Dec. 12 (Third Sunday of Advent)
Gospel Text -- Matthew 11:2-11
As I reflect on the texts for today, two related themes jump out at me.
The first is the coming of the Lord and the second is our patient endurance
until He comes. One one hand we eagerly expect Jesusʼ return and the
ushering in of His Kingdom. On the other we realize that He has not yet
returned and that His Kingdom is not here in its fullness. John Wimber
described this as the “now, but not yet” of the Kingdom.
Isaiah gives both a beautiful and startling account of “the great and
terrible Day of the Lord.” He begins by speaking about the desert and
wilderness becoming fruitful and glorious once more. The dry places will
have abundant water and the wild places will become well tended gardens.
We are want to keep reading about the glorious things to come - the blind
eyes see, the crippled legs dance, the mute tongues sing for the very first
time and on and on it goes. But before we get to all of those wonderful
things that will happen in the Millennial Kingdom and beyond, we must first
experience the coming of the Lord.
In verses three and four, Isaiah speaks prophetically to the people
who will see that great and terrible Day of the Lordʼs return. He encourages
them to strengthen their feeble hands and steady their weak knees. He
encourages them to be strong and not fear for the Lord is coming to save
them. All of this sounds great until Isaiah describes how God is going to
save His people. “He will come with vengeance; with divine retribution He
will come to save you.”
I cannot think of a single thing so opposite of the “Christmas spirit” as
the idea of divine retribution. I mean, come on, what is a text like this doing
in the readings for Advent? Arenʼt we supposed to be focused on love and
joy and good will towards men? Isnʼt that what Christmas is all about?
No, its not. Christmas is about Christ - Jesus - who, though He was
and is fully God, chose to come to earth as a baby so that He might take on
our frailty and redeem a people for Himself. Jesus inaugurated the Day of
the Lord over 2,000 years ago when He was born in Bethlehem. When He
returns it will be the full consummation of all that He has planned.
Christmas is the time when we focus on Christ, when we focus on who He
is and what He came to do. Jesus is the full expression of God, who
revealed Himself to Moses saying “I am who I am and I will be who I will
be.” Christmas is the time when we take Jesus at face value, when we try
to understand Jesus as who He has revealed Himself to be, not the Jesus
we try to make Him be to fit our own needs and wants.
John the Baptist tried to pressure Jesus into being who John wanted
Him to be. That is the Gospel reading for today.
John is in prison and starts hearing stories of what Jesus is doing.
Now John was very well aware that Jesus was the Son of God, the Christ,
the Anointed One - after all, John baptized Jesus in the Jordan and saw the
heavens rent, he saw the Spirit descend on Jesus like a dove and John
heard the audible voice of God say, “This is my Beloved Son, with Him I am
well pleased.” So why on earth would John send his disciples to ask Jesus
“Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”
Quite simply, Jesus wasnʼt living up to Johnʼs expectations. John
knew Jesus was King, and yet he was still in prison. John had his own
ideas about how God should run his Kingdom - and those ideas didnʼt
involve personal suffering in the least!
John wanted Jesus to be an earthly king. He wanted Jesus to storm
Herodʼs palace, kill the trouble maker and set John free. John wanted
Jesus to run things the way John would have run them. And that is the
foolishness that you and I battle every day. We forget that we were made in
Godʼs image. He was not made in ours.
Jesus gently reminds John of this in the answer He gives to Johnʼs
disciples. He says ʻYes John, I am the One who was to come. The blind
see, the lame walk, the diseased are cured and the dead are raised - my
Kingdom is breaking into this world. But John, I am not coming for you. My
plan for you is that you will die by Herodʼs hand. You will be blessed if you
do not fall away on account of me.ʼ
Phew, what a response. How hard that must have been to receive.
How hard it still is to receive. Jesus is not like us. He is for us, that is, He
works everything for our good, but He does it in His own way. He is
Sovereign, He is Lord of all. He will be who He will be and He will not be
chained by our own expectations of how things should be. I think C.S.
Lewis said it best in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - “Heʼs not a
tame Lion, but He is Good!”
And it is that Goodness that we trust in most dearly. To come face to
face with an unpredictable God is a terrifying thing, but He reveals Himself
to us in ways that cause us to trust Him, even as He maintains His mystery.
To Moses God said, “the Lord, the Lord, (I am, I am,) the
compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and
faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness,
rebellion and sin. Yet I do not leave the guilty unpunished.”
So even as God declares His independence to “be who He will be”
He also reveals to us His character, the motivations of His heart. He is
compassionate, He loves grace and mercy, He is slow to anger and
overflowing with love. He is faithful and also just. God says to Malachi, “I,
the Lord, do not change!”
Praise God for that, for it means that in every circumstance God is
good and merciful and caring and just and compassionate and loving and
faithful. And it is those qualities, God very character, that we trust in, even
in difficult and trying times. That is what Jesus was trying to tell John. That
is what Jesus is trying to tell us, even now.
James confirms this in our New Testament reading. “Be patient
brothers... do not grumble, the Judge is at the door! My brothers, as an
example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke
in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have
persevered. You have heard of Jobʼs perseverance and have seen what
the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”
This is the heart of the matter: even while we eagerly anticipate the
Day of our Lordʼs return, we must patiently bear with our present
circumstances. And if those present circumstances are undesirable
(sickness, persecution, suffering, death) then we trust in the character of
our God who works all things for our good. There is a statement I want to
unpack and then we will close.
God will use the least severe means possible, to reach the greatest
number of people at the deepest level of love while still maintaining human
free will. How do we know that?
God is merciful, He does not delight in the destruction of the wicked
so He will use the least severe means of reaching people that He can.
Godʼs desire is that everyone will be saved. Therefore, He wants to
reach the entire world with the Gospel of salvation.
God is loving and compassionate. He wants people who will be His
bride, His friend. He wants people who will voluntarily respond to His heart
in love. That is why He wants to reach people at the deepest level of love
possible. It is also why He so valiantly protects human free will. He does
not want robots nor does He want people who cower before Him and are
too afraid to come near. God is a gentleman, He will not force Himself upon
anyone.
And so we trust in Godʼs character, who it is that He has revealed
Himself to be, in every circumstance. We trust that in everything - pain,
trial, temptation, persecution, blessing, abundance - God is working all
things for our good. We trust that in everything He is Good and gracious,
merciful and compassionate, just and righteous, faithful and loving. We
trust that He is using the least severe means possible to reach the greatest
number of people at the deepest level of love while still maintaining human
free will.
This is who God has revealed Himself to be, this is the God we serve.
This is the God whom we anticipate this Advent season. Even as we
remember His first coming, we anticipate His second. And we hope to say
with the Apostle Paul, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth
comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” To the praise and glory
of God our Father, Amen.
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