Are You The One?

Isaiah 35:1-10

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,

the desert shall rejoice and blossom;

like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly,

and rejoice with joy and singing.

The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,

the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.

They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God.

Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.

Say to those who are of a fearful heart,

"Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God.

He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense.

He will come and save you."

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,

and the ears of the deaf unstopped;

then the lame shall leap like a deer,

and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.

For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,

and streams in the desert;

the burning sand shall become a pool,

and the thirsty ground springs of water;

the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp,

the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way;

the unclean shall not travel on it,

but it shall be for God's people;

no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.

No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;

they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there.

And the ransomed of the LORD shall return,

and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;

they shall obtain joy and gladness,

and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Matthew 11:2-11
When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing,

he sent word by his disciples and said to him,

"Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?"

Jesus answered them, "Go and tell John what you hear and see:
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.

And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me."

As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John:

"What did you go out into the wilderness to look at?

A reed shaken by the wind?

What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes?

Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces.

What then did you go out to see? A prophet?

Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

This is the one about whom it is written,

'See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,

who will prepare your way before you.'

Truly I tell you, among those born of women

no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist;

yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

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You know those stories or songs you hear sometimes, about when people meet, and they just know, almost instantly, that that’s “the one”?  You know, someone is at a party, and they see someone across a crowded room, or they have a brief conversation after being introduced, and then they go home, saying, “You’re the one! I’m going to marry you!”

I never really believed those stories, but a year ago this weekend something very close to that actually happened to me. From just about the first time Wade and I met, it seemed, we just knew we were meant to be together.

Sometimes you just know.

But not always….

We hear in scripture this morning, that after all the time he had spent out in the wilderness baptizing, after all the times Jesus walked by and he pointed to him, saying, “Behold the Lamb of God!”, John the Baptist is not yet really sure if Jesus is, in fact, the Messiah. We can forgive him, I imagine, for being pretty discouraged at this point in his life. He is in prison, and has been there pretty much since the start of Jesus’ public ministry. So all he knows about what is happening is second-hand, through messages being sneaked in by John’s disciples. And what prophet wouldn’t want the chance to see first-hand that the Word of the Lord, that had been spoken through them to the people, was actually coming true? 

When he is asked, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”, Jesus’ reply mirrors the words Jodie read this morning, from the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah said, 

“Don’t be afraid! Here is your God.

He will come and save you."

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,

and the ears of the deaf unstopped;

then the lame shall leap like a deer,

and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.”

And so, Jesus says, “Go and tell John all you hear and see - 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.” All the things Isaiah named have come to pass, and more.

John was not alone in his doubt. In fact, many of the gospel stories are about people testing Jesus, people challenging Jesus, people seeking signs and wonders to prove whether or not Jesus truly was “the one” – the one they had been waiting for.

The gospels themselves were written in order to provide stories as documented proof of the things that had happened in Jesus’ life, that defined him as “the one” – the Messiah.

But Jesus knew that his disciples would have a hard time keeping the faith, and obediently following, once he was gone. This is why the gospels record how he patiently and thoroughly prepared them; prepared us.

He prepared us to know that he is God, that his way of loving is God’s way of loving, that we are forgiven whether we realize it or not, and that living as forgiven people, one and all, is the truest and richest form of life. He prepared us through the Beatitudes, and through all his “I AM” statements, telling us “I am the living water. I am the bread of life. I am the way, the truth, the life.” I AM. 

He prepared his disciples by challenging them to say who they believed he was, and also by telling them who they are, and whose they are.

When he asked “Who do you say that I am?”, Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Messiah”. And because of that, Peter learned something new about who he was – the rock, steady and strong. In spite of his weaknesses, this is how Jesus named him.

Jesus also prepared the disciples not only for what was to come, how he was to die, and then to rise again, but also for how his leaving them after only three years would make way for the Holy Spirit to come, to give them and us the continuing guidance we would need, to keep the Word of God alive and relevant in our hearts, showing us the way.

Through all this we know and can completely trust, that:

·      God is God, and we are not. Not any one of us. God is God, Jesus is God, the Holy Spirit is God. God is “The One”, in all these three persons.

·      We participate with God as the body of Christ, the church. Even as we boldly declare the hope that is in us, we also boldly declare our status as sinner, with no hope other than the hope freely offered by Jesus Christ. We do nothing on our own; any good we ever do is because the Holy Spirit comes alongside us to complete our lame and limited efforts.

So no one of us is ever “the one”. We come alongside others in need, for a season, for a moment sometimes, to be the people God calls us to be. And then we move on, and someone new is called for the next moment, the next situation, the next season. And we do this again and again, throughout our lives. It’s how we practice communion, how we work together to help each other through the joys and challenges of life. For one circumstance, for one person, for one moment or for one brief season of life, with God’s help, we may be “the one” needed for the particular gift we can share. But we are never fully “The One” – that is only The One God – God in community, Holy in One.

In the gospel according to John, it is John the Baptist who says, “He [Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease.” John knew that he was doing important work, but that it was not about him at all – it was about The Messiah, the Holy One, God in the Flesh. He would not allow his own disciples to get confused, thinking that they were following John the Baptist, but rather pointing, over and over again, to Jesus the Christ.

So the answer to the question – “Are You The One?” – when it is asked to any of us – is, “well, yes and no”. We are one people in Christ. We are one of all God’s children who are called to ministry of reconciliation and hope, using whatever gifts God has given to us to make things better in whatever small way we can, whenever we can. We are ones who are called to say “yes” to the needs of the world, knowing that “we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” But we are not, ever, “The One”. The One is The One God, Holy in Three. And The One will always be with us, always will walk alongside us, always will call the right person to the right place for the right time, always will remind that person that “you must decrease so Christ can increase”.

This is the Advent Sunday when we also remember how the angel came to Mary, and described to her just how God was calling her to participate in the incredible story of salvation.

Mary was not The One.

But Mary had a role to play, and even though what was being asked of her was beyond what any of us could possibly imagine, she responded in two significant ways, two ways that are models for us whenever we are called to service by God.

First, she responded with humility. “Here I am, let it be with me according to your will.”

Second, she responded with boundless hope for what this call would mean for the future.

Today’s readings also include what is known as Mary’s Magnificat – this joyful, hopeful, powerful song of Mary, from the first chapter of Luke’s gospel:

Luke 1:46b-55
"My soul magnifies the Lord, 

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.

Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,

and holy is his name.

His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;

he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,

and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,

and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,

to Abraham and to his descendants forever." 

Even though we sing “Mary, Did You Know?”, this passage makes it clear that Mary knew, both the awesome responsibility given to her, and the awesome hope for the world that came along with the birth of this divine child.

I pray that we all can approach the work God has for us with the same humility, the same hope, the same sense of possibility – knowing that…

No one of us is “The One”,

but that we are called, every day of our lives, to serve “The One” – both in true humility and in boundless hope.

Pointing Fingers

Isaiah 11:1-10

A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.

His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear;

but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.

The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder's den.

They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.

Romans 15:4-13

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.

May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus,

that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs,

and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, "Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles, and sing praises to your name";

and again he says, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people";

and again, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him";

and again Isaiah says, "The root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope."

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

  

Matthew 3:1-12

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming,

"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."

This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.'"

Now John wore clothing of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan,

and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Bear fruit worthy of repentance.

Do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.

Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

"I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

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When Isaiah delivered up this prophecy, he had no idea who he was talking about. A branch from the root of Jesse. The spirit of the Lord resting on him. The wolf shall live with the lamb; the leopard shall lie down with the baby goat; the poisonous snake shall not hurt a child at play. A little child shall lead them in this way, in the way of peace and tranquility among all creatures, even predators and their prey. It’s not just about peace among creatures, though – this text also concerns peace in the whole sociopolitical and economic structure. “With righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth”; not judging by what can be seen or heard, but more deeply than that.

Such beautiful words. But who was he referring to? Who will bring this peaceable kingdom, this future reign of God? Who is the ideal ruler that Isaiah is pointing to?

John the Baptist knew who he was pointing to; he was pointing to his cousin, Jesus of Nazareth. But as a prophet, he also knew that he was pointing not merely to a human leader, but to the Christ. And he knew this before Jesus had ever begun his public ministry. He was not speaking from convincing evidence, based on what he had seen of Jesus so far. According to Matthew’s gospel, he shows up suddenly in the wilderness, looking and behaving much like the prophet Elijah, and offering not words of comfort, but a call to worship, a call to change course, to repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near. Not “is coming”, but “has come near”.

John the Baptist was pointing to Christ, warning the people what the arrival of Christ meant for them. “Behold the Lamb of God!”, he says to his disciples as Jesus walks by, in the gospel according to John. There he is!

But John the Baptist didn’t quite know what was coming either, or how Christ would bring about the promised kingdom. He perceived, and he told what he believed. He helped others to prepare their hearts, to repent, to change course.

But we know from the gospels that even John the Baptist, this prophet, this cousin, wasn’t sure! Later on in Matthew’s gospel, when John is in prison, he sends word to Jesus asking, “are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?

Could it be that even John the Baptist could not imagine that the promised one would say something like “blessed are the poor in spirit; blessed are the meek”? How could this be the one who was promised, to clear the threshing floor and to separate the wheat from the chaff?

When John said, “bear fruit worthy of repentance”, did he imagine that such fruit would be gentleness and humility?

There is a famous picture by Grunewald, from the fifteenth century, of Christ’s crucifixion, with John the Baptist standing off to the side, holding the Hebrew scriptures, pointing his finger to Christ. 

This was what John the Baptist did; he pointed to Christ.

The apostle Paul never actually met Jesus before his crucifixion. He was, in fact, a fierce enemy of the early Christians, participating in their persecution and torture. He was an expert in Hebrew Scripture, and was determined to follow the Torah and to destroy those who saw Christ as the Messiah. And then he had a vision of Christ, a vision that threw him physically to the ground, and that spiritually changed the course of his life. He spent the rest of his life pointing his finger to the Messiah, the resurrected Christ, the one who had come not only for the Jews but for all people. He endured prison and torture in order to bring as many people to Christ as possible. His letters are for us a potent expression of who we are and whose we are; a way of pointing the finger toward Christ as the Messiah, Christ as God, Christ as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecies, as the fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures.

Paul’s words this morning that the words of the scriptures are for our hope. What an amazing turnaround that was for him, to understand the Hebrew Scriptures as offering hope, not fear; not a basis for identifying enemies, but as a basis for understanding the love of God in Jesus Christ!

These three – Isaiah, John the Baptist, and the apostle Paul – all pointed toward Jesus Christ. Separated by hundreds of years, these three – and all pointing in the same direction.

Those of you who work in corporations may have experienced something that we called “buzzword bingo”. It’s a game that is played by paying attention to the crazy corporate buzzwords that you hear. One of the common phrases I remember was “getting everyone’s arrows pointing in the same direction”. I thought about that as I read these scriptures this week.

I also heard the words sung in Handel’s Messiah, from Isaiah 53: “all we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way”.

How can we be the body of Christ if we have all turned, every one, to our own ways?

How can we reflect the love of God if we can’t get our arrows, our fingers, all pointed in the direction of Christ, all aiming toward obedience to our Lord and Savior?

How are we called to point our fingers? Not in order to identify enemies, but to point out the love of God in Jesus Christ!

How we look or behave personally is not so much what following Christ is about. It’s not about following some detailed code of morality or behavior.

After all, John the Baptist was a pretty strange dude.

The apostle Paul was as zealous a man as you could ever find, both before and after his conversion – both in word and in deed. He was on fire with his faith.

And Isaiah – well, we don’t know much about how he looked, but the book of Isaiah reports that he went naked and barefoot for three years, as a sign and warning to the Egyptians and Ethiopians of what would happen to them.

We don’t need to look a certain way; we don’t need to be anyone other than the child of God that we were created to be.

What matters is our heart and our will – whether or not we have turned them over completely to Christ.

What matters is whether our fingers are pointing not to others in judgment, but to Christ in love.

During this season of Advent, how are we using our lives to point toward Christ, to allow others to see how Christ is the center of our lives, how Christ has changed everything, not just for us, but for the whole world? How are we reflecting Christ in our lives? How do people see and understand the God of love when they see who we are and how we live?

It’s been almost a year since you stated the mission of this congregation, using the words you see on the inside front cover of your bulletins. You claimed these words as the way New Life Presbyterian would point toward Christ.  What has changed since then? What is bringing new life to these words? What life-changing fruit, fruit worthy of repentance has come about since then? How does New Life Presbyterian Church point toward Christ in word and deed?

As we come to the table to be nourished by Christ, the one to whom we point, let us recommit ourselves to being Christ’s people, to pointing to Christ in everything we do. This Advent and always, let us repent, turn to Christ, for the kingdom of God has drawn near, and calls us to get on the path and live out this journey as the people of God together.