Are You the One? - Sermon for the Third Sunday of Advent

Are You the One?

Advent 3A

December 11, 2022

Christ, Preston, MN

Matthew 11.2-11

Ed Friedman was a Jewish rabbi who in addition to his congregational duties, worked with families as well as with clergy of all stripes about church leadership. In one of his books, he talks about Columbus and other earlier explorers. Whatever you think about Columbus, his voyage and those following him helped to unlock the imaginations of 15th & 16th century Europe stuck in the Dark Ages. Friedman’s observation about this event: it took a long time for them to realize what they found was more important than what they were looking for. 

I was reminded of this statement a few years ago during the Nobel Conference XLIX at Gustavus Adolphus College. Astrophysicist and Nobel Laureate Dr. Samuel Ting showed a graphic of roughly a dozen satellites, what scientists were looking for, and what they ultimately discovered. In every case, what the scientists found was more important than what they were looking for.

It took the early church, not to mention John the Baptist and Jesus’ disciples, quite some time to understand this about Jesus as well. It’s the Third Sunday of Advent, which means John the Baptist is featured again. Only this time John is not preaching repentance and the advent of the kingdom but instead is in prison. We don’t learn for three chapters that he’s there because he has been calling Herod, the Jewish ruler, to account because Herod stole his brother’s wife and Herod put John in prison to keep him quiet.

John sends his disciples to ask a strange question, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”  In essence, John is asking Jesus, “When are you going to do what you came to do?” It’s peculiar because, as we heard last week in chapter 3, John had been preparing people for Jesus’ arrival. Also, we know from the Gospel of John (different John) that he and Jesus were related, perhaps second cousins. The only reason for John to ask this question that makes sense to me is that Jesus is not what John expected. Most likely, John was expecting Jesus as the Messiah to be like his ancestor King David, kick Roman butt and restore Israel to its perceived former glory.

Jesus, as he so often does, doesn’t answer directly, but says, “Tell John what you hear and see.” The blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the dead are raised, and the poor receive good news. Jesus’ response does two things: first, it sends John and others back to the scriptures, what we know as the Old Testament, to look for other views of the Messiah. Second, it lets them know Jesus is not going to be bound by their expectations of him. Of course, as the story goes on, of which we know the ending, Jesus does a very un-Messiah-like thing: he dies on a cross.

As we prepare to celebrate Jesus’ coming at Christmas, we are reminded to check our own expectations. What kind of Jesus Messiah are you looking for this year? Is it possible you are limiting God with your expectations? The season of Advent in general and this Sunday in particular invite us to stretch our imaginations about what the power and presence of God looks like, to open us up to where God is working in the world. Can it be that what we find will be far more important than what we are looking for?

When we realize that and discover God’s presence, we experience a deep joy at what God has done, the candle theme for the day. Those desert areas of our lives suddenly blossom and “everlasting joy shall be upon our heads,” as Isaiah 35 says. Jesus is the One, my siblings in Christ, who comes as we least expect to give us what we need. Thanks be to God. Amen.

My sermons often preach a little differently than written and you can find the video here.