Grace Episcopal Church
December 12, 2010
Today’s readings
There’s one of those British comedies that is often re-run incessantly on Public Television called “Waiting for God.” Set in what we would call a retirement community, it tells the stories of the antics of several irascible elderly people who fight against the community’s administration, their fellow residents, and injustice in their small town. The humor relies on the indomitable spirit of characters caught in situations over which they have no control. The title says it all. “Waiting for God” implies that their lives are over and they are only passing the time until they die.
Waiting for God may be a metaphor for people nearing the end of their lives, but it is also an appropriate image for the Season of Advent. We are waiting for the coming of Christ, and as we wait, we prepare in all kinds of ways for that coming.
In today’s gospel, we encounter John the Baptist, who like those characters in the sit-com, is waiting for the end of his life. Imprisoned by Herod, he must know that he will soon be executed. But he is waiting for God in another way. Having proclaimed the coming of the Reign of God, and the coming of the Messiah, John must be wondering whether his message was the correct one, whether he should be waiting for God.
Today’s gospel reading is one of the most interesting in all of Matthew. In the middle of the gospel of Matthew, Jesus is confronted by several of John the Baptizer’s disciples. John has sent them to Jesus to ask a question: “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”
Matthew puts this episode at in interesting point in his gospel. It’s one of those places where we see the gospel writer at work, very carefully shaping his image of Jesus. In Mark’s gospel, Jesus’ public ministry begins with a series of healings and miracles. While Mark provides a summary of Jesus’ preaching message, he does not give any detail, or show Jesus teaching in his first chapter. By contrast, Matthew moves directly from Jesus’ baptism and temptation in the wilderness to Jesus’ preaching. The first public event of Jesus’ ministry is the Sermon on the Mount which extends from chapters 5 through 7. Only after that, does Matthew show Jesus healing people.
These healings are very carefully constructed as well. There are three sets of three in chapters eight and nine. First, Jesus heals a leper, the centurion’s servant, then Peter’s mother-in-law. Then he crosses the lake, where he stills the storm, casts out a demon and heals a paralyzed person. After calling Matthew, there are three more healings. Jesus raises a girl from the dead, restores sight to two blind men, and gives speech to someone who is mute.
Only then do John’s disciples come with their question: “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”
It’s a puzzling, even surprising question. After all, if anyone should know that Jesus is the Messiah, it ought to be John the Baptizer. According to the gospel of Luke, John and Jesus are cousins, nearly the same age, John is six months older than Jesus. So like any good cousins, they had to have played together as children. Probably, since John’s parents were so old at his birth, they probably even shipped him off to Joseph and Mary during school vacations and summers so they could get some much needed rest.
Then, of course, he baptized Jesus, and according to the Gospel of Matthew, identified him as the Messiah, he saw the dove and heard the voice from heaven announcing, “This is my beloved son.” So how is it that after all of that, John still wonders whether Jesus is the one who is to come? If anyone ought to know who Jesus is, if anyone ought to know that Jesus is the Messiah, surely it’s John the Baptizer. Nonetheless, it is he who poses the question of Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”
This little episode, hardly noticeable in the gospel accounts is very revealing. In spite of everything John the Baptizer knows, he retains some uncertainty. And in spite of everything John the Baptizer should know, Jesus addresses John’s questions directly. He does not ridicule his uncertainty, he does not respond as he so often responds to those who misunderstand him or misinterpret him. He does not say, “Oh ye of little faith!” No he answers the question directly: “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.”
In other words, Jesus clearly answers the question and relates it back to the prophecies in Isaiah that we heard in today’s first lesson, and also in the word’s of today’s Psalm: the lame walk, the deaf hear, the blind see. There’s something about the way in which Jesus answers the question that is important. Note his language: the lame walk, the deaf hear, the blind see. He is not emphasizing his own role in these miracles. Instead, Jesus emphasizes what has been done. It is as if he points away from himself, toward God, toward God’s powerful presence in the world through him. By acknowledging that the lame walk, the blind receive their sight, and deaf hear, we, and John, recognize the presence of God in our midst.
But it’s not enough. It’s not enough for John, and it’s not enough for us. There’s another image in today’s readings that I find of great help. In today’s epistle reading, we are reminded to be patient, to wait the coming of the Lord. As a farmer or gardener must wait for the crops they planted to bear fruit, so too are we told to be patient.
Of course patience is a hard thing to come by at any time of the year, but it may be most difficult in the season of Advent. We all know how eager children are for Christmas. We adults may be equally eager, if only to get it all over with. But there is more to it. In the midst of the hectic pace of Christmas, the shopping, the parties, the planning, we come to church and hear the simple words of the letter of James: “Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.”
It’s a message that is important to hear, and not only during Advent. To wait for God is a very difficult thing to do. It means to allow God to act in the way, and when God wants to act, to allow God to answer our questions, to answer our prayers, in the fashion and at the pace that is God’s time, not ours. The letter of James was written at a time when early Christians were asking the question why the Second Coming hadn’t taken place; that delay was enough to challenge the faith of many. We see John the Baptizer in something of the same position in today’s gospel. For some reason, Jesus’ actions, his ministry did not quite fit the expectations John had of it. So he began to wonder, is Jesus really the Messiah, or should we wait for another?
To wait for God means also to open oneself up to the presence of God. God is here, in the world, God is present in our lives, yet too often we fail to see God’s presence, we fail to sense it. We don’t take the time we need, we don’t take the time that God needs to make that presence real.
But it’s also easy to mistake the presence of God for something else. John had a set of expectations about what the Messiah would be and do. And apparently, those expectations were not met by Jesus’ actions or teachings. The disconnect between the two led to his uncertainty. The same is true for us. There is a cacophony of voices around us in the world, laying claim to being the authentic voice of Christianity and of Christmas. There are shouts that Christians are persecuted in contemporary secular culture, that we have abandoned the truth of the faith in favor of being politically correct.
As Advent moves toward Christmas, as the pace of holiday activity increases, I pray that all of us find time in our daily lives to wait for God, to listen for God’s presence, to look for the signs of God’s coming in our midst. But most importantly, let us allow God to come to us in the fashion and manner, and at the speed, God chooses.
Preaching Grace on the Square 