Advent 3 WHEN EXPECTATIONS MEET REALITY 12/9 & 12/04
TURN
TO MT. 3/When we worshiped together last week, John the Baptist was
very much the man to meet! John was in
the wilderness and people from all around were coming out there to hear what he
had to say. He veritably shouted of One
who would soon be coming, One who is far greater than John himself, One who
will represent the nearness of the very Kingdom of God, One who brings
unquenchable fire to burn away all impurities and all the impure, One who is so
incredible that not even John the Baptist is worthy to tie the sandals He will
be wearing. John called people a “brood
of vipers”! John reprimanded the people
who fully believed their salvation was secure entirely due to their geneology, their faith-full ancestors of generations gone
by. John instructed that merely saying
“I’m sorry!” is never enough, nor is simply “feeling bad” about something in
your past or present. There must be
evidence, “FRUITS”, indicating a change of life! John was a courageous prophet
who had a massive congregation attending his wilderness church!
But,
that was last week. Tonight/today that great prophetic voice has fallen silent. Matthew 11:1 records that
John is in prison…arrested because he mixed religion with politics…more
specifically, John applied God’s Word to the “lifestyle of the rich and
famous”! Herod Antipas, the ruler of
John,
this once powerful proclaimer in the wilderness, now
sits silently in prison. The crowds that
had once responded to John’s sermons with questions such as “What then should we do?” were gone. It
is John who, now, does the asking. Reading Matthew 11:3/ John got word to his followers to
find Jesus, and ask Him: “Are you the one who is to come, or are we
to wait for another?”
It
seems a rather shocking question, more often asked by Jesus’ worst critics, but
now the question has been asked by Jesus’ best friend and relative. John’s entire ministry…the very purpose
driving his life…had been pointing to Jesus, saying that He was the One long
awaited. Now John asks Jesus, “Are you the one?” What could John possibly mean? What had occurred in these months between
John’s powerful presence in the wilderness and his plaguing doubts in
prison? I’ve lived long enough to know
that even the most stunning religious experience, no matter how dramatic, is
often followed by some let down. Jesus taught that we cannot stay on the
proverbial “spiritual mountaintop” forever.
I imagine the prompting of John’s question is not at all unique to him, nor to his time or circumstance. John expected the arrival of a Messiah who
would fix everything, set things right, correct the wrongs and destroy the
wrong-doers. Jesus was not delivering what John had expected, what John had
announced the Messiah would do.
Jesus
did not meet John’s expectations. John said the Messiah would bring unquenchable
fire and here came Jesus telling people to turn the other cheek. What is John to do…what are the people of our
day, in our congregation, to do…when the reality of Jesus does not match up
with our personal expectations? As the
crowds shouted and jeered at Jesus during the crucifixion, the question can
still be heard today: “If Jesus saved others, why didn’t He save
Himself?” Rather than seeking
revenge, Jesus offers redemption. Rather
than seeking change through force, Jesus pronounces forgiveness. Rather than correct the hurt, Jesus comforts
the hurting. Rather than destroying His
enemies in battle, Jesus seeks to transform His enemies into friends through
blessing. Not what John had expected!
What
do you expect of Jesus? What do you
expect of Jesus’ Church, in this time and place? What do you expect of Jesus people, those men
and women, boys and girls, gathered all around you now and throughout this
community, country, continent, and globe?
When Jesus does not do what we expect Him to do, is our problem more
about faulty expectations than a failing Emmanuel! Will you receive the Messiah as He is, rather
than as you would prefer Him to be? Will
you let God come into your life as God wills, rather than as you wish? The reality is: God is wiser and more generous than we
are. But, then, we did we expect?
Copyright
© December, 2004