John's Dilemma
Sermon Text for December 16, 2007:
Isaiah 35:1-10 Matthew 11:2-10
If we scoured the scripture from beginning to end we could not find a story more poignant, more heartbreaking that the story of John the Baptizer questioning his life’s work while in prison. Nor could we find a passage more hopeful than Isaiah’s prophesy of the Messiah leading the people home from Exile in Babylon.
Poor John! From the very beginning of his life he knew that he was the forerunner of the Christ. The very first words his father spoke to him were, “And you child shall be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways.”
John’s birth, like that of Jesus was miraculous. John literally existed in order to serve the purposes of Christ. Surely he knew. The message must have been as close to him as his own breath. But even the best of us can have doubts about Jesus and about our relationship to him. Sometimes what we are completely sure of one day, can become muddled and confused the next. That is what happened to John.
As the story begins, John is in prison with a probable sentence of death hanging over him. Death might come at any time and in the darkness of his cell John had the time to think about how he had spent his life. He thought that he had been faithful. He thought that he had done a good job preparing the way of the Lord. But if that is true, what is he doing in jail? Could he have been wrong? Did he miss some crucial bit of information? Had he have been so wrong that he harmed the cause of God and the Messiah? Poor John!
Jesus says of John that of those “born of women no one is greater than John.” But when a life crisis came John shows himself to be just like the rest of us. Most of us have questioned our faith at one time or another. Perhaps like John, when we faced a major crisis – the unexpected death of a loved one, the loss of a job, some medical crisis from which we cannot escape – we have wondered why God does not fix things. If Jesus is really the Messiah, why doesn’t he intervene and make things right again?
In our story, John really needed some divine intervention. He needed Jesus to fix things if indeed Jesus is the Messiah. John was wrestling with soul bruising questions when his disciples came for a visit. “Go and ask Jesus if he is the One who was to come! Ask if we should look for another. These are not questions of intellectual curiosity. For John everything rested on the answer. These are not just questions of a lifetime, but of eternal lifetime. Is Jesus the One or have I made a mistake? John needed to know.
Jesus knew the depth of John’s questioning and he responded with words that John knew. He quoted directly from the prophesies of Isaiah that describe some of the work the Messiah will do. “Go and tell John what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good new preached to them.” The answer is much better than a simple yes or no. If all of the prophesied healings are being fulfilled then John can have confidence. His life was not wasted. He did indeed prepare the way of the Lord.
Isaiah’s prophecy is indeed one of joy. It was spoken to people who were essentially without hope. They had been so long in exile that even the memory of Jerusalem was beginning to fade. But the promise of God brought them hope. Soon they would be going home and all of them would get there together. The journey would be undertaken by all of them, even those whose infirmities normally excluded them from religious life. The infirm will find healing, and the road will be broad and straight that leads the people home. What more can people ask?
Like John the Baptizer and the Exiled Jews, sometimes the weight of the world seems to be upon our shoulders. It is then that we need to remember what God has done in Christ Jesus. Lives are changed. Hope is given to the hopeless. Those like the Prodigal Son who are very far from home find that the path to the Father is broad and straight and a loving welcome is waiting.
Advent is the time for questioning and waiting. It is a time for observing what Messiah is doing. It is our opportunity to offer our wounded self to the Messiah. And in trust it is a time to look forward to the birth of the Babe in the manger who makes our lives worthwhile.
Copyright © 2007 by Dwight R. Blackstock
Isaiah 35:1-10 Matthew 11:2-10
If we scoured the scripture from beginning to end we could not find a story more poignant, more heartbreaking that the story of John the Baptizer questioning his life’s work while in prison. Nor could we find a passage more hopeful than Isaiah’s prophesy of the Messiah leading the people home from Exile in Babylon.
Poor John! From the very beginning of his life he knew that he was the forerunner of the Christ. The very first words his father spoke to him were, “And you child shall be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways.”
John’s birth, like that of Jesus was miraculous. John literally existed in order to serve the purposes of Christ. Surely he knew. The message must have been as close to him as his own breath. But even the best of us can have doubts about Jesus and about our relationship to him. Sometimes what we are completely sure of one day, can become muddled and confused the next. That is what happened to John.
As the story begins, John is in prison with a probable sentence of death hanging over him. Death might come at any time and in the darkness of his cell John had the time to think about how he had spent his life. He thought that he had been faithful. He thought that he had done a good job preparing the way of the Lord. But if that is true, what is he doing in jail? Could he have been wrong? Did he miss some crucial bit of information? Had he have been so wrong that he harmed the cause of God and the Messiah? Poor John!
Jesus says of John that of those “born of women no one is greater than John.” But when a life crisis came John shows himself to be just like the rest of us. Most of us have questioned our faith at one time or another. Perhaps like John, when we faced a major crisis – the unexpected death of a loved one, the loss of a job, some medical crisis from which we cannot escape – we have wondered why God does not fix things. If Jesus is really the Messiah, why doesn’t he intervene and make things right again?
In our story, John really needed some divine intervention. He needed Jesus to fix things if indeed Jesus is the Messiah. John was wrestling with soul bruising questions when his disciples came for a visit. “Go and ask Jesus if he is the One who was to come! Ask if we should look for another. These are not questions of intellectual curiosity. For John everything rested on the answer. These are not just questions of a lifetime, but of eternal lifetime. Is Jesus the One or have I made a mistake? John needed to know.
Jesus knew the depth of John’s questioning and he responded with words that John knew. He quoted directly from the prophesies of Isaiah that describe some of the work the Messiah will do. “Go and tell John what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good new preached to them.” The answer is much better than a simple yes or no. If all of the prophesied healings are being fulfilled then John can have confidence. His life was not wasted. He did indeed prepare the way of the Lord.
Isaiah’s prophecy is indeed one of joy. It was spoken to people who were essentially without hope. They had been so long in exile that even the memory of Jerusalem was beginning to fade. But the promise of God brought them hope. Soon they would be going home and all of them would get there together. The journey would be undertaken by all of them, even those whose infirmities normally excluded them from religious life. The infirm will find healing, and the road will be broad and straight that leads the people home. What more can people ask?
Like John the Baptizer and the Exiled Jews, sometimes the weight of the world seems to be upon our shoulders. It is then that we need to remember what God has done in Christ Jesus. Lives are changed. Hope is given to the hopeless. Those like the Prodigal Son who are very far from home find that the path to the Father is broad and straight and a loving welcome is waiting.
Advent is the time for questioning and waiting. It is a time for observing what Messiah is doing. It is our opportunity to offer our wounded self to the Messiah. And in trust it is a time to look forward to the birth of the Babe in the manger who makes our lives worthwhile.
Copyright © 2007 by Dwight R. Blackstock
posted by Dwight Blackstock | 2:38 PM
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