What Do You Expect?

Matthew 11:2-11

December 15, 2013

Advent 3

Last week we got John yelling to prepare the way,

and this week he’s in prison.

And he sends one of his disciples to Jesus to ask Jesus a question.

Now, I love hearing in this story that John has his own disciples.

I get images of rival religious gangs

wandering around the streets of Galilee.

Marking off their own turf. Using secret signs.

But I always wonder,

Why did John’s disciples not go and follow Jesus as soon

as he came onto the scene?

Why didn’t John even become one of Jesus’ disciples?

I think it’s because John had his own separate ministry to carry out.

John and his disciples were called to point to Jesus

the one to come, or at least point to that

empty place where he knew Jesus would eventually be.

Last week we heard John’s description of the Messiah:

John said, “I baptize with water,

but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

His 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.”

John is full of fire and confidence himself.

 

But this week, about 8 chapters later,

John is in prison and maybe he’s not sure about whether

he’s on the right track.

It seems like Jesus is the one, but John doesn’t seem sure.

Is it possible that our intrepid prophet John is feeling doubtful?

So close to what we know is the answer he’s looking for,

when John’s whole purpose was coming to fruition
Was John the Baptist feeling some doubt?

Or even disappointment at what he was seeing?

“Are you the one we’re waiting for or is there another?”

Now doubt and disappointment might not seem

like the kind of things we should be talking about on Christmas.

But maybe they are very appropriate.

The holidays, are supposed to be a time of celebration,

peace, and joy, but because of the high expectation we put on it,

they can also be a time of disappointment, let downs and sadness.

Many years people face Christmas with dread because of things like

death, divorce, downsizing, loneliness, separation from family.

Or we see the injustice and irony of celebrating when there is still war, still poverty, hunger, violence,

still people dying senseless deaths.

Or maybe we’re disappointed in ourselves and where we have

or haven’t come to since last Christmas.

 

When we’re told we should be seeing the light is when

the darkness sometimes seems the most unbreakable.

These times that television and tradition tell us are so joyful

the divide between what is and what should be seems greater.

Is this what we’ve been waiting for? Or is there something else.

I think it’s kind of comforting to see a strong, fearless man

like John the Baptist feeling doubt and disappointment.

To know that Jesus doesn’t rely on the constant strength

and endless hope even of his most prominent people

is kind of hopeful in itself.

Now the answer that Jesus gives to John’s disciples

probably doesn’t seem very satisfying: Jesus just says,

“Remind John what you’ve seen:

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.”

Maybe John was too busy looking for the pitch fork, the fire,

the thrashing floor the wheat divided from the chaff

Maybe John was looking for that absolute,

confident assurance that we sometimes look for.

Maybe John was looking for something else

and he missed the miracles that were happening right in front of him.

When our expectations get us down,

that is the time when we need to start noticing

the small miracles that God is doing every day:

That we have enough food to eat for today

that one person has shown concern for us

one act of forgiveness, one note of thanks,

One world leader who shakes the hand of another,

one wave, one neighbor who shovels your driveway without asking

one child is given a toy that they wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.

The slow and steady movement of the Spirit in our world.

Sometimes like John, it’s our expectations

that get in our way of seeing all that God is doing

Joseph Campbell the great religious thinking wrote:

We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned,
so we can have the life that is waiting for us.

We are the people of God,

we are the messengers that have been sent ahead.

We are the ones who have been called to prepare God's way.

But we don’t need to always be strong or optimistic.

We just need to see the small slivers of light in the darkness.

We are called to point out the slow and steady

movement of the Spirit, the coming of the Kingdom of God.

We might not know exactly what God is up to

But whenever someone asks where God is,

We can say with confidence that the

Kingdom of God is near

God is with us