W H AT AR E W E L O O K I N G F O R ?

+ M ATT H E W 11: 2 - 11

Advent:
arrival that has been awaited (especially of something momentous)

Today we observe the Third Sunday of Advent, filling us with a sense that the time is getting short and
soon our joy will be complete in the celebration of Our Saviors Birth. But still we are waiting. Advent
is the season of waiting and hoping and wishing for some assurance that God does indeed love
us and that God is in control of our lives and the future.
But our Gospel lesson reminds us that Advent is also a season of impatience. Will everything come
together the way we hope? Have we thought of everyone will our gifts be appropriate, adequate,
appreciated? Are we doing enough for those for whom this will not be a happy time of celebration
the poor, the grieving, and the discouraged? Always in the back of our mind is that dull fear that we
have forgotten something that Christmas will not unfold the way we anticipate.
This morning John the Baptist makes his second scheduled appearance of the Advent Season. But
this time John comes to us from a prison cell, expressing none of the bravado and outrage we
experienced last week, when we saw him as a fearless messianic herald, drawing crowds in the
wilderness and rebuking the hypocrisy of the religious establishment.
In the eleventh chapter of Matthew John is no longer wild-eyed, assertive, confident, but rather
confused, discouraged, some might even speculate depressed. No longer free to wander unfettered
through the wilderness, John is a caged creature. And from the gloom of a prison cell we hear Johns
inquiry of Jesus: Are you the one who is to come or are we to wait for another? [Matthew 11: 3]
I have never been in prison, but, as a Pastor, I have visited prisoners. Once you go behind the locked
gates, you experience an oppression that is visceral. Prisoners experienced a form of blindness, as
their vision is limited to the size of their cell. Generally they know only what they are told. Such was
Johns situation after King Herod imprisoned him.
But despite his isolation John did receive news about Jesus, at least enough to make him wonder if
he had backed the wrong horse. Was Jesus truly the one who would come after John, whom he had
boldly proclaimed was more powerful than he? Was Jesus the one or should John and all of Israel
look for another?
I find the question John asked at the heart of a lot of unrest and disconnection in our world today. I
think many good people, Christian people, share Johns pondering Is Jesus the one, or should we
look for another? The limits we place on our vision and expectation have a profound impact on

whether Christ comes and makes a home in our hearts this blessed season. And a big reason why so
many question where God and Jesus are in their lives is that they have not been trained, their faith
has not been formed, and, as a result, they cannot see God at work in the everyday dimensions of
their lives.

Each week most of you gather in Christian community, hear the Scripture lessons read, try to follow
the sermon, sing the hymns, and receive the Lord as he comes to us through the Holy Supper.
Perhaps you even experience God in this sacred place.
But do you reflect your faith in the economy of your lives, in the decisions you make every day? Does
the simple fact that Jesus is your Lord have any impact on how you live out your responsibility as a
spouse, a parent, a child, a friend, an employee, a volunteer, or a citizen of this great nation?
To revisit one of my favorite clichs: If you were on trial and the charge was that you were a Christian
would there be enough evidence to convict you?
What are your expectations? Do you see the hand of God in the world today? Do you see any
indication that Jesus was reality-based when he spoke of the blind receiving their sight, the lame
walking, the outcasts of society restored, the deaf hearing, the dead being restored to life, and the
poor having good news brought to them? [Matthew 11: 5]
What are our expectations for what we anticipate will effect what we see. My favorite all-time
example of how our vision is shaped by our expectations occurred back in January of 2007. In a
glorious test of how expectation shapes perception, The Washington Post videotaped the reactions of
harried commuters in the Washington Metro to a public performance by world-renowned violinist,
Joshua Bell. For twenty minutes Bell, dressed in ordinary clothing, played the same music he had
performed three nights earlier at Symphony Hall in Boston for people who paid $100 a ticket to hear
him.
Most of the 1000-plus commuters, who rushed past Joshua Bell, were too busy to stop; they
considered him just another subway busker. A few paused, briefly, and a few dropped some money
into his violin case. [If you would like to see the video just google Joshua Bell Washington Metro.]
In his Post article about this experiment (Pearls Before Breakfast) Gene Weingarten questioned
whether we are capable of identifying beauty outside the contexts in which we anticipate
encountering beauty? Can we recognize a genius performer, if that individual appears somewhere
other than a concert hall?
I think the similar question is appropriate for us to raise on this Third Sunday of Advent. Are we
capable of identifying Gods activity outside the contexts of the stained-glass windows and the organ
music we tend to associate with the arena where we experience the critical dimensions of our faith? If

Sunday after Sunday there is no connection between what we do in church and what happens in our
Monday through Friday world, is it possible that something is missing?
When I was a little boy, I was terribly excited as Christmas approached. I always had a list and some
of the things on the list I actually received. But none of those desired gifts are still in my life, but the
joy of Christmas remains. Like most of you, I have grown up and I no longer make a Christmas list. I
suppose that is, sadly, a sign of becoming an adult.
Many of you have grown up only recently. You now have the house you always wanted, the job or
career that is fulfilling. I hope many of you have that life partner and family that was always on your
wish list. Perhaps you have the car you always coveted and have taken some of the trips you hoped
to take.
But is that all there is? Is this the totality of what you were waiting for? What do you do when you
have everything you ever wanted and it is not enough? Are you the one who is to come or are we
to wait for another? [Matthew 11: 3]
Advent calls us to make room in our hearts and our hectic pursuits for the coming of Christ, the
Savior. Advent calls us to make it possible for Him to come and that means to smooth out some of the
rough places that block his coming. There is a wonderful Christmas carol, Thou Didst Leave Thy
Throne, that captures this Advent hope: O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart
for Thee.
Advent teaches us to live with patient expectation. God begins with a tiny Child, born in humble
surroundings, and then God works slowly, surely. Our task is to be watchful, to not lose hope, to see
what God is doing all around us. Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let us cling to this hope, now and
always. AMEN.

CHRISTMAS IS WORTH WAITING FOR

There is a strong contrast between Advent and Christmas. Maybe it is a little like waiting to have a
baby, and then getting that baby. When were expecting a child, we have lots of ideas about what the
child will be like: the color of hair and eyes, more like mom or more like dad, aunties wild laugh, or
real quiet like great grandpa. So we wait for the baby to come and we try to get things ready. But
when the baby comes, everything changes. It is sort of like we thought it would be, but also very
different. The baby looks mostly like a baby. We are needed all the time. But it has its own life, its own
direction. And everything changes. Our lives are never the same again.
During Advent we get ready. We get ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus and we get ready for his
coming again. Once Jesus came into the world, things were never the same again. Never. Now Jesus
was not the kind of savior that everyone had in mind. He was a different kind of baby. No prince,
although we call him the prince of peace. And certainly no king, although we call him the king of

kings. He was born to regular working people. Not in Jerusalem. Not to a rabbi. But to Mary and
Joseph. The people of Israel had been waiting more than 500 years for him. Prophet after prophet
had expected him to come and save them.
The last prophet before Jesus came was John the Baptist. John was just a few years ahead of Jesus,
and he warned the people to prepare for Jesus.
Now, in todays Gospel from Matthew, we find John in prison. As we heard last week, John was an
extremely outspoken kind of guy, and he had angered Herod and Herods wife. John is in prison, and
he hears reports of this and that, people are talking a good deal about a young man, a teacher and
preacher, who is very different than any they had seen before. And John, the prophet who came to
herald the coming of Christ John is not sure what is going on. So he sends word to Jesus, Are you
the one?
Is it Advent or is it Christmas? Are we waiting or are we celebrating? If youre the one, youre not
exactly what we had in mind. So John wants to know, Jesus, are you the One?
And that is a question for the whole world. We live in a world that celebrates Christmas, but gives
very little thought to what Christmas is. In a very real sense it is still unthinkable for us to understand
that God came among us, not valuing the wealth and human comforts we value. God came among us
living in a working-class home in an occupied country, and his idea of saving had nothing to do with
taking down the Roman army.
It is a little like giving birth, and finding out the baby is nothing like you thought he or she would be.
Today, even John the Baptist isnt sure. But Jesus has the answer. And it is simple. He tells Johns
followers: Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the
lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is
anyone who takes no offense at me.
The savior of Israel did not come riding on a white steed, taking up armor against the enemy. Rather
he came walking, healing all that came to him and preaching the good news. And that is Johns
answer.
We are an Advent people. We have the great joy of Jesus, the Messiah. And we have been asked to
wait for him to come again. To prepare and to wait. And from time to time, we will find ourselves
asking, Are you the One? This has happened a few times during my life. There was a fellow named
Jim Jones who led people off to live in a commune, and some thought he was the one. There was a
fellow named David Koresh, who said he was the one, and people went with him to live in some sort
of commune in Waco Texas. There is fellow named Sun Yung Moon, and some say he is the one.
The truth is, we are tired of waiting. We Christians have been waiting 2,000 years for Christ to come
again. Perhaps we have not always waited very well, but we have been waiting. And it is normal for
us to want to ask, Are you the One? But Jesus told us how to figure it out. If we think we have found
the Christ, we can expect that he would be healing people in large numbers. We can expect he would
be preaching the good news, and especially among the poor. It is unlikely that he would instruct his
followers to come live with him, probably he would move around a good deal. In any case, it is not
likely that he or she would be here to meet our expectations of a savior.
Christmas has become popular throughout the world. But not Advent. Waiting for the unknown is
difficult. Celebrating is fun. But celebrations ring hollow when we dont know what it is we are
celebrating.

This week I was down with a cold one day, and I have to admit that I turned on television. I was
watching one of those at-home shows, where they show how to cook and garden and decorate and
what not. This particular one interests me because the shows host is in her mid-20s. She took us
through turkeys stuffed with mashed potatoes, to wire mesh Christmas tree ornaments and table
setting with pine cones and bricks sprayed gold. It was pretty much the celebrating of Christmas
without a reason. But it was television, and I wasnt expecting much. Then she said something that
woke me up. She said it was important to remember what Christmas is all about. Great, I thought.
Were going to hear something about Jesus. But what she said was, The real meaning of Christmas
is the family dinner.
Something is lost, something very big is lost, when Christmas is celebrated without Christ. And when
we celebrate Christ, we have to remember that God gave us what we needed, not what we wanted.
God is not Santa Claus looking at our list of wants. Santa celebrates God, but God is bigger than that.
Santa is just a little part of the celebration.
The real celebration, the true celebration has something to do with God caring so much for us that he
came and lived among us. Not as a prince but as a healer. Not as a warrior, but a bringer of peace.
Jesus came as someone worth waiting for, the fulfillment of the great prophecies of old, the
prophecies of the Messiah.
The prophet Isaiah wrote, The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and
blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. 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. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and
streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water;
the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. A highway
shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it, but it shall be for
God's people; no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.
And if not even fools go astray, there is hope for us all. Amen.