Third Sunday in Advent

Third Sunday in Advent (A)

December 11, 2022

Text: Matt. 11:2-15

            “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord” (James 5:7; ESV).  That is the Lord’s Word to us from the pen of His own dear brother, James.  Advent is a time of waiting.  In fact, the whole New Testament era, from the time of our Lord’s Ascension, to the time of His coming again in glory, the time in which we now live, is a time of waiting.  It is one long Advent Season.  We wait upon the Lord.  We wait for our deliverance.  From our sins.  From this fallen world.  From the crafts and assaults of the devil.  And for the Lord’s appearing.  For the light of His face.  The fulfillment of our hope.  The great setting right of all things.  Resurrection.  New Creation.  But here we are, now, in this world.  And we wait.  And we pray: “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20).  And we wait some more. 

            Waiting is hard.  St. John is waiting in prison.  He has been faithful.  His whole life has been a going before the Lord’s face, a preparation for the way of the Lord.  He has preached faithfully, at great personal cost, and in the face of substantial opposition.  A home in the wilderness.  Camels’ hair and leather for his raiment.  Locusts and wild honey for his table fare.  Baptizing with a Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  And what does he get for it?  A dungeon and chains and almost certain death.  Herod’s government will not abide preachers of biblical marriage.  So, you can sympathize with St. John, can’t you?  He has believed, and He has preached, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).  He has believed, and He has preached the arrival of Messiah, who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  And it should be as his father, Zachariah, sang at John’s own nativity: “that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us… that we… might serve [God] without fear” (Luke 1:71, 74).  But here he is in the dungeon, waiting and suffering, and he just wonders…  Is it all true?  Has this all been worth it?  What is the end game of all of this?  Lord Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another” (Matt. 11:3)? 

            What is Jesus’ answer to John and his disciples?  It’s always a little frustrating, isn’t it, that He won’t just say “yes” or “no”?  But He wants John to look at the right thing, in the right place.  “Go and tell John what you hear and see” (v. 4).  And what is that?  It is Jesus fulfilling the Prophets.  It is Jesus fulfilling our Old Testament reading (Is. 35:1-10)… “the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news,” Gospel, “preached to them” (Matt. 11:5).  Jesus is doing what all the Hebrew Scriptures say Messiah will do.  He is reversing the curse.  He is undoing the work of the devil.  He is rescuing sinners from the wages of sin.  He is healing creation of its brokenness.  And, to be sure, it is not the final and full manifestation of His restoring work.  But it is a glimpse of what will come about, fully and completely, on that great Day when Jesus comes again at the end.  It will come about because of what He came into our flesh to do now: Suffer and die for the sins of the world, and on the Third Day be raised from the dead. 

            And blessed is the one who is not offended by that, “blessed is the one who is not offended by me” (v. 6).  The redemption and restoration can only come through suffering… The suffering of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, and the suffering of His people as we wait… As we wait upon the Lord for our own resurrection and deliverance.  That is a scandal.  Literally, the word translated here as “offended” is σκανδαλισθῇ, “scandalized.”  It doesn’t mean “outraged” or “taken aback.”  It means “to be tripped up” so that you stumble and fall.  Blessed is the one who is not scandalized, who doesn’t stumble and fall on account of Jesus, and the suffering, and the waiting, but who, rather, waits patiently for the coming of the Lord.      

            This is the time of waiting, beloved.  And waiting is hard.  Thanks be to God, thus far, you don’t have to wait in prison and chains.  But there is no question that it sure doesn’t look like you’ve been saved from your enemies and the hand of all who hate you.  It sure doesn’t look like you can just serve God without fear.  In fact, you may end up in prison and in chains for Jesus.  I hope not, but the way our society is trending, it has a lot more in common with Herod’s government than with Jesus.  Trust me, I think about that a lot, because like John, I preach biblical marriage.  And it is simply true that the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force (v. 12), so that is what you can expect.  While you wait. 

            And, it doesn’t have to be prison and martyrdom that drive you to St. John’s question.  If Jesus has come, and He is the One who delivers us from all evil, then why do things have to be so hard?  Why are other people so difficult?  And why am I so difficult for other people?  Why do they keep sinning against me?  Even my fellow Christians?  And why do I keep sinning and failing in so many ways?  I’m frustrated with others.  I’m frustrated with myself.  I’m frustrated that I’m so easily frustrated.  Never mind physical afflictions and politics and the dreary winter weather.  And here it is, the holidays again, and I’m just supposed to smile and make merry with a warm glow in my heart.  Well, try telling John in prison to have a warm Christmas glow in his heart.  If we’re being honest, the truth of it is, as St. Glen Warmbier famously said: “Life isn’t as easy as it looks.”  There are really good things for which we thank God, and there can be the glow, but frankly, it often looks pretty miserable.  Because our eyes still only see the curse.  We don’t see the reversal of the curse.  So, we also ask… Are You the One who is to come, dear Jesus?  Or should we look for another?

            What is Jesus’ answer to your question?  It is the same as His answer to John.  Look at the right thing, in the right place, and not at what your fallen eyes see.  What do you hear and see from Jesus?  Look at His Word, the Holy Scriptures.  Look to preaching and to Sacrament.  See how the Lord Jesus has come in your flesh, the eternal Son of the Father, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, to be your Lord and your Redeemer.  See how He comes to you now in His Gospel gifts.  His ministry of healing and restoration back then is a sign of what He does for you here and now.  He heals you from your sins.  By forgiving you.  He heals you from your death.  By dying.  He gives you His own righteousness and life.  By rising again.  And He reigns.  Yes, even over this mess, where all is fallen and broken, where creation groans, and Satan bares his poison fangs.  You know it, because it is proclaimed to you.  You know it, because you have a foretaste of it here, in the Holy Supper.  What do you hear and see, not out there, but here, from Jesus?

            Look!  Jesus is pulling back the veil, to give you just a glimpse of what is coming, and what is now, in Him.  Joy is breaking through the sorrow.  New Creation is invading the old.  Waters are breaking forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.  The burning sand is becoming a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water.  God give you eyes to see it, which is to say, God give you faith. 

            You want a simple answer to the question, “Are you the One who is to come?”  Yes.  The answer is yes.  But find your answer where and how Jesus gives it to you.  In His Word and Holy Sacraments. 

            Now, here we are waiting.  And waiting is hard.  Jesus has done His sin-atoning work on the cross, and He is risen from the dead.  And we know that.  We are certain of our salvation.  And He is coming back.  Sometime.  Soon.  But for now, we wait.  “Be patient, therefore,” beloved, “until the coming of the Lord.”  Do not grumble.  Least of all against one another.  Give each other a break, your family, your friends, your coworkers, your fellow Church members.  Be patient with them, as you want them to be patient with you.  Pass over their weaknesses and deficiencies.  Forgive each other.  Love one another.  Put the best construction on everything.  After all, Christ died for us, and we live in the forgiveness of sins.  It does us no good to bicker or hold grudges.  Let’s bear with one another, and be at peace… the peace that that comes to us in Jesus Christ.

            And let us suffer patiently whatever the Lord permits to afflict us.  Suffer it in hope, because you know the Lord will deliver you soon.  And with joy… which is not the same thing as that obligatory heartfelt Christmas glow.  Joy is the certainty that your hope will be, and is, fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  And so… Gaudete!  Rejoice.  “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, Rejoice” (Phil. 4:4).  Rejoicing is simply joy in action, which is to say, when you hear and believe the Gospel, that will always result in praise and thanksgiving to God.

            Be patient, beloved, and rejoice.  The Lord is coming.  We are not at home here in this fallen world.  But we will be home, soon.  Just wait and see.  Soon you will see Him.  Then, faith will give way to sight.  Then, hope will be fulfilled.  In the meantime, do not be scandalized.  Waiting is hard.  But the Lord Jesus says to you, “Surely I am coming soon”… “Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20).  Blessed Advent.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.