Last week, John was out in the wilderness, proclaiming the arrival of the Promised One who was coming with a winnowing fork. This Messiah was much more powerful than John and would set things right. Redemption was near. Judgment was nigh. John warned the people to get busy producing good fruit. Or bear the consequences.
This week? John sits in prison. Hadn’t he devoted his life to bearing good fruit? To proclaiming the news? To preparing the way for the Lord? To straightening paths? And now this. Prison. Did John get it all wrong? Is Jesus the one or should John keep waiting? Wasn’t the Messiah going to set His people free? It was so confusing.
So John sends messengers to Jesus to ask him. “Are you the one?” Jesus says: Go and tell John what you see and hear. Then Jesus rattles off a list of miraculous happenings – the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the dead rise, and the poor get good news.
So is that a yes or no? While this answer does seem perplexing, set in the context of Holy Scriptures familiar to John it is much clearer. Isaiah had promised the people a time when the blind would see, the deaf hear, the lame walk. Notice that Jesus goes further. The dead will rise. The poor receive good news. Yes, John, yes. It is the Messiah. But his mission, his plan, his work is so much bigger than a worldly kingship, a powerful regime, or a political victory. It goes beyond time and space – it is the good news of salvation and eternal life.
This Good News really is the distinctive message of our Christian faith. Jesus saved us for eternity. Everlasting joy is ours. But what exactly does that mean? What does it look like? Probably not like a Hallmark movie. Everything doesn’t always work out perfectly. We all know John’s future. Bad things happen. Not just the big ones like war and murder and genocide. There’s all the stuff that happens every day. Divorce. Job loss. Sickness. Abuse. Despair. People we love die. Each of must die.
These earthly realities can be overwhelming, particularly at this time of year. The sounds, smells, and images of Christmas, while so merry and bright, can also evoke sadness. The holidays can be painful reminders of childhood days, Christmases past with loved ones who are no more. We have an ache, sometimes almost unbearable, that things can never be that way again, that we will never have another Christmas in that place and time with those loved ones. In a season of good cheer, many can lose their way and get lost in despair. But what if that yearning is not for the past? What if it is the light of the Kingdom, showing the way to a path that Jesus made, a road so clear that even a fool cannot go astray?
So, if your Christmas spirit is a bit shaky this year, that’s okay. Explore your grief. Embrace the tears. Experience all that your soul holds. Look closely at the source of your sadness. “When you are sorrowful, look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.”
And then return to the present, this Christmas 2016. Look around and count your blessings. Rejoice in this day as you keep the faith and wait patiently. Remember that, like John, we are all in prison. Every week we confess that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves. This is the Good News of Christmas. We don’t have to free ourselves. The Messiah is come.
No comments:
Post a Comment