“Are you the one who is to come?”

Meditation on Matthew 11:2-11

Third Sunday in Advent 2013

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        When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’ Jesus answered them, ‘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. And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.’

       As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind?  What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.”
        Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

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       I went shopping with Jim to buy Christmas cards and curling ribbon this week. You know, the kind you wrap around packages, tie in a bow, and then you curl the ends with your scissors?

      Curling ribbon takes me back to when I was a kid. I used to enjoy helping my mom wrap Christmas presents for our family.  Mom shopped early—sometimes beginning in July. But then we would wait to wrap the presents just a few days or even the night before Christmas.

    The house would smell like fresh baked cookies—because we always baked at the last minute, too. And Mom and I would close ourselves in her room, where she hid the unwrapped presents in her closet throughout the year. She would open bags and hand me the gifts one one by one, telling me this one was for Steve, Susan, Dad, Grandma. And so on. Then it was my job to wrap. 

      The wrapping paper wasn’t fancy.  Mom usually bought it at K-Mart in jumbo packs on sale the day after Christmas the previous year.  If we ran out of paper at the last minute, we used the comics from the Sunday newspaper. We hardly ever bought any new bows. We reused the same ones from year to year.  We didn’t buy fancy tags—not like the pretty, self-stick on ones they sell nowadays with all the glitter. We made our own tags by cutting and folding small scraps of wrapping paper.  But we almost always had curling ribbon.  Mom bought large spools in red, green and white.

     My challenge was to wrap each present so that someone like my brother—who would pick it up, examine it carefully and shake it—wouldn’t be able to figure out what it was. But mostly, the challenge was to make the ordinary, inexpensive, every day items, such as the plain white handkerchiefs we gave to my father every year, seem less ordinary, more valuable.  More special. 

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     In our Matthew reading today, John is in prison when he hears about the wonderful things that the Messiah is doing. He sends his disciples with a message to Jesus, asking, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”

    What is remarkable to me, at first reading, is that John doesn’t seem to know Jesus is the Messiah. How can that be? John, according to Luke, was born to Elizabeth, an older relative of Mary’s, just a few months before Jesus was born. In Luke, Elizabeth, pregnant with John, recognizes the Messiah when he is still in the womb and young Mary, who has just heard from the angel Gabriel, shows up at Elizabeth’s door.

    And then I think, is it possible that it wasn’t that John didn’t know Jesus—but that he just wanted to make sure the one people were calling the Messiah was really Jesus? Their ministries had taken them to different places, and John had begun his public ministry—to prepare the way for the Messiah—before Jesus began his public ministry. They may have lost touch with one another.

      It is also possible that Jesus was not recognizable as the Messiah—even to John. He wasn’t what everybody expected; he wasn’t the sort of King of Kings and Lord of Lords for which God’s people waited. He wasn’t well educated. His family didn’t have money or high status. Joseph, his earthly father, was just a simple carpenter. They lived in a small, insignificant place that was often left off ancient maps. Jesus was criticized for being too friendly with the wrong kind of people— “eating and drinking” with sinners.  In short, Jesus may have seemed too ordinary for some people to accept as the Savior for all people.

      But Jesus turns our attention away from his appearance, earthly identity, and family. When John’s disciples ask our Lord, “are you the one who is to come?” Jesus doesn’t say, “Yes, it’s me. Your cousin, Jesus.” He points to the miracles that happen when he preaches, prays and ministers to people in need. Jesus, fully human but without sin and perfectly obedient to God, always turns our eyes toward the Heavenly Father and His righteous Kingdom to come.

     Jesus answers John’s disciples by pointing to the fulfillment of Scripture. The signs of the coming Messiah? The blind can see. The lame can walk.  The lepers are cleansed.  The deaf can hear. The dead are brought back to life! The poor have been brought good news!

     John’s disciples leave satisfied, and Jesus continues to speak about the value of the poor and humble in the Kingdom of God. He teaches how we are unable to make ourselves worthy enough through human efforts to enter the Kingdom of God when He uses the example of John the Baptist. John, who pursued a holy life by living in the wilderness, dressing in camel’s hair, and avoiding meat and alcohol, is indeed greater than all other human beings, Jesus says. Yet he is not greater than even the least in the Kingdom of God.

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     Friends, John the Baptist, the holiest of all human beings, fell short of the righteousness of the least of all the people in the Kingdom of God. Even John the Baptist was not good enough!

      The only way we can be ready for God’s Kingdom is to realize our need for a Savior—and that our Savior is ALL that we need.

      We think we have to be like those Christmas presents we tie with ribbon and place under the tree. Fixing ourselves up on the outside, without considering what we are trying to cover up on the inside. We are afraid to allow others to see us as we really are. We hide our sins and our vulnerabilities, worried that people won’t like or respect us.      

      But we can’t hide from God. He already knows we are all broken and hurting. He knows that we all need the Spirit’s daily, redemptive, healing work in our lives. And He knows that we need each other—for encouragement and strength to walk this journey of faith.

     In the Lord’s Kingdom, God will raise up the humble—and bring down the proud.  So come to the Lord, just as you are.  Don’t try to make yourself more appealing or more valuable to Him. You are already precious and priceless. He willingly, lovingly, paid for your life—and mine—through His Son’s death on a cross.

   He asks only that we accept His gift of love and new life. That we open our hearts to Him.

   And believe!

   Christ is with us now in Spirit!

   He is the One who is to come!

Let us pray.

Holy Lord, we recognize our need for you—that we cannot be saved without you.  We have tried and tried to make ourselves good enough, to cover up our vulnerabilities and weaknesses, thinking others will like and respect us more. We stay away from you, make ourselves busy with other things or find other excuses not to come to you, when you wait for us with arms open wide, ready to bring us into your embrace.  Thank you for the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ, who died so that we may live abundantly, with joy—and live for all eternity with You. Keep our focus on your Kingdom, Lord, and away from the many distractions of this world. We pray now to the One who is to come! Come, Lord Jesus.  Come soon! Amen!