Advent 3A - Additional Thoughts - Nagging Little Doubts

Here's a great quote from W. Ray Beaver from his "Sunday Blogging" site. You can find the entire post here.

I believe that in times of stress, everyone has doubts. No matter that John had heard the wind, seen the dove, heard the words from the mouth of Jesus. When he was there in prison, his life on the line, most likely knowing he would not be able to speak as a prophet again, I think he began to doubt. Not one of those deep, questioning doubts that causes the gut to rumble and the mind to wander and the hands to shake, because John had faith that the message he had been bringing about the coming messiah was indeed true. But that little doubt that gnaws at the edges of the mind saying over and over, you may have made the right moves and said the right things, but is it happening? Is the one you thought was the fulfillment of all you believed really him, or is he to be another prophet, carrying the message of God to the people in wilderness and town, telling the people yet again to wait, to step back, to repent and be glad but to continue to prepare? And Jesus answered him the only way that would have truly reassured him, with the message of example, of how the prophecies were being fulfilled, of how the good news was replacing news of distant coming, of how the people were healed and salvation was near. And I can’t help but look at this line from the end of Jesus’ response to John: “And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” It seems an innocuous statement, yet it is not a statement that no-one is offended by Jesus, rather more of a statement by suggestion that there are those who are offended by Jesus, by who he is and what he is doing, and the suggestion is that even knowing that would be reassuring to John as he lay there imprisoned.

Is it really here? Is the Kingdom of God really at hand? Is the Messiah really among us? Perhaps these were the sorts of questions nagging away at John's mind. Maybe it was doubt...or maybe it was that sort of feeling we get when something really good is happening and we almost can't believe it to be true.

Others have suggested that John may have had more serious doubts about Jesus. Jesus didn't seem to be the hellfire and brimstone sort of preacher that John was. John had prophesied about a baptism of fire, and burning the chaff in unquenchable fire, which (on first glance) don't appear to have been part of Jesus' ministry. But, even if this is the case, Jesus sends back this little phrase, almost like a secret code: "blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me." In other words, "Don't worry, John, I'm offending plenty of people out here. They have plenty of reason to be upset at the message of God."

From time to time, we all have doubts. Sometimes they are just nagging little doubts, sometimes they are full-blown paralyzing doubts. We doubt our faith. We doubt our family. We doubt God. We doubt the abilities of our coworkers. We doubt the effectiveness of our church. We even doubt ourselves and our gifts.

What we need to be reminded of is not what we feel, but what we know. Sometimes we need to simply be told again about the Christ who came down from heaven to set His people free. We need the concrete objective message that Jesus sent to John the Baptist: the deaf hear, the lame walk, the mute shout for joy.

Sometimes when we wander through our own personal deserts, we simply need some streams in the wilderness. We need to hear of the ways in which the Kingdom of God is at hand. We need to hear of the miracles which are occuring in the pastures, and then we need some of those lush blooms to appear in the desert as well.

Advent 3A - First Thoughts

Third Sunday in Advent, Year B

Upon first reading of this week's texts, it's nearly impossible to not notice this recurring theme from the Old Testament lessons which are echoed in the Gospel text:

Isaiah 35:5-6

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.

Psalm 146:7-9

[the LORD] who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free; the LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous. The LORD watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow

Matthew 11:4-5

Jesus answered them, "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 good news brought to them.'"

In some sense Jesus says, "Go tell John that the prophecies are fulfilled."

What a great knowledge that Jesus is the fulfillment of centuries of hope and anticipation for the long-awaited Messiah. But somehow it appears as though Jesus is not quite what was expected...even by John the Baptist. For some reason, John sends his disciples to go ask Him, "are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?"

Perhaps we can never (this side of heaven) know for sure what motivated John's question, but a few options occur to me.

1) Perhaps the "Advent Prophet" we spoke of last week seems to be confused at the apparent fulfillment of his own prophecy. Perhaps it's because he hasn't seen that threshing fork sorting out the wheat from the chaff. Maybe John is longing for some judgment, hellfire, or brimstone.

So often, our expectations of God do not fit the reality of who He is. How often do we attempt to define God instead allowing Him to reveal Himself to us. Maybe John is a not only a prisoner of Herod, but a prisoner of his own faulty expectations.


2) Or maybe we should give John a bit more benefit of the doubt. Perhaps we should see nothing more than a man who gave his entire life preaching that the Kingdom of God was at hand, and now he knows that he may have only days to live...and he's simply asking...hoping...that his entire life was not lived in vain.

Haven't we felt like John the Baptist before? Haven't we given of ourselves to a task or project, only to near the completion of the project wondering if it was worth our time...or if we'd made a difference. If that's the case, he must have been encouraged to hear the reports that Jesus was fulfilling not only his prophecies, but all of the prophecies of old.

3) I suppose that a third possibility exists. John was at the baptism of Jesus, and should have no doubt in his mind that Jesus was the Christ. Perhaps he is asking the question, not for his own benefit, but for the benefit of his disciples, Jesus' disciples, or perhaps the benefit of outside observers.

Regardless of the motivation, Jesus' response is clear...The prophecies are fullfilled, the Kingdom of God is at hand, and all things are becoming new.

Advent 2A - Additional Thoughts - Contemporary Application

As I was driving about today, I thought more about this passage and its unique problems for a contemporary application.

Those who have already repented of their sins and are part of the Family of God are easily tempted to take this passage and apply it to someone else. We're tempted to find out who those pesky Pharisees are in today's culture so we can go stick it to them like John the Baptist did. However, there is a paradox here that becomes difficult to resolve.

The moment we apply this passage to someone else, we fail. The moment we paint a caricature of the Pharisees that looks like 'that church down the street,' we've missed the point. As soon as pastors preach the text in such a way that it points fingers at someone else, they blew it. The very minute we use this passage to condemn someone else, we become the condemned...we become most like the Pharisees.

We must first-and-foremost find ourselves as the Pharisees. We must first find our own rigid patterns of behavior that prevent God from doing a new thing. We must eliminate any sort of judgmentalism that puts us in the seat of the religious elite. We must soften our hearts so that we might be transformed by the Living God.

Advent 2A - Additional Thoughts - All Things Must Change

From William Loader's "First Thoughts" found here:

John and Jesus are on about the same thing, even though John does not lose his status as preparing the way, nor Jesus, his as the superior one. John is in the outback, the traditional place of preparation and transition. Jesus heads out into the populated world. John calls for repentance. This has less to do with feeling sadness or remorse and more to do with a total change of attitude and direction. Both John and Jesus called for radical change, not just in preparation, but because it entailed a choice that God and God’s way rules from now on.

More than a nice story about mass baptisms out in the wilderness, this is about a new order breaking forth. When we choose to follow God, we choose to abandon our own ways. When we follow His plan for the future, we leave the status quo methods we are used to. God is doing a new thing, and it requires that we are willing to change our very patterns of thinking and being.

It appears as though the Pharisees and Saducees were willing to identify themselves with this new movement of God, but were unwilling to change--unwilling to abandon the religious structures to which they were accustomed.

Is it possible that the repentance we need in the church today is not a repentance from sin, but a repentance of our structured ways of 'doing church'? While God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, we find that His means of interacting with His creation is always changing. While the Gospel message remains unchanged, the methods of preaching that message changes again and again. God is always doing a new thing, and we must be willing to change in order to be a part of His plan!

Advent 2A - Additional Thoughts - Fruits of Repentance

Matthew 3:1-12

3:1 In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming,

3:2 "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."

3:3 This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.'"

3:4 Now John wore clothing of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

3:5 Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan,

3:6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

3:7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

3:8 Bear fruit worthy of repentance.

3:9 Do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.

3:10 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

3:11 "I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

3:12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

One of the primary challenges with this text is that John's outburst in verses 7-12 is directed at the religious elite. The text doesn't side with the religious leaders, but sides with the laypeople and speaks out against the religious leaders. It would be a mistake to polarize the text to speak against the layperson, without first applying it to our religious leaders, teachers, and preachers.

At the same time, we must recognize that there are those in our congregations who are pleased to be considered 'sons of Abraham.' Part of the message here is that geneology, church membership, or social status are not the fruits needed to enter the Kingdom of God. Our fruit must be the sort of fruits of repentance--a changed mind or changed behavior.

I'm once again drawn back to our study on the book of James, in which I stated that "authentic saving faith is an integrated faith which informs and impacts every aspect of our lives." In other words, true faith changes us. John's message seems similar here--it's not about being dunked in the water, but receiving the sort of Baptism which changes us from the inside out.