My Sisters and Brothers,
Happy St. Nicholas day. As we prepare for bishop Van Koevering’s visit this coming Sunday to baptize and confirm a child and adults into the body of the Church and our branch of the Jesus movement, I find myself in one of the rare instances where I do not have to preach. The problem is that I also record the service of Morning Prayer and sermon each week for those unable to attend in-person worship in the other congregations I work with, so I will still be doing a sermon. That will be later in the week. As I have been preparing, I have come across some interesting comments, and other ways to look at our Gospel of Matthew where John the Baptist sends his disciples to ask if Jesus is the one to come or if they should look for another.
As we heard last week, as John was baptizing in the Jordan river, he said he was the forerunner of the coming Messiah, Jesus. St. John tells of Jesus coming to be baptized and the Baptist proclaiming, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” and later will again say of Jesus “Look, here is the Lamb of God,” which caused Jesus to have his first two disciples, Simon Peter and presumably John the gospel writer himself follow him. What is troubling about our gospel reading this Sunday is that now that John is in prison, he is apparently filled with enough doubt that he sends his followers to ask Jesus if he was wrong about Jesus to which Jesus replies “Tell John what you hear and see.” We do not know if because of his imprisonment, John had not heard of the wonders Jesus was performing, but I find that unlikely. I wonder, could it have been that despite all that Jesus was doing and teaching, John doubted because this was not the image he had of what the Messiah was to be? The religious leaders did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah. Was it because he did not fit their image? Did Judas betray Jesus to cause him to be the military and political image most felt the Messiah would be, to drive away occupying armies and restore the reign of King David? As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ, what is your image of the Messiah? Are your expectations other than the Jesus we are presented with in Holy Scripture? Will you walk along with him, will you come and see, or will you sit back and find yourself disappointed because he does not act the way you want, that your desire for the reign of God does not fit his life, that rather than doing all for us, Jesus asks us to take an active part in bringing about the will we pray for to bring about heaven on earth?
Peace,
Bryant+
