3 Advent, Year A

Isaiah 35:1-10; Psalm 146:4-9; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2–11
A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, December 12, 2010.

“THE FRUITS OF IDENTITY”
(Homily text: Matthew 11: 2 – 11)

What a difference a week makes!

Last week, we heard John the Baptist say this about the Messiah: “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

This week, we hear John’s question, posed to Jesus through some of his own disciples. They come, asking the Lord, “Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

The progression in John’s relationship with Jesus doesn’t seem to make much sense.

The first statement\ (which was made at the time of Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan River) seems to show that John is quite sure of Jesus’ identity. As the scene unfolds following this statement, John seems to be aware of Jesus’ identity (at least in part), for John says to Jesus that “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

But the second statement, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” seems to indicate a desire for confirmation of Jesus’ identity, or perhaps even doubt on John’s part.

At first glance, John’s question is unsettling.

Upon further reflection, however, we can take a good lesson from John’s inquiry, making his quest to know exactly who Jesus is our quest, as well.

In due course, we will consider that quest.

However, we should take a closer look at the nature of Jesus’ response to John’s disciples.

Notice, first of all, that He does not give a direct answer. Oftentimes in the gospel accounts, we find that Jesus makes indirect answers, answers that often ask the questioner to do some work.

Here, as well, is an answer that requires the other party to do some work.

Jesus says, in response, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 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 preached to them.”

A side note is in order here: Jesus’ statement is a summary of the miracles He has been performing in chapters eight and nine of Matthew’s gospel account.

What do all of these acts which are mentioned by Jesus have in common? Two answers pop into my mind:

1. They all operate on a personal level;

2. They all restore a person’s ability to come into God’s presence.

To expand on the two points made above, we should reflect on what we’ve just said.

As to the matter of the personal level of each of Jesus’ actions, we note that each of the miracles involve Jesus and one person. Even where two persons are healed (as in the healing of the two blind men in Matthew 9: 27 – 31), the interaction is still, essentially, one-on-one, Jesus and one other person. This point will be important to us in our consideration of the importance of today’s text to us.

Furthermore, each of the acts Jesus mentions removes an impediment to being able to worship God in the Temple. Recall with me that the Law of Moses (the Torah) made it impossible for a person with a skin disease, who was lame, or blind, or deaf, to enter the Temple. Jesus restores the individual’s place among God’s people, in essence. In addition, in biblical times, many regarded a person who was poor as being one whom God had abandoned for some reason or another (often, the assumption was that a person was poor because of some gross sin in their lives). (I guess it goes without saying that a dead person was also excluded.) So all of these are restored to an ongoing relationship with God.

Now, we return to the matter of our consideration of the importance of today’s text for us, as we live out the Christian life today.

First of all, notice the difference in John’s two statements. The first statement, the one about the Messiah being the one who will “clear his threshing floor,” seems like a large-scale description of the workings of the Messiah. No doubt many in Jesus’ day expected the Messiah to come in with a grandiose arrival (perhaps riding into Jerusalem on a white horse, his sword raised in triumph), a monumental plan of action, and a forceful demonstration of power. Perhaps many expected a new “golden age” of national prominence such as had existed a thousand years earlier under King David and King Solomon’s reigns. But notice the nature of the second one, the question which asks, “Are you the one?” This statement seeks clarity and confirmation. It may, as we noted above, have been motivated by some doubt.

But perhaps John’s question, asked later on, was prompted by the nature of Jesus’ ministry, a ministry that was unfolding in small, often unnoticed acts, a ministry that spread the kingdom of heaven one person at a time. Though Jesus’ popularity grew as His ministry progressed, and though there were, at times, large crowds who followed Him (we think of the feeding of the 5,000 as an example), for the most part, there is no great and grand scheme (by worldly standards) present in Jesus’ ministry.

Earlier in this homily, we made a remark about John’s quest to ascertain exactly who Jesus is. John’s quest serves as a model for us, for we are also called to be certain of Jesus’ identity. “Are you really the one?” we should ask.

How might we come to know that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ ?

We will come to know Jesus as Lord through the evidence of His working in our lives, and in the lives of others. We will come to know Him through the witness of Holy Scripture. As we compare the witness we find there with the witness of a changed life, we come to know that Jesus is the one who has come. There is no need to look for another.

Jesus comes, offering wholeness of being, which is the bottom line of the miracles He recounts to John’s disciples in our text today.

Restoration of a relationship with God is made possible through Jesus’ acts. The impediments which make a relationship with God possible are removed. Put into our contemporary context, we might say that oftentimes, it is hardness of heart, indifference, and sin that require the Lord’s healing today.

And where will we find the evidence of the Lord’s working? The answer is: In our lives, as God works individually with each one. For it is there that the mission field is to be found.

The kingdom of heaven is built, one person at a time. The kingdom comes slowly, sometimes imperceptibly. It can be seen in the changes which sometimes occur only over a considerable length of time.

But God’s working within us and through us bears an unmistakable stamp of divine power at work. Sometimes we see God’s power as individuals are freed from addictions that they themselves are powerless to conquer. Sometimes it is seen in miraculous healings which go beyond our human powers to achieve. (In this regard, I think of the miraculous healing of a priest whose eyesight was deteriorating, and whose circumstances no medical power could address, but who was healed through the laying-on-of-hands and prayer.) Oftentimes, it is seen in the uniquely divine qualities that shine through a person who has come to know that the answer to the question, “Are you the one?” is “Yes, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God”.

May we continue our personal quest to ascertain with certainty that Jesus Christ is the “one who has come” to save us, and to restore us to right relationship with God.

AMEN.