Advent Doubt

Jesu Juva

St. Matthew 11:2-15                                                     

December 11, 2022

Advent 3A                                                    

Dear saints of our Savior~

          John doubted.  Let that sink in.  John the Baptist doubted.  John(!) whom Jesus called the “greatest,” John who walked in the prophetic path of Elijah, John who spoke divine truth to power, John the voice in the wilderness preparing the way for the Lord—that John went wobbly. 

          Perhaps a let-down was inevitable after the big build-up we heard last week.  With prophetic ferocity John pointed to the coming one whose sandals he wasn’t worthy to stoop down and untie—the coming one with an axe in His hands ready to swing at the root of the faithless and the fruitless—the coming one with a winnowing fork to gather the wheat into the barn, but to burn the chaff with unquenchable fire.

          And then, Jesus actually showed up—humbly, meekly, flying beneath the radar of most folks.  Jesus came to John, in fact, to receive a sinner’s baptism.  The Sinless One wanted to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with sinners; and John nearly blew a gasket:  “I should be baptized by you!” he screamed.  Jesus calmly and serenely replied, “Let it be, cousin.  It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.”

          So, it’s not hard to understand John’s disillusionment.  You can see him on today’s bulletin cover languishing behind bars in Herod’s prison.  He had been

silenced and sidelined.  Herod locked John up for publicly condemning his immorality.  That meant no more preaching, no more crowds, no more baptizing.  And assuming that John shared in the messianic expectations of his contemporaries, then he also must have been wondering, “When’s the revolution?  Where’s the insurrection?”  God’s Messiah was supposed to be a warrior—a strong man—a conquering hero who would restore the glory of Israel.

          But Jesus was no revolutionary, and certainly no warrior.  Jesus just went around preaching good news to the poor, the marginal, those on the fringes.  He healed the sick, raised the paralyzed off their mats, cleansed lepers, gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and raised the dead. 

          Meanwhile, His right-hand man—His forerunner—gets tossed in prison for taking on Herod’s morals.  Maybe John got ahead of himself and decided to go after Herod.  Maybe he thought it was high time to flex some moral muscle because surely Jesus—the mighty one—would have His back.  Now John’s rotting in jail while Jesus is off on another preaching tour.  There’s no way this was what John was expecting.

          And so John sent his disciples to Jesus with a question:  “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for somebody else?”  John who had been so sure and certain—so filled with unflinching faith—now has no choice but to give voice to his doubt and uncertainty.  He wasn’t going to get out of prison.  No one was coming to storm the gates to free him.  His head would soon be served on a platter.  But he had to ask—he had to know:   “Are you the one, or should we look for another?”

          That question of John’s should make you tremble.  It should scare you—because you haven’t been tested nearly as severely as John.  Maybe people make fun of you for going to church on Sunday instead of heading off to brunch.  Maybe people mock you for believing that the Bible is the Word of God or that the bread and wine are the body and blood of Christ.  Maybe you’ve been labeled as a “hater” for holding that marriage is intended only for one man and one woman.  Maybe you’ve even faced a mob of angry voices on social media.  But you haven’t been imprisoned for your faith.  You haven’t been tortured or left homeless or faced execution like so many other Christians around the world.  Maybe you’ve been inconvenienced; but no one is going to cut off your head—at least not before Christmas.

          John was great!  John was sent and set apart by God to prepare the way for Jesus!  John had the full force and authority of Almighty God backing up his ministry.  And still, John wavered.  John doubted because Jesus didn’t meet his expectations.

          Expectations can be dangerous.  Expectations are often the source of our disappointments and doubts.  When people around us don’t live up to our expectations—realistic or not—we’re disappointed.  We’re angry.  And we usually let them know it.  Nine times out of ten this is why marriages struggle—because someone’s expectations—realistic or not—aren’t being met.  When someone doesn’t meet your expectations you no longer have faith in them.  They aren’t worthy of your trust.  They’ve disappointed you.  And often we tell them, “I’ll never trust you again.”

          We sometimes say that about God, too, when He doesn’t live up to our expectations—when He doesn’t grant us favors to reward our faith—when He doesn’t provide the healing we’ve prayed for—or when He strips away our idols—or when He allows the water to rise, the wind to blow, the fire to burn—when our lives of faith don’t get rewarded or recognized.  Like John we waver and wonder, “Where’s Jesus?”  Where are the reinforcements?  Why isn’t He meeting my expectations?!  It’s a subtle form of idolatry, really.  We make ourselves gods in the place of God.  And as surely as it happened to John, it has also happened to you.  We are all guilty.

          But Jesus didn’t leave John lingering in his doubt.  And He doesn’t leave you lingering either.  When John asked, “Are you the one?” Jesus responded to John—not with a long theological discourse, but with the signs—the unmistakable signs foretold by Isaiah and all the prophets—the signs of the coming Messiah.  These signs aren’t powerful, per se, but they do point ahead to the new creation:  The blind see.  The deaf hear.  The lame walk.  The dead are raised.  The poor hear good news (that they aren’t so poor after all).  And these signs reveal to faith what the eyes cannot see.  The kingdom of God has come in Jesus of Nazareth.  The Son of God has come in the flesh; and the age of the Messiah has dawned.  Jesus is “the One” we’ve all been waiting for. 

          Oh, sure, Herod appears to rule the day.  Herod holds the keys to the dungeon.  Herod can arrest John and have him decapitated.  But there’s a Lamb running loose in Herod’s kingdom, the Lamb of God who has come to deal with sin and death once and for all by His own dying and rising.  And as that Lamb makes His way to Calvary’s cross, He’s leaving little signs all over the place—water turned to wine and the dead raised to life.  And each of these signs declares, “Jesus is the one!  Don’t look for anyone else.  Accept no substitutes!  Blessed is the one who is not offended by Him!”

          Perhaps this Advent finds you in a state of doubt.  Maybe you’ve landed in a dungeon of depression, and just getting out of bed each morning is a struggle.  Maybe your expectations have been shattered by someone you trusted.  And quite likely you haven’t lived up to others’ expectations of you.  The devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh are fiendishly efficient at using all of those shattered expectations to put distance between you and Jesus—to leave you wobbling and wavering and doubting.

          Beloved in the Lord, this is why Jesus comes.  This is why Jesus comes to doubting hearts and minds—to give you the signs.  In the Word of His forgiveness, in the splash of His baptism—in the bread that is His body and the wine that is His blood—He comes to you.  He’s applying all the blessings of His death and resurrection to you—even in your own self-made dungeon of delusion.  He comes to set you free—to break the chains of sin and death.  Don’t be offended by His apparent weakness; His power is made perfect in weakness.  Don’t be offended by how slow He seems; for to Him a thousand years are like a day.  Don’t be offended by His suffering and death—because He endured it all out of love for you.

          John in prison reminds us that things are not as they seem.  It seems right now that the church of Jesus Christ is a sinking ship, as violent men like Herod can seemingly get away with murder.  But in the end we know—the Word of the Lord endures forever.  We believe that every knee will one day bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  That’s every reason to rejoice—to rejoice in the Lord always—even now.

          Don’t let your doubts get the best of you in these dark days of December.  Do what John did.  Bring your doubts to Jesus.  And take to heart the signs the Savior gives.  For one day you will take your place with John, among all the ransomed of the Lord.  As Isaiah tell it:  “Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”       

          In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.