Great Disappointments, Greater Savior

The Third Sunday In Advent

Matthew 11:2-15


In the name of Jesus.
Last Sunday we heard this peculiar prophet thundering in the wilderness about a coming Messiah, a coming King who will baptize not with water but with fire! Such a great expectation. This must be a great and powerful Messiah, greater even than the Roman Empire. He tells the truth about Herod’s sin and Herod claps him in jail. Now John the Baptizer waits eagerly for the expected Messiah to show his greatness. But he waits in vain. No overthrow, no rescue, nothing. John waits. Nothing. Finally, he tells two of his students to go to Jesus and ask him, “Are you he that is to come, or should we wait for another?”
When confronted by this question, we would think that Jesus would scold his herald John, but he does not. He instead comforts John:
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.
What does Jesus mean? Well, why do the blind see? Why do the lame walk? Why are the lepers cleansed? Why are the dead raised? Because John’s prophecy has come true: the kingdom of God has come. For Jesus, the King, has come, and he is doing what a king should be doing: he is reigning, and he reigns by His Word. And his Word brings deliverance and life.
But Jesus tells his listeners something more.
What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
The reed shaken by the wind is a reference to the soft life of a king, of Herod. And so, Jesus is asking, are you looking for a king? A man dressed as a king? Those people could be found in palaces. What did you go out to see? A prophet, who looks like a king, who dresses in three pice suits like Joel Osteen or any of those televangelists wearing expensive clothes. Well, Jesus is telling them now, well, here is your king, and look what he is doing. Is he living a soft and comfortable life? No, his life is hard because he is too poor to buy a decent sacrifice for the temple; does he wear fine clothing? At the end of his life, the only piece of clothing he had was one piece of seamless garment, which the soldiers throw dice for to see who gets it. Did they want to see a prophet? Well, here he is, preaching the Good News to the poor. And what is the Good News? That God, in Jesus, now reigns.
MALADY
And so, like the people in Jesus’ time, like John the Baptizer, we look for Messiah in all the wrong places, we expect Jesus to do all the wrong things. We look at Christmas the wrong way. For we imagine Christmas to be picture perfect, like the Christmas cards on display now in the bookstores: the nice and quiet star-filled evening, clear skies, the lambs quietly grazing, Mary looking down lovingly on the Christ child peacefully asleep in a quaintly decorated manger, the shepherds and the magi quietly kneeling to one side. And because we look at Christmas the wrong way, we therefore look at Advent the wrong way. We would like to see Advent as an intermission between Halloween and Christmas.
And because we expect to see Christ in all the wrong places and expect him to do all the wrong things. And when the King does the right things, the things we do not expect, we are disappointed with Christ.
Well, the truth is, we are the great disappointment, for we aree sinful.
We expect Jesus to be proud, but he comes to us humbly.
We expect Jesus to be rich, but he is poor.
We expect him to be a king, but he comes in the form of a servant.
We expect him to be mighty. Instead, he is weak.
GOSPEL
And yet, in spite of all our great disappointments at who and what Jesus is, in spite of our sin, Jesus does not disappoint, for his power is made manifest in his weakness. His riches are made manifest in poverty and meanness, and his majesty is made manifest in the cross. For we are blind and deaf and lame and dead in our sin.
And so, behold the man, who is poor and weak and powerless, hanging on the cross. But it is precisely by the cross that God’s power is seen in its fulness, for by the cross, the powers of death, hell and the devil are undone. By the cross Jesus has manifested his kingship. By the cross, we who are sinful have become righteous in God’s sight.
And it is precisely in the mean and poor things that Jesus chooses to reveal his majesty and power. By the mere speaking of his Word, he pronounces us forgiven of all our sin. By simple means, water, bread, wine, Jesus chooses to reveal his majesty and power, for these things, water accompanied by God’s Word, cleanses us of our sin and marks us as God’s children; the bread and wine, accompanied by God’s Word, become for us the true body and blood of Jesus the crucified, giving us grace, forgiveness and life. In these poor and simple things, Jesus chooses to reveal himself to us: prophet and king.
And so, if you would see Christ, look at the cross, for it is on the cross that Jesus reigns. By the cross he is King. And from the cross, his blessings flow to us, through Word and Sacraments.
We may be great disappointments, but one greater than us has come. But his greatness is not found in soft clothes or king’s palaces. His greatness comes from the cross, his death for our life. For from his cross, through his Word and Sacraments, we have received the most unexpected gifts: grace, forgivenes, eternal life. Because of Christ and him crucified for the forgiveness of our sins. This is most certainly true. This is most certainly for you.
And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen. (Philippians 4:7)