Sermon preached at St. Alban's, Spirit Lake, on December 16, 2007
(Third Sunday of Advent, Year A, BCP Lectionary)
by the Rev. Carl D. Mann

Texts:   Isaiah 35:1-10
Psalm 146
James 5:7-10
Matthew 11:2-11

Today is Gaudete Sunday, the third Sunday of Advent. The word Gaudete is Latin for the word rejoice, which marks a break in the solemnity of the season because Advent is primarily a penitential time of reflection and introspection. Two weeks ago the message was to be active in preparation because we never know when the Day of the Lord will arrive. Last week the message was to repent and radically change our lives by bearing fruit worthy of our baptisms because we never know when the Day of the Lord will arrive.

But this week the Old Testament tells us that “the ransomed of the Lord” will be singing and that “everlasting joy shall be upon their heads”, and “they shall obtain joy and gladness” with no more “sorrow or sighing” in their lives. The blind shall see, the deaf shall hear, the lame shall leap like deer, and the tongues of the dumb will sing for joy!

The Psalm goes on to say, “Hallelujah! Praise the Lord. O my soul!” Sing praises to God because He metes out justice to the oppressed, feeds the hungry, sets prisoners free, gives sight to the blind, gives strength to bad backs, cares for strangers, and sustains widows and orphans.

James is a little more subdued but even he is encouraging us to have patience and to strengthen our hearts. These are all things for which we are called to give thanks and to rejoice!

But then we move to the Gospel and we find John the Baptist sitting in jail. He is not rejoicing. In fact, it sounds as if he having second thoughts, maybe even doubts that Jesus is who he thought he was: the Messiah! The One who is to come!

Now how can this be? Just last week and eight chapters ago, John is shouting to the crowds that there is a greater one who is coming that will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire, which are symbols of power and judgment! John, in the role of the Prophet, does not hold back! He is bold and blunt and tells the truth as it is revealed to him. He is so blunt that he even takes on Herod Antipas who is the alleged king of the Jews or at least that part of the Jews that the Romans allow him to be. You see, Herod had recently visited his brother Philip, and during his stay seduced Philip’s wife and brought her home to live in “marriage” with him. Then John, God’s Prophet said, “Excuse me, your Supreme Idiocy but that’s a no-no. It’s against the Law of God, and it doesn’t matter if you are a king, that still makes you an adulterer!”

So Herod had John put in jail. And John probably said, “No problem! Because what you don’t know is that “the one who is to come”, the Messiah, the true King of the Jews, has arrived, and he will release me from prison just as soon as he knocks your sorry behind off the throne and takes his rightful place as king! Yep, that will be happening any moment now. And when he’s done with you, he’ll take on the Romans and show them how a real king deals with foreign interference. Yep, he should be showing up any day! And then when all is back to normal, he will sit in court and judge all of the people! And woe to those who have to stand before and behold his burning stare as he declares his judgment! Yep, any week now, he’ll be coming. Did I mention he was my cousin? Hello! Is anybody out there?

You see, even John, God’s Prophet, was human just like you and me. He had human thoughts and emotions and preconceived ideas as to what the Messiah was to be and to do. He probably thought that Jesus was going to be a fierce, larger-than-life man that would retake Jerusalem along the lines of how Elijah handled the prophets of Baal. But doggone it, Jesus wasn’t doing what John had expected him to do. Not only didn’t Jesus come and rescue him, we are told that when John was arrested, Jesus withdrew to the northern region of the Sea of Galilee and began his public ministry. He never said he was the Messiah, and he sure as shootin’ didn’t say he was a king! And that leaves John to rot in prison in a somewhat disappointed state of mind to where he is now questioning his whole vocation.

So he sent word to Jesus by way of one of his disciples to ask Jesus if he really was who John thought he was or if there was someone else for whom they were to wait. In essence, he was trying to verify the message he had received from God. Did he get it right or had he missed something in the translation.

And Jesus sent the disciple back to John quoting from the passage of Isaiah that we heard this morning. The blind can see, the lame are walking, the deaf can hear, and the Gospel is being preached! And if you understand why I am doing these things and are not offended then rejoice for God will surely bless you!

You see, John is still living under the Old Covenant; he is living in a time of preparation for the Messiah. As such, when the Messiah comes, he expects him to bring judgment upon the people for the breaking of the Law. He wants Jesus to first condemn the actions of the people and then show them mercy, which is how earthly kings generally did things. But Jesus never does what anyone expects him to do. He always turns things upside down. He always shows us that the kingdom of God is not like earthly kingdoms, and he is not like earthly kings.

Why? Because Jesus is the fulfillment of the time of preparation. He is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. Thus he begins by showing first his loving mercy through the healing power of forgiveness. For it is through the forgiveness of sins that people are released from the bondage of their personal prisons of anger, despair, disappointment, and death. And as a result of this deliverance they are to forgive each other in the same way. But this salvation event cannot fully happen until Jesus is sacrificed on the cross, a future event, which leaves John in his cell waiting for whatever Herod has in store. Just as Moses was able to catch a glimpse of the Promised Land but wasn’t allowed to enter into it, John is to take hope in the fact that he has indeed ushered in the one who is to come but will not yet be able to partake of the promise of his salvation because the New Covenant has not been completely established.

Now let’s be clear! John was not in prison because he was a failure; he was in prison because his mission was a success. As the last of God’s Prophets he had looked forward to, had prepared for, and had worked diligently to usher something new into existence. Having finished his work, it was time for him to be set aside. Not because he hadn’t done his job or told the truth but because he completed his mission.

Jesus then confirms John’s work to the crowd by declaring that John was indeed a prophet and more. As a preparer of the way, John was the greatest of any one who had come before him. But even with that in mind, the most insignificant of believers who accepts God’s kingdom and lives by it will be greater than John because they will be living in the time of fulfillment.

Jesus is not the kind of Messiah that John had thought he would be or for that matter what most of the disciples thought he would be. He did not come as a sword wielding warrior king because he does not force himself on anyone. Everyone has to work that out for themselves. It was true then and it is true now. And by work I don’t mean doing good deeds; there is nothing we can do to earn our salvation. But it is a matter of sequence. Just as Jesus showed John and the world that in the kingdom of God mercy precedes judgment, we have to understand that salvation comes before the fruits of the Spirit can be fully manifested. The only thing we have to work out is to choose to believe that Jesus is Christ, and to live our lives accordingly. If we do these things, then and only then will others see our example and “forced” to work it out as well.

Jesus came the first time to bestow mercy. He will come a second time in glory to judge the living and the dead. On this day, Gaudete Sunday, the third Sunday of Advent, let us rejoice in the fulfillment of our salvation which will properly prepare us for the One who is coming because we never know when the Day of the Lord will arrive!

Gloria Patri