Before Jesus....

Advent3A, St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, Moses Lake, December 11, 2022, by Sr. Annette Fricke Before Jesus, there was a very long line of prophets. I cannot tell you why the appointed gospels of Advent this year did not begin with the genealogy presented in the gospel of Matthew or that it in no way follows the chronological order of Matthew. The first Sunday in Advent was from Matthew 24, last Sunday was from Matthew 3 and today, it is from Matthew 11. The setting in today’s gospel is that John has been jailed. If we were the Jewish people of Jesus’ day, we would have a certain perspective. We would be the people who are looking for the promised Messiah of God. How do we recognize the Messiah? What is the concrete evidence that the Messiah is finally here? The Jews looked for signs. What makes a true prophet as opposed to false prophets? What makes the Messiah as opposed to false Messiahs? For prophets, if most of the prophesies come true, they are considered a true prophet. But if the people have never seen the Messiah, only prophets, how can they determine that Jesus is the Messiah when there are others also claiming to be the Messiah? From other sources, we know that there were others stating they were the Messiah at the time. However, those followers died out. Was it something they said or did that helped make the decision to follow Jesus? What makes Jesus stand out? “Jesus, are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” How can we know for certain? Can we know for certain? These answers that Jesus gave was enough for many to become his disciples: “Tell John what you see and hear. The blind can now see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them.” And we are going to add on to this another for the beatitudes, “And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” There is our clue, our starting point. We are to be in conversation with those who don’t take offense at Jesus. At our baptisms, we are to let our lights so shine before others that they may see our good works and glorify God in heaven. John preached in the wilderness about Jesus. At the in-person convention before this one, it was decided that the diocesan theme was “setting a table in the wilderness.” That theme served the diocese well through COVID. Like many people during that time, most of us didn’t really dress up to go anywhere and avoided going places. John, a prophet in a long line of prophets did not look like anything special either—probably wore itchy clothes, old sandals that were falling apart and ate locusts and honey because they were handy. We also do not need to be dressed a certain way to get others interested in Jesus. John is a good role model because he is being himself, not trying to impress the crowd, but giving them the answers they need, and keeps pointing them to Jesus. Now that John is in prison, it’s time for Jesus to take his place as the Messiah, the one who is not only close to God, but is God—both God and human so that he can bridge the gap between humanity and God. Jesus is saying to us, get on with it, go out from the wilderness and make disciples who love God enough to truly care about others. As our baptismal vows state, “Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify God who is in heaven.” Where do you see Jesus at work today? Tell what you see and hear. The blind can now see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them through us, his disciples. Go out from the wilderness and make disciples---make a difference to those who are seeking to find the Messiah and tell them, “The Messiah is here!”