December 15 sermon

Text: Matthew 11:2-11
Preached December 15 at First Lutheran Church (after December 12 services were canceled)


Grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

So the weather has been a little frustrating lately—have you noticed? I think I’ve had eight different events canceled so far this season, starting with a youth trip in mid-November when we got that wet, slushy snow.

I was looking forward to preaching at First English in Faribault Saturday night, and here on Sunday, but neither of those services happened, of course. It’s so disappointing to be cheated out of a Sunday of Advent, when there are only four to begin with!

This time of year is often full of disappointed hopes and unfulfilled expectations, isn’t it? Maybe we have our hearts set on a particular Christmas gift, but it doesn’t appear under the tree. Maybe we’re determined to recreate a treasured family recipe, but our lefse or meatballs or cookies never seem to turn out quite like Grandma’s.

Maybe we have a detailed vision of what our holiday gatherings should be like, with the whole family together and lots of laughter. But then bad weather keeps us apart, or illness or conflict smudges the rosy picture we had painted in our minds.

Yes, there’s a reason this time of year can be stressful for many of us, and a lot of it has to do with expectations that just don’t play out the way we want them to.

I think John the Baptist was dealing with some unmet expectations too. He sent his followers to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” It sounds to me like John was experiencing a little uncertainty about who Jesus really was.

Jesus wasn’t quite fitting into John’s concept of what the Messiah would be like. John was facing a pretty stark reality. Judea was under Roman occupation. John himself had been thrown in prison by the Roman-appointed leader of the region.

In fact, he was about to be executed. And whether he realized that or not, John must have suspected that things would not end well for him. Calling people vipers and condemning their sin didn’t win him any friends among the elite and influential.

John may have been expecting a Messiah in the grand tradition of King David. A Messiah who moved in powerful circles and had influence on society. A conquering Messiah who would end Roman rule and restore Israel’s independence. A Messiah who would judge righteousness according to the law and dole out punishment accordingly.

Jesus wasn’t fitting into these expectations very well. Jesus was moving outside the system of social power, eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus was healing and forgiving and proclaiming salvation to everyone who believed in him, even the outcast and unclean. Jesus was declaring people righteous on the basis of their faith in him, in spite of their failures and faults.

Jesus’ answer to John was unexpected as well. John asked a simple yes or no question: “Are you the one who is to come?” Are you the Messiah or not?

But Jesus, true to form, didn’t give a simple yes or no answer. Instead, he pointed to what was happening. He pointed to his own work: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.”

Jesus opened the eyes of the blind in a literal, physical sense. Jesus also opened the eyes of the blind in a metaphorical sense. “Look around you,” Jesus says. “Extraordinary things are taking place and I am making them happen! There is a new reality being born in your very midst, and I am at the center of it. Look and see!”

And Jesus goes on to say, “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” Jesus fulfills his role on his own terms, according to God’s will, not our expectations.

Blessed is the one who trusts me to handle things my way, Jesus says. Blessed is the one who knows she is in good hands with me. Blessed is the one who can let go of his expectations and allow me to meet his needs instead.

That’s really the key, isn’t it? Jesus the Messiah may not meet our expectations, but he does meet our needs. Those who have eyes to see and ears to hear can recognize the kingdom of God come near in Jesus.

But, often, we are too weighed down with our heavy day-to-day reality that we fail to see Jesus at work in our midst. Often we are so caught up in our expectations of the Messiah that we miss the Messiah who is actually moving among us.

And it’s not surprising, is it? The world is a painfully broken place. There’s a lot to be concerned about and caught up in. War rages around the globe. Oppressive dictators strip citizens of basic human rights. Children die every day from starvation and AIDS and a host of other diseases.

Families and individuals struggle to maintain adequate food, clothing, and shelter. Even locally, there are angel trees for Christmas gifts all over the place. And many of the tags I’ve seen ask for necessities like socks and other clothing, or pots and pans for cooking.

We all have friends or loved ones facing physical or mental illness, addiction, isolation, grief, or family conflict. Many of us have dealt with these things ourselves, and perhaps continue to do so.

We may not be facing imprisonment and impending execution like John the Baptist was, but our reality can also be quite bleak at times. So what are our expectations amidst this reality? What are we looking for in the Messiah?

Well, I generally want a Messiah who makes things clear and simple. Give me a checklist to follow and let me be in control of my own destiny. I don’t want my Messiah meddling too much or trying to be too intimately involved in my life. After all, then he might see all the weaknesses I’d rather keep hidden.

I want the consequences to be predictable—keep the checklist and you’re good with God; break the rules, and you’re in trouble. All my little slip-ups here and there can surely be overlooked, but those “other” people who do really bad things should get what’s coming to them.

On the other hand, I also want my Messiah “on call” for emergencies. Sometimes it just doesn’t work to do things my way, and my Messiah should be ready and able to clean up my mess when I ask him to!

This is not the Messiah we get in Jesus Christ, is it? Jesus doesn’t meet our expectations any more than he met John’s.

What we get in Jesus Christ is not a distant Messiah who leaves us to our own devices or lets us hide from him. This is not a Messiah who smoothes out life so it’s always clear and simple. Instead, this Messiah joins us in the messy complexity of human life. This Messiah seeks us out. This Messiah comes to us—as a baby in a manger, of all things.

The picture of humility—parents who were nobodies and literally “born in a barn.”
The picture of vulnerability—what could be more helpless than a newborn?
The picture of intimacy—God himself dwelling among us, becoming one of us and sharing our experiences.
The picture of impossibility—how can 100% God + 100% human add up to just one person?

What we get in Jesus Christ is a Messiah who showers us with grace that we cannot comprehend, control, or deserve. A self-sacrificing Messiah who suffers death on a cross to forgive our sins, make us righteous, and reconcile us to God. And all on the basis of faith in him and nothing else, for surely we can never follow our beloved checklist as well as we wish we could.

What we get in Jesus Christ is a Messiah at work among us even now, opening the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf, cleansing the leper and making the lame to walk, raising the dead and preaching good news to the poor.

We could all tell stories of amazing healing in the face of terrible odds. We all know people who have experienced some kind of new life—freedom from an addiction, restoration of a broken relationship, a surprise gift when the bank account was dangerously low. This is the kingdom of God come near.

What we get in Jesus Christ is a Messiah who is present with us even when it doesn’t look like it. Just as we all know people who have experienced healing, reconciliation, and provision, we also know people for whom these things have not happened. People for whom there seems to be no good news, but whose suffering continues unabated. Where is the Messiah for these people?

Well, this is that “messy complexity of human life” we just talked about. In Christ, God’s kingdom comes near. In Christ, God himself comes near. God is even—or perhaps especially—in those places where we have the most trouble seeing him. Jesus Christ is Emmanuel—God with us. This Messiah shares our experiences and suffers alongside us.

And there’s more. This Messiah brings us good news of a joyful future, where all God’s people will be healed and restored. Even those who find no healing in this life will share in the glorious future this Messiah promises. Did you hear the words of Isaiah which described it so beautifully?

“The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom….And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

Joy, strength, healing…justice, safety, homecoming! All this our Messiah promises to us! What a glorious hope we have in him!

So in Jesus Christ, we might not have the Messiah we expect. This Messiah does not come only as a conqueror, like John expected. He does not leave us to our own devices or let us hide from him, as we might sometimes wish.

In Jesus Christ, we have a Messiah who seeks us and knows us. We have a Messiah who forgives, restores, and suffers with us. We have a Messiah who opens our blind eyes and replaces our limited expectations with an unlimited vision of joy and peace.

This Messiah does not meet our expectations at all! Indeed, he far surpasses them and meets all our needs instead. Thanks be to God! Amen.