Third Sunday in Advent: "Are You the One?"

+ 3^rd Sunday in Advent – December 15^th, 2019 +

Series A: Isaiah 35; James 5:7-11; Matthew 11:2-15

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

There’s a fun little show my family occasionally watches Netflix, called Nailed It. Even if you’ve never seen it, the premise is simple. Three amateur bakers are given a picture of a dessert, ingredients, recipe, and 40 minutes to match the photo. When finished, the guest says, “nailed it”… even though they clearly didn’t. 

This time of the year can feel like we’re living in an episode of Nailed It. Hopes and expectations run high. We want our Christmas food and festivities, decorations and dinner plans, parties and presents to be just right. And yet so often it feels like the Grinch stole our hopes and expectations.

Maybe our Christmas dessert or decorations turn out nothing like it looks on Pinterest. Maybe we find ourselves like, Ralphie disappointed in his long expected red-ryder bb gun, or flummoxed like Clark W. Griswold’s comedic and disastrous Christmas Vacation. Sooner or later we learn the hard truth; reality doesn’t always live up to our expectations.

In Matthew 11, expectations are high as well. John, no doubt, had certain expectations about the Messiah. The crowds that followed John had certain expectations about this fiery wilderness preacher and the Messiah he was preparing them to receive.

John the Baptist correctly identified Jesus as the Coming One, the Messiah. And yet, what he sees and hears doesn’t seem to match his preaching. Instead of judgment, a winnowing fork, and unquenchable fire, Jesus comes with compassion, humility, and in weakness. John’s expectations don’t seem to match the reality of Jesus’ work. “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

The crowds have expectations of their as well. They heard John’s fiery preaching of repentance and forgiveness and the arrival of God’s kingdom and reign in Jesus. And yet “What did you expect to see out there in wilderness?”, asks Jesus. A celebrity? A wilderness sideshow? No. A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

Jesus doesn’t come always come as we, or John, or the crowds expect him to. But therein lies the good news. Even though Jesus doesn’t come as we expect, his unexpected coming gives us everything we need, and more: his unexpected mercy; his undeserved grace; his unconditional love in his birth for us, his life laid down for us, his rising from the dead for us. A happy ending far greater than we could have ever imagined or expected.

Still, our expectations don’t always match God’s reality. It’s not hard to imagine why John asks his question. He’s in prison. Wrestling. Doubting. Wondering. Asking. “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” “I said the right things. Did what God had sent me to do. Proclaimed Jesus as the coming Messiah. I was at the Jordan when the heavens opened. I heard the Father’s voice. I saw the dove descend. Yet, here I sit, in prison. Are you the one?”

At some point we’ve all been where John was. Sitting in some kind of prison, be it physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual. We’ve all been there with John, in the dark. Wrestling. Doubting. Wondering. Asking: “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

And so often our expectations seem to be greeted with disappointment from within, from others, and sometimes, so it feels, even from God himself. When the cancer doesn’t go away. When the job interview doesn’t go well. When the marriage, family, or close friendship falls apart. When guilt and shame weigh us down. John’s question give voice to our own questions. Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

When everything looks hopeless, and all our expectations have failed, that’s when God does his greatest work. That’s when God does what He always does, when creates something out of nothing. A light in the darkness. Hope for the hopeless. The power, glory, and majesty of God himself, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger, and his arms stretched out on the cross…for you.

Jesus doesn’t leave us, or John, in the darkness. Jesus responds with the signs. signs of healing and new creation. The blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the unclean are clean again, the dead rise, the poor hear good news. The signs reveal to faith what the eye cannot see and the ear cannot hear.

The kingdom of God has come in Jesus. The Son of God has come in the flesh. The age of Messiah has dawned. His light shines in the darkness, even as the darkness seems to prevail and have the upper hand. Herod holds John in prison. He may temporarily silence the preacher of repentance. But the Lion of Judah is running loose in Herod’s kingdom. He has come to deal with Sin and Death once and for all by His own dying and rising. 

Whatever John’s expectations of the Messiah were, whatever our expectations of Jesus are, we receive something far greater in Jesus. A Messiah who receives a sinners’ baptism. A humble Savior who eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners. The Alpha and Omega who comes for the least, the lost, the last, and the lowly. The Lord of Life who conquered death by diving headlong into the darkness. 

Is there power in the reign of Jesus? Yes, power in his Word of repentance and the forgiveness of sins, in humble and hidden forms of water, word, bread and wine. Is there glory in the reign of Jesus? Yes, glory in the most unexpected place of all, in Jesus’ death on the cross. Will Jesus’ glory be seen throughout all creation? Yes, one day, but not yet. 

In these dark and latter days, we too may doubt and wonder if Jesus is the one. Faith and doubt go together as saint and sinner. Doubt comes with waiting, with unfulfilled expectations, with delayed gratifications, with living in the “now” of Jesus’ death and resurrection, while waiting for the “not yet” of the final resurrection.

So, whether it’s today, tomorrow, next week, or next year - whenever you find yourself asking John’s question: “Are you the One, Jesus?” Jesus has the same answer for us as he did for John. YES! 

Take in the signs. We who are sin-deafened receive forgiveness. We who were dead are raised to life in Baptism. We who were imprisoned by sin are set free and forgiven. Our eyes of unbelief are opened. We who are poor in spirit hear the Good News. Jesus has come for you. Jesus comes for you, today. And he will come again for you.

Jesus may not come as we expect, but in his unexpected coming he gives us everything we need, and more: his unexpected mercy; his undeserved grace; his unconditional love.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.