Matthew 11:2-19
Unmet expectations in the waiting – The Kingdom of Jesus isn’t always easy to see.
Introduction
In this season of Advent, we are reminded that we are waiting.
On a small scale, we are waiting for Christmas. But our waiting for Christmas and the celebration of the story of the Divine Jesus’ humble birth as a human baby is also a yearly rehearsal and reminder of our much longer waiting for our hope, Jesus’ return, which will usher in his reign of peace and compassionate love, and we rejoice in anticipation.
But waiting can kind of be a drag, can’t it?
It’s boring, it’s unproductive, it can leave us questioning whether what we’re waiting for actually has the goods.
Our waiting places us in good company with John the Baptist and others who shared the general mood of Jesus’ time.
A time of waiting for the Messiah, or the Christ, to appear and restore Israel’s fortunes. To right the wrongs centuries of oppressive foreign powers had inflicted.
We see from our readings this morning that in our waiting, it can feel like we have unmet expectations and that the Kingdom of Jesus is sometimes hard to see.
John to Jesus: Are you really it?
Last week, we had some fun with John’s origin story, his miraculous birth and the anticipation that was nurtured by his arrival and maturing to adulthood.
Today is one of the last instalments in John’s life.
Ironically, John, the wild desert dweller who drew people to the wilderness with his unflinching message of repentance, is now found in Herod’s palace, not in soft robes, but in its dank dungeon.
He would speak truth to the peasants and the powerful alike, including Herod. Which, is of course, dangerous. Specifically, John had given voice to wider Jewish concern that Herod Antipater, who was the son of King Herod at the time of Jesus’ birth, had got together with his half-brother Philip’s wife, Herodias, through a series of morally questionable events. There’s a very fascinating larger back story to all that, which we don’t have time for today. But John has had plenty of ‘waiting’ time in prison. He’s been hearing reports of what Jesus has been up to, and he’s beginning to wonder:
Did I get the right person? Jesus, are you really it, are you really the Messiah/Christ?
Jesus responds by summarising the results of his work and drawing the parallel to, amongst others, Isaiah 35, our Old Testament reading today. Isaiah’s vision of the result of God’s restoration of Israel.
We aren’t told how John received Jesus’ reply. Perhaps he had drawn the parallel to Isaiah’s vision himself, though, in his unjust imprisonment, longed for the preceding part of Isaiah’s vision, in chapter 34, which we didn’t read, where God calls to account the unrighteous nations.
No one really wants to back the ‘wrong horse’, do they? We don’t want to be left disappointed, that what we hoped for doesn’t eventuate.
Implication
In our waiting, we also ponder our unmet expectations. All the more so when life is not as we would hope and things are not going well.
Maybe we can see the joy and the life in much of the good that is done by the Church, by our Village Church, and other groups too. There is much good in the world.
But we notice there are things out of our reach; our influence only goes so far. We can be faithfully playing our part, but sometimes God doesn’t seem to be addressing the bigger issues like the hearts of political and community bullies, climate change and inequity.
Life is not easy. Positive thinking only gets us so far; it can’t actually change our circumstances.
Did we hear you right, Jesus, when you said you reform people’s hearts? We’ve been waiting for 2000 years Jesus.
In our waiting, we may also ask: Are you really it Jesus?
When we’re honest with ourselves, how have we been disappointed with God?
The people to Jesus: where’s the just-right porridge?
It’s not just John who is wondering about Jesus is the one who will rescue humanity. Jesus makes it clear that he can see faltering public opinion about him.
First, his short parable sums up the prevailing view that John, as the ‘new Elijah’ spoken of by the Prophet Micah, and Jesus don’t fit their ideas of what the Messiah or anointed one and his herald would be like. That John and Jesus wouldn’t dance to their tune.
Second, Jesus contrasts the public’s opinion of John, and their opinion of him.
John the baptiser as an ascetic, lived in the wilderness. His way of living off the land in the wilderness was a rough life. From earlier in Matthew’s Gospel, we see John’s disciples also adopted his regime of fasting and abstaining from alcohol. But while his movement had made a stir, only a minority had found that life attractive.
Overall, to most people, John seemed a bit strange and easy to write off as having a screw loose. Politically dangerous, maybe, but strange.
Jesus, on the other hand, was often going to dinner parties. How does this match up? Where John only went with the basics, the real basics, Jesus was happy to join in wedding feasts and banquets.
But Jesus’ choice to feast with the company he’s keeping is also a seemingly aproblem. The saying “Here is a Glutton and a Drunkard” is straight from the Torah; it’s part of the formula parents would use against their rebellious children.
If effect, Jesus says that this generation sees him as rebellious, a disturber of the way things should be.
People have got an idea about how society works, who’s in and who’s out. Who its ok to help and who is not. Jesus is shaking things up too much. Too quickly.
It’s a bit like the story of Goldilocks and the three bears, but not as light-hearted.
Remember: hard to please Goldilocks’ pursuit of just the right breakfast, trying the three bowls of porridge? One too cold, one too hot, and the little one, just right.
Implication
John the baptiser, well, he’s too cold. Jesus, you’re too hot. Where’s the just-right porridge?
Where’s the just right messiah?
The one that’s bite-sized, easily digestible.
We prefer a Messiah we can handle and hold. A Jesus we can wrap our head around. A saviour in our image.
Jesus hard-to-understand comments about the kingdom of heaven suffering violence, and violent people trying to take it by force. It seems Jesus is referring to the opposition John and he are facing, and knows the Church will face in time.
The Kingdom of Heaven was not and is not a Nationalistic Kingdom. It is not brought about by human means. It is about coming under the reign and rule of God and being brought about by the transforming work of the Holy Spirit.
In our waiting, which part of the person of Jesus and his message are we most resistant to?
What does our Jesus look like?
Jesus to John (and the people) Look for the incoming tide.
So what does Jesus make of our unmet expectations?
Jesus claiming of Isaiah’s vision of the salvation and restoration is meant to taken as a resounding YES. See for yourself
I am the one you should be expecting.
He doesn’t rebuke John for wondering. Instead, he gives a short beatitude. A blessing
And all who come to see that Jesus holds humanity’s ultimate end will be blessed by the work Jesus is doing and is going to do for humanity.
After John’s disciples leave, he goes to describe how all of history up this point has been preparing for the arrival of God’s reign and rule.
All the prophets had been pointing toward this time, and John, as the last in a long line was the greatest. He is at the pivot point on which the direction of human history is starting to turn.
Jesus is the one all of creation and time has been waiting for. Now that he is here, the seasons have changed. Don’t be caught out, don’t miss the significant shift of whats happened here. Whoever has ears, let them hear. The proof of this wisdom is in how it plays out.
It’s like going to the beach for the day. You arrive and the water, the tide is on the way out. So you shake out your towel or open your deck chair, pick up your book or close your eyes to snooze in the sun. Time passes, and you’re surprised when your feets, legs and towel are sopping wet. The tide turned and has been coming in.
Once the tide has turned, it takes 6 hours for the water to come right up.
The arrival of Jesus is the turning of the tide on humanity’s brokenness and rebellion. The tide has turned, the Kingdom of Heaven has arrived.
But it takes time for the tide to come right up.
Implication
Waiting is hard. Especially for us in our have it right now world, there is no reason to wait. The omnipresent phones in our pockets are always ready to step in the moment we find ourselves standing in a queue or waiting to meet a friend.
But God waits. If we think across the aeons of time, God has waited for life to grow, for humanity to discern the divine presence. The waiting of God for the moment to step into the created world in the miracle and beauty of the incarnation.
The waiting of the Christ Child to mature and grow, allowing the incarnate God to be cared for the very creatures God created.
The 2000 years of history since that pivotal moment, and perhaps another 2000 years or 2 million more to come, who knows.
God, it seems, is not in a hurry.
But says Jesus, the tide is coming in.
If at any moment of the day you turn up at the beach and look at the waves, it may not be immediately apparent if the tide is coming in or going out.
The water washes in and recedes. Washes in and recedes. You have to look for the signs on the beach. You have ears to hear and eyes to see. You have to wait to see what is happening.
Jesus says, The tide is coming in. Look for the incoming tide, says Jesus, don’t let it take you by surprise.
The kingdom of heaven is here, it is coming. It won’t be stopped, diverted or reshaped anymore than you can hold back the ocean.
What signs of God’s kingdom can we see around us, in the wash and swish of the waves?
Do they give us cause for Joy? The cause to dance to tune Jesus plays?
Summary
In this season of Advent.
We wait to celebrate the arrival of the Christ child
While we wait we notice our unmet expectations and that the Kingdom of Jesus is sometimes hard to see.
- While we wait, it’s natural to wonder if Jesus really is the answer to our deepest human needs.
- While we wait, we may find parts of who Jesus is and his message that don’t fit our taste.
- While we wait, Jesus assures us that the tide has turned on humanity’s broken trajectory and says to us, Look for the signs of the Kingdom all around you. You’ll be blessed when you see it coming.
We wait to celebrate the arrival of the Christ child, and we wait for Christ to come again.