December 12, 2010 - 3rd Sunday in Advent

Stop, Look, and Listen
Matthew 11:2-11
Advent 3 – December 12, 2010

When I was a kid growing up out in the country of rural Pennsylvania, my parents taught me a very important lesson about crossing the street, 1 most of you probably heard growing up too. When you get ready to cross the road, before you do anything else, you stop, look, and listen. Stop, of course, so you wouldn't rush out into on-coming traffic; look - both ways- so you could see if there was a car coming either direction; and listen - very important where I lived- I told you we lived just past the crest of a hill, and you couldn't see what was coming from the one direction, so you had to pay attention to hear if something was coming. (People flew up & down our road, even though the speed limit was technically 45 miles an hour)

Stop, Look, and Listen - 3 things you had to do to make sure you knew if something was coming or not.

Stop, Look, and Listen - a good reminder of what is happening in today's gospel lesson, and how important it is if we're going to know that something's coming.

See, John the baptizer was stopped. When we first met him here in Matthew's gospel, just last week, John was out in the wilderness, and he was on the move. He was on fire, alive with energy and urgency, summoning people to prepare the way of the Lord, to repent for the kingdom of heaven was near. John was a man of action, baptizing sinners in the Jordan, the symbol of a new life, a fresh start. Back then, John was eager, excited, impatient for the one who would come after him, the one who would come with an ax in one hand, and a winnowing fork in the other, ready to cut down any dead, fruitless wood and burn up any chaff with unquenchable fire.

But that was then, and this is now, and now John is stopped. Literally - he's been arrested. Thrown in prison. Closed in by the walls around him. Nowhere to go, nothing to do. Nothing but time to think. To wonder. To question. To doubt. See, he's heard what Jesus has been doing - and there's nothing in the rumors about Jesus chopping down worthless trees, nothing about separating the righteous from the unrighteous. John had had great expectations for this one who was coming after him, but Jesus doesn't seem to fit the bill. He's nothing like what John thought he would be. Jesus' ministry is more about planting, not chopping down, more about welcoming and including that separating out. John expected him to come with the blazing fire of judgment in his eyes, yet Jesus seems more interested in healing, restoring, loving. And didn't Isaiah talk somewhere else about the Lord's anointed proclaiming liberty to the captives and release to the prisoner? (yep, that's in chapter 61 & Jesus claimed it for himself in Luke when he read it in the temple). And yet here John still sits in jail. So he sends his followers out with this question, "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?"

Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another? Maybe John's question finds an echo in our lives, in our experiences. Maybe we find ourselves stopped with him this morning, this Advent season, caught in our own little prisons of stress or busyness or anxiety. Backed into a corner by the burdens we carry with us. Caged by our cares and concerns. That cancer diagnosis. The strain of caring for a loved one whose health is failing. That job you lost months ago with no sign of another on the horizon. Your child who you know you raised to know better, but who can't seem to do better & just makes one bad decision after another. That addiction you can't conquer. The relationship that once held so much love and joy and now seems on the verge of imploding. And in the midst of all of these things, with responsibilities and deadlines and to-do lists, we may come to a stop, filled with questions about this one we follow, asking with John, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Are you the real deal or not? Because if you are, Jesus, why aren't you doing anything? Why haven't you fixed it yet? What are you waiting for? Can I really count on you, or is it time that I looked elsewhere for help? Serious questions for this time of year, when we like to pretend that life should be about lighter matters - cookies and shopping and celebrations... yet this shadow remains.

But it's okay, if we find ourselves stopped in the hubbub of the season - because it is only when we stop that we can really look and listen - to see what Jesus is doing and hear his words to us.

It's what Jesus said to John's disciples - Go and tell John what you hear and see. Listen. Look. See what's happening right before your eyes! “...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 had one set of expectations about how the Messiah would change the world, but Jesus has his own plan. Jesus doesn't come with eyes blazing, full of anger and wrath. He comes bringing love and hope and the promise of wholeness. The change he brings starts not at the global level, it starts one-on-one. It's not about temporal power, he's not coming to take over the world. This is about eternal transformation. When Jesus comes into the world, people are changed. They are healed. They are set free. One by one. It's got a ripple effect. One life touches another and another and another, spreading from person to person. It may be slow and gradual; it may be almost instantaneous, like those videos on YouTube that go viral & before you know it everyone's seen it & who can say why... But when Jesus comes, that's the evidence that he's come, that he's the One: people are changed – and changed people change the world.

See, Jesus doesn't always come in the ways that we expect. (He usually doesn't do what we expect, actually!) But that doesn't mean he's not at work in the world. Stop. Look. Listen. Where do we see him and hear him? He's there whenever and wherever lives are being changed, whenever and wherever people are given a chance to start again. Jesus is there in the countless food pantries and soup kitchens that feed the hungry. He's there in the Salvation Army bell ringer, collecting money for those who are struggling. He's there in the respite care provider and the live-in companion aide. Jesus is even here in this place, living in you, in us, reaching out to help someone in need through the Giving Tree or Christmas-at-Sea. He's here in the Word and the Water and the Wine, giving himself to us so that we might give ourselves to others. Because Jesus has brought light into our darkness, hope into the situations that hold us down. He has changed us. And as changed people, we are set free to change the world with the love and hope and healing we ourselves have known. So this week, stop, look, and listen for Jesus. Look with new eyes. Listen with new ears to see what Jesus is doing in your life and in the world. And when you see him and hear him, do what Jesus told John's disciples to do: go and tell someone else. Because that's how it works: one person sharing the good news with another – and you may be the one God will use to let them know that in Jesus, there is hope. In Jesus they can be set free.

Thanks be to God!
Amen.