God comes to heal, not to destroy, and following the path of Christ is seeing and hearing that mercy and love, and then living it.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The Third Sunday of Advent, year A
Texts: Matthew 11:2-11; Isaiah 35:1-10; Psalm 146:5-10

Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Even John saw the problem.

The contrast between John’s rhetoric and Jesus’ peacemaking we saw last week was so stark John started to worry about Jesus. In prison, nearing his death, John sends two of his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”

John knows Jesus personally. John, led by the Holy Spirit, had no doubts about naming Jesus as God’s Anointed.

But now he isn’t sure? He’s facing death wondering if he failed at the one job he had?

John saw a people and a world woefully unprepared for Messiah.

He saw corruption in the religious leaders, oppression from a crushing overlord. He saw people living apart from God’s way. And he saw in binary, in black and white: you either bear fruit or you don’t. You’re ready or you’re not.

John’s just being a Biblical prophet. He’s calling out bad behavior, sinful action, disregard of God’s law and God’s way, and not putting any nuance on it at all. If he thinks you’re outside, as we heard last week, he’ll say all kinds of terrible things about you and to you. To call you back to God.

But Jesus sees all that John sees. Corruption and oppression, people living apart from God’s way, people not bearing the fruit of faithful lives. He just has a very different strategy for calling people to God’s way, to dealing with evil. He’s different.

That’s why he answers John the way he did.

Jesus says, tell John what you see and hear: blind people have their sight restored, deaf people are given hearing.

People that couldn’t walk now dance. Even dead people are raised. And – and this is no small thing to Jesus – and those who are poor have the Good News brought to them.

Jesus knows his Isaiah. And he knows John knows his Isaiah. So Jesus is saying, John, do you remember Isaiah 35? When God comes to save, blind people will see, deaf people will hear, lame people will jump for joy, and people who can’t speak will sing. Weak hands are strengthened, feeble knees firmed up.

Remember Psalm 146, John? Jesus says. All those things Isaiah promises, but also, justice for those who are oppressed, food to those who are hungry. Strangers are cared for, along with those who lack family support. These are the signs of God’s coming.

So Jesus asks John, “who do you think I am, if I’m doing all these things promised for when God comes to save? How can you be offended by me, and worried that I’m not the one?”

In a world of darkness and fear such as ours, where we see corruption, oppression, violence, evil, just like John did, we sometimes raise John’s question.

We’re now 2,000 years after the coming of this Christ, this Messiah, and it still seems bad. How can you know Jesus’ way is God’s way? Shouldn’t God be doing something stronger? Bring judgment, destroy the wicked, end all that the wicked do? Maybe John has the right idea.

Because if God isn’t taking the world’s evil seriously enough to come and put an end to all of this, what are we missing?

But Jesus asks, “what do you see and hear me do? What does that tell you?”

Here’s what I see and hear.

I see and hear Christ moving in the world for healing and life. Look at all of you, to start with. Dedicated, passionate people who bring light into the shadowy corners of the world every day. I see Christ everywhere I look here, anointed people witnessing to God’s love by bearing the same love in your families, in your daily lives, in this place, this neighborhood, this world. I see people with imagination and courage standing against the powers of evil, making a difference every day. Sharing your wealth for God’s work, sharing your time and sweat to bring God’s healing hope into this world in more ways than I can count. That’s what I see and hear.

And that’s just this community of faith. I see evidence of this in our siblings and neighbors in this city, throughout our nation, throughout the world. God is working against the evil, the corruption, the oppression, the pain, all over this earth.

Maybe these aren’t the specific physical healings Jesus did,. But all the other signs, bringing God’s Good News to those who are poor, those who struggle, bearing God’s justice for those who are oppressed, being God’s love in a world of hate, all things Messiah is supposed to do, all that people are doing. People are being Christ in the world for light and healing and hope.

Can you see and hear that?

Blessed is anyone who isn’t offended by me, Jesus says. He means you and me.

You can look at all the wickedness and evil in the world and despair that God isn’t showing up to get rid of it all. You can spend your Advent waiting and watching for that big, bright, flashy moment when God says, “all right, we’re cleaning this place up, getting rid of the bad guys, cutting down the unfruitful trees.”

Or you can look and listen for where the Triune God has actually said you’ll find God’s healing and mercy and love. You can listen and look for signs of Christ in everyday people, here and throughout the world. You can spend your Advent waiting and watching for where God really is coming and bringing life and hope, and you can join that coming yourself. Because you are baptized, anointed. You are Christ.

Don’t be offended, Jesus says, if my way of healing and hope doesn’t fit your anger, or self-righteousness, or even hate for others. Just look and listen. You’ll be amazed at what you see and hear God doing in you and in this world.

And then ask yourself, do I trust Jesus enough to do this his way?

In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen