John IS NOT having a crisis of faith this week...
I’ve been struggling with this all week... John is a great and powerful man...
bold enough to yell at Pharasee’s at other elite religious people,
bold enough to flaunt religious regulations and start baptizing people in the Jordon,
bold enough in his position and faith to stand up and criticize Herod himself... the local ruler who would seem to have power over life and death itself... This is why John is in prison...
And as John hears what Jesus is up to... he sends his people to ask “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another.”
Sounds like a crisis of faith but in fact, it’s a crisis of certainty. John has waited for Messiah and is waiting for Messiah... and if John has to... he will keep waiting... there is no doubt in his mind that God is going to send a Messiah.
But what is up grabs... is the certainty of what that messiah might look like.... what that messiah might do.
In a sense... the problem is theological as Jesus and John take turns quoting Isaiah... John’s certainty that we heard about last week was along the lines “Behold! Before YOU! FIRE! BEWARE! MESSIAH! RAARR!.
But Jesus comes... the poor are fed, the sick are healed... it’s just a little underwhelming for John... he expected so much more... perhaps someone more like him... I don’t know... I’m speculating... but if John is so sure that he has it all figured out then perhaps Messiah should look like what John is looking for.
John is having a crisis of certainty.
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I’m glad John is having this crisis...
I’m glad that the one that Jesus says “among those born of women, there is none greater that John the baptist” because whether we want to call John’s words today a crisis of faith or a crisis of certainty, the end result was that he was in crisis.
And crisis is with us.
Sometimes it comes in manageable amounts and life moves on. Other weeks the effort to get out of bed is just too daunting.
But this week there were some things that brought people to their knees.
News reports from Ontario have brought us details of child abduction and murder... and no satisfying reason can or will be given... violence is always worse when it is done to the young... the vulnerable... those with so much life left to life.
The details of the police report bring a gruesome closure. The final statements of the one who did this horrible thing are just not satisfying... no good reason for what happened... no defense really. She just did what she did... and now she says she is sorry but there is no explanation... no way to wrap your head around this...
Our expectations of life are turned around... pain and suffering and death becomes so real, that our expectations of what it might be to have a loving God and a Messiah sent to us are all turned around. God is doing something... but it’s not what we expected.
And so we join with John in his crisis of certainty. Jesus, are you the Messiah or, should we be looking for another... looking somewhere else.”
That family and community are now on a journey they did not ask to be on. A journey that means not having a beloved family member. A journey that includes living with a hole where she used to be. A journey that will eventually need to include forgiving the killer... not for the sake of the killer, but for the sake of their own sanity. There is nothing certain in the journey... and likely they can’t imagine how it will be.
Doubt. Hate. Pain. Tears... isloation. They are with John the Baptist in asking “Jesus are you the one?” They are with us in all our doubt and questions and struggles in life.
Jesus... are you the Messiah, or should we be looking for another?
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Today Jesus speaks towards this question.
Jesus does not respond with criticism or judgment.
Instead, Jesus receives John’s doubt, our doubt... Jesus allows the question to be asked. Instead,
And Jesus responds with hope rooted in faith. 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 offense at me. The Messiah has come. And Messiah’s coming will not look like anything we can imagine. The Messiah will do things that no one expects. Things that seemed impossible will become the new reality.
Jesus is not going to act in the way that anyone expects or demands.
Jesus is the messiah who gets down into the dirt with us, who finds us in our doubts.
Jesus does not come as King with a crown of Gold. Jesus’ crown is one of thorns.
Jesus’ throne is not a majestic seat. Jesus’ throne a shameful cross.
Jesus army is not for conquering. Jesus’ army is a group of bumbling fisherman and a small group of women.
Jesus’ kingdom is not about power and oppression but his reign is life and compassion and love.
This Advent, as our questions mount up, as our certainty is eroded, the promised Messiah comes again and again, with answers we do not expect.
The Messiah reminds us that we are not in control, and God’s work in the world is different than we imagine.
The Messiah comes to us, with a faith that is alive, a faith that ties us together as one living body.
The faith that Messiah brings does what certainty cannot. It allows the questions to be asked and the doubt to form, because neither questions nor doubt can diminish the living faith promised by the coming Messiah.
We ask“Are you the One? Or are we to wait for another?”
And Jesus answers“What did you expect? I am the Messiah -- God in flesh.”
Amen.
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