. He comes among us to open our eyes so that we can see the
world the way God views it. He comes among us a reminder that there are those
who are left out, on the margins of society, and who are in need.[1]
As disciples we are called to carry on the ministry of Christ to all of God’s
people.
How are
you being stirred this advent season? How are your expectations being
challenged? What are you going to do about it?
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