The sermon for Sunday, December 11, 2022 was preached by the Rev. Joseph Peters-Mathews, the vicar of St. Hilda St. Patrick. The sermon was preached as a response to Matthew 11.2-11 and based on the manuscript below.
On page 1 of her book on Advent,
Fleming Rutledge says,
“Of all the seasons of the church year,
Advent most closely mirrors the daily lives of Christians
and of the church,
asks the most important ethical questions,
presents the most accurate picture
of the human condition,
and above all, orients us to the future
of the God who will come again.”[1]
This is the season
when we renew our hope and commitment in our believe
that God will come to make everything right.
But it’s been a while.
We live in the already/not yet,
the time where God’s reign is already at hand
but is not yet fully realized.
John the Baptist is there with us
in our passage from Matthew today.
We find out in a few chapters
why he’s been sent to prison —
it has to do with interfering in a minor ruler’s
scheming and relational affairs.
Today we just read in prison
and he’s heard what the Messiah,
God’s anointed one,
is doing.
He sends people who followed him
to ask Jesus
like we do during Advent
and like we do regardless of the season
when we’re worn down
and feel like nothing will get better
“Are you the one who is to come,
or are we to wait for another?”
Not too long ago in the narrative
John was incredulous
that Jesus was coming to him
to be baptized.
John knew that his cousin,
whom he greeted in the womb with a leap
was the one who needed to be washing him.
Now he’s asking Jesus
if he’s the one
or do they need to keep waiting
waiting for a messiah,
a savior to free them.
John sends his disciples
to ask Jesus who he is.
In typical Jesus fashion
Jesus doesn’t answer that question.
Instead of saying who he is
he tells John’s disciples to relay what they’ve seen
and to tell John what Jesus has done
and is doing.
“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.”
As Douglas R. A. Hare says,
“The implicit claim of verse 5 is that Jesus,
in and through whom God is inaugurating the kingdom,
is in fact the promised Messiah,
even though he does not conform
to general expectations concerning this figure.”[2]
From what writings we have,
no one seems to have expected a healer
as the Messiah.
Nevertheless Jesus acts out and points to
what we heard in Isaiah.
“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
then the lame shall leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.”
John, imprisoned,
wants his disciples to find out
or at least get confirmation of
who Jesus is.
We don’t know if they ever report back
to John in prison.
What we know, though,
is that Jesus is not concerned with a title
even as he claims the mantle of the role.
Rather than pointing simply to who he is
Jesus points to what he does.
“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.”
Through these healings
and sharing of Good News with the poor
Jesus brings salvation to humanity.
The idea of salvation,
or getting saved,
might set our teeth on edge.
That’s what Jesus tells John’s disciples
to tell John he’s doing.
The saving that Jesus is doing
isn’t some ethereal escape
it’s not promises of streets of gold
or a place and time of no more tears.
Those are part of salvation,
but the salvation Jesus is reminding disciples he’s brought
is restoration to the fullness of life.
Healing people
brings them back into community.
Salvation is a changed life
with relationships repaired
and humans and God being reconciled
to one another in every direction.
As we are being oriented in Advent
toward the God who will come again
we are waiting for that.
John’s disciples asked Jesus
if they were still waiting for the Messiah
and we don’t believe that we are
not in the same way.
Jesus tells John’s disciples to tell him
what they see and hear.
“Tell him what I’m doing.”
So while we wait,
what do we see Jesus doing?
In our efforts to strive for justice and peace among all people
we can forget that Jesus is the actor behind it all.
In order to give thanks
and to be stewards of what God has given us
and Jesus is doing in our lives
we have to take stock of it.
We don’t see graves opening on a regular basis
which Matthew implies is happening.
I do, however, see people coming back to life.
When they go into recovery
or find peace and health
after living and struggling with disordered eating,
when a new med mixture
helps them stay in this world
and start interacting with other people again
that’s the dead being raised.
When the sock box is full
and we haven’t put the sock in
or someone who can’t make it to church
brings supplies for the little free pantry
that’s good news for the poor.
“Of all the seasons of the church year,
Advent most closely mirrors the daily lives of Christians
and of the church,
asks the most important ethical questions,
presents the most accurate picture
of the human condition,
and above all, orients us to the future
of the God who will come again.”
While we wait,
look and listen for what Jesus is doing.
While we wait,
see the salvation of our God. Amen.
[1] Rutledge, Fleming. Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ (p. 1). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.
[2] Hare, Douglas R. A.. Matthew: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (p. 121). Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.