12 December 2010

In the early church there was much contention amongst Christians about the relationship between Jesus and John the Baptist. For along time, John the Baptist’s followers regarded John’s ministry as foretelling

the return of Elijah, who was to establish the Peaceable Kingdom. Many also regarded John the Baptist as a forerunner ofthe Messiah, who was to redeem Israel, put her enemies to rout, and establish the peaceable Kingdom of old Isaiah’s vision (Isaiah 35:1-11). For centuries, the people of Israel had longed for the return of Elijah to fulfill the vision of the Peaceable Kingdom.

That is the realm that we Christians look for, prepare for, and earnestly hope for -- the Christ Child who comes to us again at Christmastime. Today’s lesson is in anticipation of the fulfillment ofthe dream of old Isaiah… then shall the eyes of the blind be opened,and the ears of the deaf unstopped, and the lame will leap like thehart. God’s Kingdom here on earth. And who would have believedthat it was borne to us through a child in a stable in a small town in Palestine.

These anticipations of the Messiah in the early church were always accompanied by apocalyptic signs and wonders: like celestial aberrations, and all kinds of flamboyant paraphernalia. These anticipations of the Messiah appropriated signs and wonders fromthe prevailing culture, from which it was maintained that you could not have the return of the Messiah without them. Indeed, John proclaimed in the wilderness to his followers, that the One to come, was the stronger one, and would indeed bring the refining fire.
Jesus was being proclaimed Messiah by his followers, and those whosurvived the crucifixion and resurrection. But where were the signs and wonders? John the Baptist preached judgment and repentance.Jesus preached mercy and forgiveness. John the Baptist was anascetic voice crying in the wilderness. Jesus ate and drank with publicans, tax collectors, bankers and other such sinners. (There isno record of his hanging out with clergy.)

Now, in today’s lesson, John the Baptist was in prison. He had hada run-in with the king. He’d heard about Jesus, who had a largefollowing, and did many healings and other mighty deeds. So Johnthe Baptist sent two of his followers to Jesus, to ask the question:“Are you the Coming One, or should we look for another?” “Are youThe One? Are you the One who will introduce God’s realm amongst humankind?”

Matthew uses John the Baptist’ perplexity to show that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, the Coming One, who would usher inGod’s Kingdom on earth. For Jesus answers John the Baptist’s followers, “Go and tell John what you see and hear, the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed. And the poor and powerless have good news preached to them.”

Deeds and words. With these, Jesus answers John the Baptist, Are You The One?
We must pay careful attention to two separate and basic propositionsto this reading in Matthew and Luke:1 . that Jesus Christ did things in his ministry that defied human explanation; and 2 that God was revealing his saving power through Jesus’ministry.

We must keep these two assertions of the Gospel separate, for oneis rational, and capable of human analysis. And the other is a faith affirmation, beyond human rationality.

Matthew shows us all that John the Baptist, with his cry for judgment,accompanied by signs and wonders in the heavens, does not signify the coming of the Messiah. Matthew shows us that Jesus,in word and in deed, is the Messiah. Further, the badge of Jesus’ Messiahship is his healing and his preaching good news to the poor and the powerless. Jesus is the Messiah, unaccompanied by theheavens opening or spectacular cataclysms. John the Baptist asked, Are you The One? Or shall we look for another? The answer in Matthew and Luke is that Jesus IS the Coming One.

The Coming One goes up to Jerusalem and there he will beinterrogated about his role as Messiah: He is tried, found guilty of blasphemy, and crucified, on a public road with the title, King of theJews written over his head. King of the Jews is equivalent to the Messiah.

Many people at the time, as today, mistake the apocalyptic paraphenalia for the real thing. The badge of the Messiah, the credentials of the Savior, are the deeds and words of Jesus, beginning with his healing ministry and his preaching of good newsto the powerless, his crucifixion and his resurrection. That is themessage of the Gospels.

Christians who base their faith on Jesus’ miracles need to bereminded that the chief claim of his followers that he is the Messiahis preaching good tidings to the powerless. That led to his crucifixionand we know that God was at work in this scenario, culminating in theresurrection.

For it is to us that the Coming One is preaching the good news: all ofus, rich and poor, all of us.
We are all powerless. We are the poor. For we are powerless in theface of sin and death. And that’s why God sent us a Savior. Hisname is Jesus, the son of Mary and Joseph, whom we call the Christ.

Selfishness and greed and arrogance and indulgence in the goodsand power structures of this world are the credentials of the anti-Christ. Jesus the Coming One has come, is coming, and is to come.God is working out his plan for the culmination of the human story.

Are you The One? Or shall we look for another? Tell John what you have seen and heard. The Kingdom of God is present with us,even though it is not subject to human verification. Those that have eyes, the eyes and ears of faith, know that the Kingdom comes in two stages. It has come. And it is coming. Anyone who thinks they know, or can predict when, has not read the Gospel of Matthew. It is available by faith, here and now, in word and in deed.

Then will the vision of Isaiah be realized! In God’s time, and on God’s terms. “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and earsof the deaf unstopped, and the lame will leap like the hart. And the tongue of the dumb will sing for joy. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy upon their heads. We shall then obtain joy and happiness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

The twin enemies of humankind, sin and death, have been overcome by the birth, life, teachings, death and resurrection of God’s ChosenOne. The Christmas message is just this: “Be not afraid, for I bring you great tidings of great joy, which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”