What Do You Hear and See?
Dec. 12, 2004
Matthew 11:2-11:11
Third Sunday in Advent Sermon
About now in the Christmas season, we’re starting to feel the stress of getting everything done. With all the hustle and bustle, I thought we needed to be reminded why Christmas is a good idea. Without Christmas…
• The candied fruit market would completely collapse!
• Our boring, uneventful lives would have no stress at all!
• Eggnog would just be a slimy, high cholesterol beverage.
• Santa would be a strange fat man with poor fashion sense!
• Three words— “No Christmas bonus!”
• You'd have to spend your own money buying stuff that doesn't fit.
• We would never wonder if reindeer really know how to fly.
• Your cat would never know the joy of coughing up tinsel!
• Number one reason—without Christmas, there could be no Easter!
Listen to these words, as spoken by Jesus and recorded by Matthew: Now when Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and proclaim his message in their cities. 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.
A pastor tells the following story:" I served a rural Indiana church as a student. In reading the minutes of the. church council some years ago, I came across the following: Elder Smith recommends we hire Mr. Johnson as our student minister. He has a background in music and a history of outstanding youth work. Music and youth are two areas of church life where we need improvement. Eighteen months later there was another entry: Elder Jones made the motion that we fire Mr. Johnson, our student minister. The man spends too much time working with the kids in the church and it seems all we do is sing during the worship service. We need more preaching and someone to work with the older people."
Mr. Johnson didn’t know what to expect from his church council. He tried to please them in one area, and they changed their expectations of him. John had the same problems with Jesus. John had preached that the Messiah was coming, someone who would save them. He told the people to repent, to change their ways, or they would go to hell. But, then Jesus comes and his preaching is one of compassion, of love, and John doesn’t quite know what to expect. SO, he tells his disciples to go to Jesus and ask Jesus if he is the one, if he is the Messiah, if he is the one who has come to save the people, or should we keep looking?
John had doubts about who Jesus was. Are you the one? He wasn’t sure Jesus was the one. And he wanted—needed—to be sure. As he sat in jail, he struggled with what he had heard about Jesus. He questioned, he had doubts, he wondered.
He might have been thinking, "Lord, where did I go wrong? I did what I thought you wanted. I said what I thought you wanted me to say. You told me that the Messiah was coming. But where is he? Where’s the fire, you not save me from this awful place? I’ve heard rumors about you. I thought I knew my cousin pretty well. I remember that day in the Jordan when I baptized you, Jesus. What a glorious day. I knew it was all just the beginning then. God’s whole plan was being put into play. But, where is the Messiah now? If you are the Savior, the Christ, why aren’t you doing what I told people you would do? I thought my ministry was to prepare the people for your coming, how can I do that stuck here? Are you the one or should I look for another?
What Child is this who, laid to rest, on Mary’s lap is sleeping? What child?
Wondering, having doubts, is that okay? Is it okay for a long-ago disciple of Jesus? Is it okay for us? Do we shy away from these questions of doubts ? As Christians, do we ever talk about our doubts or do we think that having questions about faith are wrong?
Well, let’s look at Jesus’ answer to John’s questions of doubt, as he sent them through mutual friends. You may want to look at Jesus’ words in Matthew 11, verses 4-6. Does Jesus read John the riot act, yelling at him for questioning whether or not Jesus is who he says he is? Jesus could have said, “For goodness’ sake, John, you of all people should believe!” Or he could’ve just ignored John’s questions, since John was in prison.
But Jesus doesn’t chastise or ignore John. Jesus told his other followers to “Go tell John” what you’ve been seeing and hearing. Tell him how I have made the blind see, the crippled people walk, the deaf to hear. Go tell John how I have raised dead people, brought them back to life! Go tell John I have given good news to the poor.
God is right there in our struggles of doubt, making himself known through our doubts and questions. Doubting is a vital part of our faith and questioning helps us find the answers that assure us.
Who of us have not cried out with John, “Are you the Christ, or shall we look for another? When life gets tough and we see innocent people suffer, are You the One? The bad so often succeed in this world while the good people fail and die. When we face a world locked in the death grip of one meaningless war after another; when we witness the destruction of nature as greed and desire for comforts drain the earth of her natural resources; when we choke on pollution and stumble over the wrecked Savior, why this? Must we, shall we, look for another?”
When will we learn that faith does not have all the answers? Faith is a risk. Faith is a life of trust, not of certainty and security. God never promised answers to all our questions. God never promised life without stress. He promises and gives only himself, and it’s always just enough, just what we need.
So we don’t have faith without doubt, but faith within doubts. It’s not the answers we possess but it’s Who possesses us. We may doubt God, but God never doubts us. We may not know God but He with absolute certainty knows us. This is the good news. This is our life as a follower, as a Christian. This is the love that will never let us go. (PAUSE)
So John had his doubts, he questioned, he wondered, but the one thing he didn’t do was to let his doubts immobilize him, turn him away from Jesus. He sought answers. He sent his friends to ask Jesus if He was the one, if He was the Messiah.
And Jesus answers John’s question, not just with words, but He tells the disciples to tell John what they have seen. The blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk. The good news of God has been brought to the earth in the form of a minister, Jesus Christ. Jesus came not with the grim news of “you gotta change or you die,” but with the good news of the Bible which says you are forgiven, you are to be made whole, you are cleansed.
But see, John had been preaching grim justice and pictured God as a steely-eyed thresher of grain. Jesus, though, preached forgiving love and pictured God as the host of a marvelous party and a father who can’t bring himself to throw his children out even when they spit in his eye.
John said people had better save themselves before it was too late. Jesus said it was God who saved them, and even if you blew your whole bankroll on wild living like the Prodigal Son, even if you had married five different men, it still wasn’t too late. While John ate locusts and honey in the wilderness with the religious people, Jesus ate whatever he felt like in Jerusalem with as sleazy a bunch as you could expect to find—criminals, prostitutes, tax collectors.
Jesus was telling his followers, "Look around you at the evidence, and decide for yourselves. What does the evidence show? Didn’t I take dust from the road, make a paste with it, touch the eyes of the blind man and he was able to see? And what about others who have been blind to the truth about themselves and about God, but who’ve found that I opened their eyes in other ways. Go tell John what you have seen.
Jesus didn’t fit John’s expectations, but Jesus said loud and clear through His actions that He was indeed the Messiah. The world was changing, God’s great plan of salvation was unfolding in the world, and even though it wasn’t as John thought it would be, it was still through his cousin, Jesus, and Jesus was definitely “The One.”
I wonder what John thought when his friends, who had witnessed all the miraculous acts of Christ, did return with the news about Jesus? Did he now believe with certainty that Jesus was the one? Did he see the good news that all who are sinners could be saved from eternal death unfolding upon the earth? Could he sense the hope, the life, the grace that Jesus was bringing to all people? I hope so.
Expectation, disappointment and unfulfillment are a part of our lives. Like John the Baptist, we must continue to ask questions, not to be consoled until we are satisfied with the truth about Jesus our Lord. There is a lot about our world that would seek to distract us, just as there was in the days of John the Baptist.
Perhaps we might be a bit jaded about Christmas. Our expectations may be dulled to say the least. I wonder if that is because we have become so familiar with this season that we fail to see things fresh and new. In the movie, “Elf,” the elf is a full-grown man who was mistakenly left at the North Pole as a baby. When he is full-grown, the mistake is discovered and he is returned to his real parents and works as an elf in a department store at Christmas time. When he hears through the store employees that Santa is coming, he cannot overcome his excitement for his long-lost hero. “I know him!” he shouts, clapping his hands and jumping up and down. “I know him!”
If only we could be as excited about the coming Christ child, the baby in the manger, the Messiah, the Savior of the world. We may know ‘the truth’ about Santa Claus, we may know that the 25th of December is not really Jesus’ birthday, we may even know that when the scriptures talk about a ‘virgin’ that word may also be interpreted as ‘a young woman.’ But we should not let our familiarity with the story rob us of the expectation of new insights into the meaning of the incarnation, that God himself came to earth as a human, through His Son, Jesus. I KNOW HIM! IT’S JESUS! AND I KNOW HIM!
God is indeed saving the world. Sometimes it is in front of us that we cannot see the forest for the trees. We must stop look, feel and experience God’s redeeming work all around us. God will not quit until every single person on this planet has heard the good news that accepting Jesus as the Lord of your life will lead to eternal life in heaven. And sometimes, God uses us to do that work. We are to “Go tell John—and Jane, Sarah, Patty, Tim, Ron, Don, Jim, Susie, and everyone we can.” Go tell the world what Christ has done in your life and what you have seen him do in the lives of others.
What Child is this who, laid to rest, on Mary’s lap is sleeping?
He is the Savior, the Messiah!!
PLEASE PRAY WITH ME: God, we want to believe, help us in our times of unbelief. Help us to experience the love, the light, the joy and the hope of Christmas, fresh and new this year. Amen.
BENEDICTION: Dare to ask questions! True faith allows plenty of room for honest doubt. Follow Christ on the path inside your heart no matter where it leads. Live your faith as if it matters. Amen.
A STORY FOR THE CHILDREN: Say, “There are many things we see at Christmas that we might think don’t have anything to do with Jesus. But some of them really do!
Then reach in a bag and pull out a FIR TREE (maybe a small artificial tree, or point to the tree in the sanctuary). Say, “The color of the fir tree remains green all year round, a symbol of the everlasting hope we have. All the needles point up, toward heaven, making it a symbol of how our own thoughts look toward heaven."
Reach into your bag and pull out a STAR. Say, “the star was the heavenly sign of promises long ago. God promised a Savior for the world, and the star was the sign of fulfillment of His promise."
Reach into your bag and pull out a CANDLE (or call their attention to the candles on the altar).
Say, "the candle symbolizes that Christ is the light of the world, and when we see this great light we are reminded that Jesus can take away the dark.”
Reach into your bag and remove a WREATH and say, " the wreath symbolizes the real nature of love. Real love never ends. Love is one continuous circle of affection."
Reach in your bag and take out a HOLLY LEAF and say, “Do you know what this is? It’s a holly leaf. The holly plant has thorns and also has pretty little red berries. It represents the crown of thorns worn by our Savior right before his death. The little red berries represents the blood shed by Him."
The next thing you take from your bag is a GIFT. Say, “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son as a gift to the world so we could go to heaven someday..."
The last thing you take from your bag is a CANDY CANE (or use one from the sanctuary tree). Say, “the candy cane represents the shepherds' crook. The crook on the staff helps to bring back strayed sheep to the flock. The candy cane is the symbol that we are supposed to look out for each other. Then give the children a candy cane.
