TITLE: ARE YOU THE ONE?
SCRIPTURE: ST.MATTHEW 11:2-11
This morning we will begin our ADVENT season and begin our journey leading to the celebration of the Birth of the Christ Child. The word ‘ADVENT’ is Latin for 'A COMING OR ARRIVAL'. The idea behind it is that God came to earthly life and lived among us, which is news to stop the presses for. It's something to CELEBRATE – REJOICE - because just by being in it, God was giving the supreme blessing to the created world. So we begin our four week journey anticipating the Coming or Arrival of the greatest news the world has ever received.
I will be the first to admit this morning – ADVENT HAS FALLEN ON HARD TIMES. The average church in America is no longer familiar with the Term. For most people, it's become a time to get ready for whatever you're doing with family and friends on Christmas, and not a time to get ready for the CHRIST CHILD. The bigger Christmas became, the more it swallowed up Advent. In fact, whatever Christmas thing we think of as being done before Christmas Day is actually done in ADVENT. In the US, everything after Thanksgiving is now seen as a part of Christmas. The main problem is not that Christmas intrudes on Advent or the other way around. The meaning of Advent is found in Christmas. The real problem is that people no longer keep their Christmas focus on Christ:
• Then Christless Christmas saps Christ from Advent
• Practicing Advent as a religious season may help recover Christmas
• But it can't do it by itself
• If you don't look to Jesus every day in every season, you'll lose Advent, Christmas, Lent, and even Easter
• It'll be a tiring rush, not a loving celebration
• It'll be about family or money or image and not our loving Maker
So Advent my Brothers and Sisters is a time of WAITING.
• Advent is a time of waiting and wondering
• Advent is a time of looking back and looking forward
• Advent is a time of hoping and searching
• Advent is the time of light shining in the darkness
• Advent is the time of peace overcoming conflict and war
• Advent is the time of warmth entering the cold of the world we live in
• Advent is a time of new beginnings – often small, but almost always significant
So today we begin our JOURNEY THROUGH ADVENT. The excitement starts building up. Four (4) weeks to go, and it is Christmas again. What a joy it will be to experience Christmas on a Sunday this year. Only true Believers will be able to appreciate this as it only comes around on a Sunday once every seven years. So many Church Folks will not even come to church on Christmas being on a Sunday this year. They will be too busy failing to remember the True REASON FOR THE SEASON. During this Advent season, we are reminded of all that still needs to be done.
• We make plans with friends and family
• We decorate our homes
• We take time to decorate the Sanctuary
• We have all these activities actually because we are called to recall what this season is about
• Joy - Peace - Light - Happiness
In a strange sort of way, I believe that something like that was running through John's mind as he sat in that prison. God’s people had gone through a rather long WAITING PERIOD. He and his people had hoped and prayed for years for a Messiah, one anointed by God to lead the nation, a deliverer who would VANQUISH OCCUPYING FORCES - conquer all enemies, establish a great kingdom, and usher in an era of PEACE and PROSPERITY. In time past, and not that long ago, John had come to believe that the prayers had been answered. The Messiah was none other than his own cousin, Jesus of Nazareth.
Let’s FAST FORWARD to our text. John, whom we refer to as the Baptist or the Baptizer had a Powerful ministry for a few years. Then he was ARRESTED. Even though he located himself out in the wilderness near the Jordan, great crowds came to hear him. When you have a message, the people will come, as long as the message is from God. He had powerful words for the audiences for their need for REPENTANCE from sin and right living. He certainly refused to mince words - he was ABRASIVE – INSULTING – ALMOST MEAN AT TIMES. And that is not to mention the wild hair and strange clothes. And what is with the diet of locusts and wild honey?
• Still, all sorts of people had come to hear his preaching
• Rich men - Poor men - Beggar men - Thieves
• His celebrity status had become such that even the high society religious types made their way out to the desert to see him
• He insulted them along with everybody else
• All to prepare the nation for the coming of Messiah
Here he was in the wilderness doing what he was Called – Birthed to do. Then one strange day, everything changed. That magnificent day when JESUS CAME TO THE JORDAN. John knew that this was the one.
• After that encounter, the two went their separate ways
• John continued with his powerful public proclamation
• Jesus with his somewhat different approach
• No doubt John noticed
• John was out there in the wilderness with locusts for lunch
• While Jesus was changing water into wine
• John screamed at sinners
• Jesus ate dinner with them
• John preached fire and brimstone
• Jesus preached "love one another"
I was talking with a preacher from Ardmore a few days ago. We agreed if you want to start an argument talk about RELIGION and POLITICS. There is a nasty debate going on and people picking sides as it pertains to the NBA LOCKOUT. The debates have been MEAN SPIRITED at times. We agreed that there is now a THIRD CATEGORY as it pertains to arguments that we must add to go along with RELIGION and POLITICS. If you want an argument, talk about the SALARY LEVEL OF PROFESSIONAL SPORTS.
Now John is in prison because he BROKE THIS CARDINAL RULE. He is now found in a FILTHY – NASTY – FOUL – DARK place in Prison. He had preached just one sermon too many, and this one MIXED RELIGION WITH POLITICS - dangerous anytime. It seems that King Herod Antipas had taken up with his half-niece, Herodias, problem enough according to Jewish Law - but it seems she was already married to his own brother, making it all the worse. John was an OLD SCHOOL KIND OF PREACHER and thundered that such ought not to be. TRUTH BE TOLD, POWERFUL PEOPLE DO NOT LIKE TO BE CHALLENGED BY POWERFUL PREACHING, THEN OR NOW. They ignore it if they can, but when the people start to listen in, they do what they can to silence it. Apparently the people of Judea were listening and probably laughing at the PALACE SOAP OPERA. The drama between these two brothers would have made for PERFECT REALITY TV. So John now sits in Jail.
So John now sits in prison. You can’t blame him as he begins to struggle with his thoughts about the Messiah. In a situation like this whose mind would not begin to wonder and to even Question? 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 - the ax - the judgment he’s supposed to bring?
• And why, if he’s here, would he let me stay in this place?
• I’ve heard rumors about Jesus
• I thought I knew him well
I am sure that John’s mind began to REVISIT that glorious day in the Jordan when he was blessed and honored to BAPTIZE Jesus. He knew that everything would change from that very moment. But This? God’s whole plan was being put into play. But, where is he now? Why isn’t he doing what I said he would do? Is he really the one or should I look for another? Wondering, having doubts, is that okay? Do we shy away from these questions of doubts? As Christians do we secretly think doubts and questions of faith are wrong? Who of us have not cried out with John:
• Are You the One?
• Are you the Christ, or shall we look for another?
• When life gets tough and we see innocent people suffer
• When the bad so often succeed while the good fail
• When life seems to continuously beat us down
John is not so far away from us, is he? And it dawns on me that we probably have to understand with John, I suppose 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, with all the dangers and risks of personal encounters.
John had been receiving reports as to his Cousin Jesus – the Messiah. The reports, however; gave no clue that Jesus was thinking about OVERTHROWING Caesar or Herod or anybody else. There were some intriguing stories of miraculous occurrences in places where Jesus was – BUT NO REVOLUTION.
• The Messiah?
• The answer to our nation's prayers?
• Well, Jesus, if you are, understand that you are not what we prayed for
John, knowing that his days were numbered, sent word from prison via his own disciples, a simple question requiring only a yes or no answer from Jesus. “Are you he who is to come,” John asked, “or shall we look for another?” It was a FAIR QUESTION given John’s DISILLUSIONMENT and PRECARIOUS situation.
• After all, he was the one who had baptized Jesus
• He was the one that heard the voice saying – This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased
• He was the one that say the Holy Spirit descend from heaven like a dove and rest on Jesus
• He was the one who had preached a gospel of repentance
• He was the one who prepared the way of the Lord, so that Jesus might walk onto a stage in history set for his appearance
No one knows how John got his question to his followers. After all, there were no modern niceties like Visiting Hours in ancient dungeons. There were no FACEBOOK friends list – no TWITTER accounts – no INSTANT MESSAGING on Cell Phone. But somehow a message was delivered. These followers of John come to Jesus and relay John's question: "ART THOU HE THAT SHOULD COME OR SHALL WE LOOK FOR ANOTHER?”
Yes, John had his doubts, he questioned, he wondered, but he did not stay with those doubts, he sought ANSWERS. He sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he was the one!? If he was the Messiah?! We are here this morning on this first Sunday of Advent because we too had questions and we were not satisfied, until we also sought some Answers. What drove John’s question was the same thing that drives ours – FEAR. Trusting someone else is hard enough when it’s something little like repairing your car or fixing the garbage disposal. But having confidence in the decision of all decisions – what do I do with my SOUL? – Now that makes us fearful - or it should.
I used to wonder why Jesus just couldn’t give his poor imprisoned cousin John a STRAIGHT ANSWER; just tell him “YES” or “NO” Jesus! But we serve a God who never wastes an OPPORTUNITY TO INCREASE OUR FAITH. Had Jesus just given a simple “yes” John would have been in the same spot wondering. But, by pointing to the EVIDENCE, Jesus kept the issue of faith and personal decision in the forefront.
Jesus didn’t reply, “Of course I’m the one. And here are reasons one, two, and three.” He didn’t offer his
DAVIDIC PEDIGREE. He didn’t mention that he was born of a Virgin and angels heralded his birth. He didn’t remind John of the Voice that had spoken from heaven at the moment of his baptism. Jesus answers John’s question, not with just words, but he tells the disciples what has been done in his name - the name of Jesus. The BLIND see, the DEAF hear, the LAME walk. The good news of God has been brought to the earth. Jesus did not come with just the grim news of REPENTANCE - but with a love which says you are FORGIVEN - you are to be made whole, you are good just as you are.
• Jesus was telling them, "Look around, see what happens, and decide for yourselves
• What does the evidence show?
• Have the blind received sight?"
• Can you remember the blind man Jesus met on the road?
• Making a paste from the dust in the road Jesus touched his eyes and his vision returned
• So, Are You the One?
• Can you remember the deaf man who Jesus touched?
• Or the man who lay by the pool for 38 years, and then stood up, took his mat and walked?
• What do you think? Are You the One?
• What would Lazarus have answered – raised from the dead?
• Or the woman caught in adultery - who Jesus did not condemn?
• Jesus’ answers John’s doubts lovingly by quoting the PROPHECY OF ISAIAH
The question for us today is do we have some doubts, too? Doubts about God? -- Doubts about God’s love for us? -- Doubts about where God is for us when our circumstances get difficult -- Doubts when life itself shakes us to the core?
• Those doubts come when we face cancer
• When we face the death of a loved one
• We face a job loss
• When we endure abuse in the family
• These things and others can shake us to the core of our beliefs
• Are You the One?
PETER doubted and sank - as his eyes left Jesus as He was walking on the water. And again, in the courtyard as Peter denied His savior three times. THOMAS doubted and refused to believe Jesus had been raised from the dead unless he personally saw the scars as proof. God’s answer to both of them was “STOP DOUBTING AND BELIEVE.”
Jesus knew John’s dilemma: “You prayed for an answer, but I am not the one you imagined.” Jesus knows the Hebrew people did not always know what to make of him. It is our dilemma as well. And he says, Hang in there with me, trust me, see what is happening little by little, and know that peace and wholeness is truly God’s will, God’s intention, for the world. But it won’t come by military might or political power.
Jesus answers John’s doubt in an interesting way. Jesus hears John’s DISAPPOINTMENT but urges John to look at the world in a new way, to look, as someone has suggested, “WITH ESCHATOLOGICAL EYES.”
• Don’t put on rose colored glasses
• Put on glasses that sharpen the vision
• Put on glasses that see farther than the present moment
• Put on glasses that bring into focus that larger project that Jesus has taken on
• Put on glasses that look past what is broken, charred, and disappointing and catch a glimpse of the kingdom of heaven that is on its way and that is evident from time to time
• That’s what Jesus is asking John to do
• That what Jesus is asking us to do during this Advent Season
John was in prison, LITERALLY and SPIRITUALLY - when he sent his anxious message to Jesus. We don’t know whether the answer his disciples brought back released him from his anxiety or not. But what we know is that Jesus Christ, the son of God, comes to release people. He releases us from our inner prisons of fear and meaninglessness, and shows us where to go! May he come afresh to each one of us on our journey through Advent, through this season in which we prepare for and celebrate God’s coming. It can transform the way we live. It can transform the world into a place where power is shared, and all have what they need, a world in which people can live in relationship, in celebration, in joy and in peace.
If you're like John, stuck in the prison of your sins and the broken sinful prison of life around you. If you're looking for a word of ENCOURAGEMENT – a word of JOY during this Advent Season - Look, and listen. Don't just look to the bright lights, and listen only to the carols piped into the shopping malls. Look to Jesus. Listen to Jesus – hear the true message during this holiday and holy day season.
--So this Advent season should answer many questions for some
--This Advent season should reassure others
--This Advent season should be revealing to many
--This Advent season should awaken all of our Hopes and or Dreams
