The Rev. Neale L. Miller

Sermon for December 16, 2007

Tests: Isaiah 35:1-10/Matthew 11:2-11

Title: “Right, or Wrong?”

              It turned out I was wrong when I told a friend this summer that the Saints would compete for the NFC championship. The consequences for being wrong were not great, however.  I hadn’t made a financial wager or anything to support my declaration.  I ate some crow was all. 

              A young woman I know decided to take a year off to work before entering college. Unfortunately the money she earned in that year off secured enough independence for her, that after the year was up, she couldn’t bring herself to surrender the income that made her independence possible.  Acknowledging now that she was wrong, she has learned to regret her decision.

              The young couple took out one of those subprime loans we have being hearing so much about lately.  In one year’s time they have seen the monthly amount they have had to pay on their loan increase by thirty percent.  They are subject to foreclosure if the loan cannot be renegotiated. They were wrong to think that they could buy the home of their dreams on the money available to them.

              The consequences of being wrong can mean very little or can mean a life-altering, regret laden, big deal.  Each of us has been wrong. If we have been fortunate we have been spared the consequences of the really big misjudgments we have made.

              We are right or we are wrong, the decisions we tally in each column will have great bearing on the quality of life we will ultimately enjoy. Living forward most of the time we seldom allow ourselves, except in the most unguarded moments, time to reflect upon how our choices are impacting our lives. But why is that?  It is because good, serious reflection seldom occurs unless the following three conditions are in place: 1) we are in the mood to reflect; 2) we have a period of unallocated time to reflect; and 3) we have the right place to reflect.  

              Mood, time, and place.  We are in the mood but we are short of time.  We have the time but we don’t have a congenial place.  We have the time, we have the place, but we are not in the mood. Such is life.

              Hauled off to prison on orders of the emperor Herod, John the Baptist was furnished a place and all the time he needed to reflect upon the course his life had taken.  A period of normalcy arriving on the heels of his first anxious and fearful days of imprisonment, John began to reflect upon the path his life had taken.

              But what about the path John’s life had taken?  Matthew’s gospel tells us very little of John’s origins or his life overall.  Though the gospel of Luke fills in some of the gaps, for our purposes today we will allow Matthew’s portrait to suffice.

              John emerges in chapter three of Matthew’s Gospel as an impassioned prophet proclaiming repentance.  Almost immediately, no surprise here, he offends the two most influential groups in Judaism, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, calling them a “brood of vipers,” no less.  His fervor in castigating the Pharisees and Sadducees, it should be noted, is matched by his fervor to baptize those willing to hear and heed his message. 

              What brought Jesus to the banks of the Jordan to be baptized we do not know, but Matthew tells us that as Jesus presented himself to be baptized John would have stopped him, insisting that Jesus should be baptizing him instead. The baptism of Jesus by John does in fact occur, the “Spirit of God [Matthew tells us] descending like a dove and alighting on him.”  Thus the third chapter of Matthew’s Gospel ends.

                John will not reappear until the eleventh chapter, Matthew introducing him with these words, “When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples [and here we read what is to my mind the very crux of the lesson] [he sent word by his disciples] and said to him [Jesus] are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” 

              Prison gave John time and a place to reflect on the big questions that occupied him.  The mood to ask those big questions did not delay.  So what might John have reflected upon? His childhood, perhaps.  His family.  His friends.  The experiences he had had in pronouncing the word of God.  His various commitments in life.  His imprisonment.     

              In all likelihood John probably weighed the various decisions he had made in his life.  Had they been good decisions or bad?  Had they been right or wrong?  As he assessed those decisions, I would venture that one stood out among all the rest. Care to guess which one that might have been?

              Matthew tells us that John sent his disciples to Jesus to ask an important question, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Scripture is quite clear that John viewed himself as the forerunner of the messiah. There wasn’t even a close second that John might have numbered on a list of his life’s priorities.

              “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”  Imprisoned as he was, uncertain of the fate that awaited him at Herod’s hands, John needed to know if he was right or wrong about the major commitment of his life.  “Are you the one?”  What would it mean if he was wrong?

              We do not know if John ever got the information he was seeking, for there is no report in the gospel that his disciples returned to him.  The next and final time we hear anything about John in the gospels is when Herod gives the order to have him taken out and beheaded. 

              Right, or wrong?  Was Jesus the Messiah? We shall never know if John got the answer he was seeking.  Then again, faith poses questions that rarely yield crystal clear answers.  Instead faith is challenged to consider all possibilities, even doubt.

              The disciples of John carried forward their master’s request, “Ask Jesus if he is the one.”  For John a lot was riding on the response.  He certainly must have considered the possibility that Jesus was not the one for whom he was preparing. What if he had been wrong about Jesus?  Would he not be judged in opposition to God?  Would not he who baptized others for the remission of sin be held accountable for his own sin? 

              “Are you the one who is to come?”  John had faith in Jesus.  Faith, however, poses questions that rarely yield crystal clear answers.  In many, many cases, faith is only validated through experience, your experience and mine.

              The disciples of John came requesting an answer.  Was John right or wrong?  “Are you the one, or should we expect another?”  Though they posed the question on behalf of John, it is extremely likely that they themselves entertained the very same question. And so how did Jesus respond to the question? Not with a “yes,” or a “no.” Instead Jesus charged them to draw their own conclusions from the evidence at hand. “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.”

              Faith poses questions that rarely yield crystal clear answers.  Jesus may well have responded to the disciples in the affirmative, instructing the disciples to take that news back to John. Instead, he told them to consult the evidence. 

              There are people who will tell you that Jesus presented himself in their lives in such a way that the encounter left no room for doubt.  To not believe in him was no longer an option. Their faith stands strong against all assaults. The rest of us are left asking fundamental questions in the realm of faith that yield no convincing answers. “Why do the innocent suffer?”  “Why was the young person’s life cut short so tragically?”  “Why do my prayers go unanswered?”

              We are challenged to maintain faith despite having what appears to be overwhelming evidence stacked against it. While a personal, “no doubt about it,” encounter with the Lord might well allay out doubts and strengthen our faith commitments, most of will not have such encounters.  Instead we are challenged to respond to the Lord in faith on the basis of our accumulated life experiences.

              Again, Jesus did not respond to John’s disciples, “yes, I am the Messiah, communicate that news to John.”  Instead, he said, “go and tell John what you hear and see.”  Now it was a pretty impressive list of accomplishments Jesus could present to demonstrate he was the Messiah, “the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised.  Go, tell John what you hear and see.”

              We gather as a church, a collection of witnesses to what we have heard and seen of God in the world.  When we gather on Sunday mornings we bring with us varying amounts of experience with the Lord.  Some of us have a solid and resilient faith born out of much experience, both good and bad.  Others of us are just beginning to build a solid and resilient faith, while still others of us are struggling to acquire a faith you can confidently call your own.

               The stories that personally shaped our lives of faith, both the joys and the frustrations, are in large part untapped resources for our neighbor sitting next to us today, or for that neighbor out there in the Lakeview community. We are diminished as a Christian community because we have not heard each others stories, even more importantly; we are diminished because many of us have never had the occasion to put our individual stories into words. This is an omission we will attempt to correct in the next weeks and months.           

             Doubts are a part of our individual stories.  Each of us has our doubts.  Are we right or wrong about this or that aspect of our faith?  It is in sharing our steadfast convictions, but also our doubts, that your faith and mine gains the strength, but also the elasticity it needs, to manage the many challenges faith experiences in the world today. 

             It was a bold move for John to voice his doubts to his disciples.  His disciples undoubtedly looked to him for strength and assurance.  To expose his doubts could be a sign of weakness. Would his disciples think that he had led them astray?  John was willing to risk losing face with his disciples.

              And so John sent his disciples to Jesus, “ask him if he is the one.” The disciples did not get a yes or no answer to take back to John, instead they were challenged to examine the evidence of what Jesus was doing among the people and then tell their master what they heard and saw. 

              What the disciples heard and saw of God’s wonders was their special gift to experience and to share.  “Tell him what you hear and see.” 

             The church is not built from pronouncements from authorities on high, but has been built, and will continue to be built, were people like you and me share our stories of what we have seen and heard of God’s grace. Yes, doubt intrudes itself, perhaps we are wrong about this or that aspect of our faith, but what you have experienced of God may well offer the clarity I need to make my foundation stronger.

               The church can have no ambition greater than sharing with the world what we have heard and seen of our loving God.  May our ambition express itself in deeds as we continue to await the greatest event of all, our Lord’s return to institute his kingdom here on earth.

PRAYER

              O God, font of every blessing, we gather in this season of watching and waiting for your will to be revealed, even as we are distracted by the pressures to buy things, arrange things, and meet obligations.  May your Holy Spirit be a source of comfort and consolation for those whom anxiety has claimed, a source of hope for those who feel defeated, a source of light for those who walk in darkness. Teach us patience, O God, in daily prayer, and may prayer bear fruit for all who are new to the discipline.  Where prayer has been rote and formula, there be, O God, to prod us deeper.

              Lord, we stand amid a great cloud of witnesses, men and women whose faith commitments have never waived, yet the church is also made of seekers, women and men seeking to establish their first connections in the faith.  Be with seekers, O God, those who lack background in the faith, but also those who have background but are unconvinced that you are reaching out to them.  

              Abide, O God, with those who observe the energy and enthusiasm the season generates from afar, people who lack the financial resources to put a holiday meal on the table or purchase a modest tree. We pray for children who live amid chaos, children who live their lives never have experienced constancy and predictability. We pray for all those who will pass this holiday season on the street, waiting in line for a hot meal, or in the haze of drug induced or drunken stupor. We pray for chaplains, counselors, and volunteers who have committed themselves to the wellbeing of those who live on the fringe.

              Lord, you call us into the world, but we so often are content to remain within our own walls.  Forgive us, O Christ, when we value personal comfort more than the neighbor to whom your gospel consistently points.  Even as the restoration of our church and day school facilities are virtually complete you charge us to continue restoration efforts beyond our walls, challenging us to find new ways to reach out to the citizens of this neighborhood and city who require help.

              O God, may your grace inspire us to forgive even as we are forgiven.  We pray for reconciliation where anger and hostility impose their wills.  Even as we witness armed conflict across the world and pray for those who live in harms way, we know that much emotional and physical damage is done within households across the land as conflict rages.  May those who are subject to abuse find the help they need to deliver them out of harm’s way.    

              O God, clear our minds of all that destroys that which you seek to build.  Vanquish impurities of mind and heart, remove the allure of temptation, and preserve us when selfishness counsels us to seek unfair advantage.  May our lives, O God, become transparent to the rays of your holy light.

              Teach us patience, Lord, when in the stress of the moment we wish to lash out.  Control our tongues lest we speak too hastily.  Where we are quick to judge or denigrate, O God, there be to refocus our thoughts and our speech. Forgive the damage we have done by a word too hastily spoken or an action taken without regard for the consequences.

              We gather as the body of Christ, may our union as a church withstand the controversies and misunderstanding that so often arise within fellowships like ours.  Focus us on ministry, O God, ministry when our own inclinations are to quarrel over matters of secondary importance.     

              We present before you now our petitions for Mary Ann, Pam, Rudy, Shane, Joyce, and Wayne who have needs….Ian, Bronwyn

           O God, abide with all who worship here today even as we, with one voice, pray the prayer Jesus taught us