December 12, 2004

Rev. Rodgers Spencer

To appreciate the full significance of Matthew 11, I will read a few verses from the first chapter of Luke [ 1:39-42].Keep these verses in mind.

Now add those verses from Matthew [3:1-12] whom we read last week – of John preaching and declaring "one more powerful am I is coming…"

As we juggle those two balls let us add a third ball – namely the passage from Matthew 11 that we just read – where John is asking – are you the one or do we look for another?"

What’s going on here? What is the Advent message in these passages?

First consider Luke1:41 "When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit." Luke is making a theological statement and not describing how Elizabeth felt.

Both Matthew and Luke make a point of indicating that John early on knew that Jesus was greater.

Matthew identifies this theological point at a later time. Namely while John was conducting his baptisms in the Jordan River and Jesus comes and John says he needs to be baptized by Jesus and not Jesus by John.

Luke as we saw, goes back even further and places this acknowledgment when Mary first visits Elizabeth and they both were pregnant

Reading between the lines of the Gospels, John the Baptist at one time must have had quite a following. We only have the very briefest part of what must have been his message. Simply preaching repentance is not likely to attract a huge following. Yet he seems to have acquired a sizeable following. Not only did he have disciples, he called a spade a spade. He named names. He was not in awe of those in political power. If he saw evil he said so not in some general terms but by naming names. And that directness landed him in jail.

So here in Matthew 11 John was in jail and he asks the question - "are you the one or do we look for another?" John now had time to reflect upon who this Jesus was. Was Jesus the Messiah – God’s anointed - the one that John expected. Or was John expecting the Messiah to preach an even stronger need for repentance? Was he looking for one who would rally the people into a revolt against Rome and the reestablishment of the Davidic kingdom?

Brooding in his prison cell, John began to wonder. Maybe the shepherds had only a strange vision, maybe the Mage had followed the wrong star. What did those foreigners know about their Messianic expectations anyway. The more John brewed over this, the more he knew he had to have answers.

So he called for some of his disciples to come to his cell and he instructed them to go to Jesus and ask this one simple question: Are you the one or do we look for another?

A question that could be answered with a yes or no.

But notice how Jesus answerers John. He says, "Tell John what you see and hear, the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them." John asks a ‘yes/no’ question and gets a mini sermon. A sermon based on Isaiah 35 which we read this morning. A chapter that speaks of the new age, of Zion restored. A new day has come and the old order has passed away. A day when the desert shall blossom.. The RSV says blossom like a crocus, and the King James says blossom like a rose. Hence the Christmas rose - one of the symbols on our Chrismon tree.

Jesus is saying to John’s disciples and to John, use you eyes, the answer to your question is before you, it is in front of you. Look and see. Know your scripture. IT is being fulfilled. The promised day has arrived. Maybe it is only dawn, but it has arrived. There is enough light to see the new day. The star of illumination is sufficient.

Then he adds, "Blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me."

Why would anyone be offended by Jesus?

At this point in Matthew’s gospel why would anyone be offended by Jesus?

We have heard his sermon on the mount and the blessing that are there. But we have also heard that anger and lustful looking are equal to actual acts and so subject to judgment. Sure we say we want to live by the Sermon on the Mount but what about not getting even, not seeking revenge. There is much in that Sermon what challenged their every day values, and challenges our values as well, so that one can be offended. Taking Jesus at his word demands a change in ones life style. And remember what the reaction was when he read the scripture in Nazareth and declared that the passage had been fulfilled in their hearing. [Luke 4]

Later in the gospels we will see that some felt threatened enough that they felt that Jesus had to go. That was then but this is the 21^st century. Surely martyrs are belong to history and not in this present age.

Yet there is a website called "Voice of Martyrs" and lists throughout the world where Christians this year have been killed because of their faith. How reliable the site is I don’t know. But point is that there are those today who do take offense at Jesus. And not all offense is violent.

At a recent Rotary program in Okmulgee, the children from the elementary children sang – what we once would have called their Christmas program. But what did they sing – Slay Bells ring. Jingle Bells, Rudolf, Better Watch Out and other similar songs. Maybe I should say what they did not sing: Silent Night, Hark, the herald angel sing, O little town of Bethlehem, O Come all ye faithful etc. After all, someone, somewhere at some time might be offended if at Christmas our school children actually sang Christmas carols. "Blessed are those who take no offense at me"

Jesus is offensive because he asks us to live now as if we were living in the kingdom of heaven. He calls us to live as if this bad world was good. That is hard to do. We are understandably tempted to take offense.

But Jesus calls us to live as though we were living in the kingdom of heaven, because we are. He brought a bit of heaven to earth.

"Go tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them"

There was sufficient light then and there is sufficient light now to know and to understand who this Jesus was and is. And those things are still happening today all over the word. Men and women who have become poor in spirit for Jesus are working all over the world today to bring healing –and education – clean water – and Christ - to people in need. Lovers of Christ have left comfortable homes and promising careers to serve the world’s least and helpless in the name of Christ. And the world is far better for their sacrifices.

Blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me. Blessed are we when we love the Lord. Blessed are our families. Blessed is our world. Because when Christ blesses us, he will not allow us to enjoy our blessings in isolation.