Luke 7:18-28
Advent 3
December 12th, 2010
“Look, Listen, Rejoice!”
Last week we saw John the Baptist at the peak of his
ministry – preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Today, further in Luke’s Gospel, we find John
in a much different place. Prison, in fact. He had criticized King Herod, who
had taken his brother's wife, and didn't take kindly to John's finger-pointing.
John's hopes for release were slim. And we all know what John's fate would soon
be – beheaded at a grisly birthday party for the king. So here John sits, in
prison, in the valley of the shadow of death – John sends his followers to ask
Jesus, “are you the one, or shall we look for another?”
Today, we light that pink candle in our Advent wreath. It's often
called the “shepherds candle” or the candle of Joy. This season of preparation
evokes in us many and varied responses – and joy should be one of them. For
like the shepherds who first heard the news of Christ's birth, we too believe
he is the one who is to come. The Savior who brings peace on earth and God's
good will toward man. We have joy, even in our expectation of Christmas. But
then there's John, sitting in prison....
A great debate has raged about just what John was thinking
when he sent his disciples to Jesus. On
one side, some seem to think John was having a crisis of faith in his prison
cell, and that he sent his disciples to Jesus out of his own doubts and fears
that maybe Jesus isn’t the Messiah after all.
Many commentators and theologians, including Luther, take the side that
John wasn’t doubting Jesus, but rather John’s disciples were.
Whether John doubted or not, you can easily see how someone
in his predicament could have. Hard to
have joy when you were in his situation.
John must have looked around his prison cell, and found it a
rather joy-less place. We can only imagine what it was like. Probably not the
clean and sterile institutional setting of today's prisons – you might imagine
a rat scurrying here or there. It was probably a dark place without much
sunlight – figurative or literal.
And if we think about what John might have heard in his
prison, perhaps it was the moaning of other prisoners. The jingling of jailers'
keys. The sharpening of their axes. Or even the silence of his own isolation.
In any case, nothing there to be joyful about. A man sitting, thinking, alone
with his thoughts, and perhaps his doubts.
We can relate. As we look around, and listen – what do we see
and hear this Advent season?
We might look around at the decorations, the bright lights
and greenery. Christmas music on the radio.
We might see festivities and activities that make it fill the air with
excitement – Christmas parties and holiday programs. We might see joy on the surface.
But a closer look reveals that all is not right with this
world. Sin doesn't stop for the holidays. People don't stop being people just
because it's December. In some ways, the stress of the season can make us even
more miserable – or make us miserable to be around. We are busy and
preoccupied. We are worried and harried. We'd like to take time to reflect on
the deeper meaning of it all – but we're so easily distracted by the sights and
sounds, or by the worries and cares.
Or perhaps you're more like John, sitting alone with his thoughts.
Maybe loneliness or the grief of a lost loved one is your constant companion in
this jingle-belled jailhouse. You sit there looking at everyone on the outside
going on with life as usual – happy and cheerful it seems, but you're stuck in
a place that seems hopeless and joyless.
Give John this. Even if he doubted, he still had some
belief. In the depths of his predicament, in the dark hour of his coming
demise, he reaches to Jesus through his disciples. He longs to hear a word of
hope. He wants them, and maybe also himself, to be re-assured that Jesus really
is the one.
And you can say, “What a doubter! Wasn't this the same John
who boldly proclaimed Jesus the Lamb of God? Who baptized him and heard the
voice and saw heaven open and the dove come down?” Yes. Isn't this the same
John of whom Jesus said, “among those born of women, none is greater than
John?” Yes. But even the greatest of us still needs the word of Christ. Even
the most faithful, the most bold and the strongest Christians need the Gospel.
We all face times of joy-less-ness in our messy prison of sin. We all need to
be lifted up, to see and hear.... If some reassurance for Jesus was good for
the greatest man besides Jesus ever born of women – well then that word of
comfort is certainly good for you and me, too.
And Jesus delivers. He sends the message back. Not a promise
of earthly deliverance. No get out of jail free card. But a better answer than
John could have hoped for. “Look around, John. Listen, John”.
What you see – the signs of the Messiah. The miracles of
Jesus point to who he is. Healings and wonders were his calling cards, meant to
point to something even greater. Notice the climax of the answer isn't even the
raising of the dead. It's that the good news is preached to the poor.
What do you see? What do you hear? When it comes to Jesus –
what we see and hear is good news.
John must have found it hard to be joyful in prison, for
what he saw and heard was so dismal. But take a look at Calvary. On that dark
day, on a hill far away, with suffering and shame on display. Take a look at
the bloody, beaten, humiliated man wearing a thorny crown and nailed to an
instrument of death. And listen to them jeering and mocking and spitting. See
his disciples deserting him, and the soldiers surrounding him, casting lots for
his clothing. And hear the women weeping and the silence of God as his own Son
suffers.
And then hear these words: “It is finished”.
So often with God things are not what they seem. It may look bad, but it’s really a Good Friday. It may sound like the end of Jesus, but
really it’s the death of death.
Look what happens next – and see what is not there. He has
burst the bonds of death. The prison of his tomb is left, door wide open. And
hear the words of angels, “He is risen!”.
If you're like John, stuck in the prison of your sins and
the broken sinful prison of life around you. If you're looking for a word of
encouragement – a word of joy. Look, and listen. Don't just look to the bright
lights, and listen only to the carols piped into the shopping malls. Look to
Jesus. Listen to Jesus. Look to his cross and empty tomb. Listen to his
promising word, and hear his absolution.
You may not be set free from prison, healed, or granted a
miracle. Indeed, like John, you may even face death. But you will know the good
news of his truth. And even if you die, you will live. And even in your
suffering, you will find joy in him.
For you will look and listen with the eyes and ears of faith
– and see a whole different reality. He who has eyes to see, let him see Jesus.
He who has ears, let him hear Jesus. The Messiah who comes to save. Rejoice, In his name, Amen.
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