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The Messiah We Need
12.11.22
[Matthew 11:2-11] River of Life (3rd Sunday of Advent)
They say: Never meet your heroes.
But at 8 years old, I had never heard that before.
I don’t think I would have listened if I had.
One summer, a real live NFL player was coming to my dad’s work to sign autographs.
He wasn’t my favorite football player—that was the team’s QB— but he played for the same team.
So I went to my room and got out my long cardboard box of football cards and searched for him.
After rifling through the whole set, I found it.
He was on the Vikings, but no matter.
I was still really excited to meet him.
But you know what they say: Never meet your heroes.
But at 8 years old, I had never heard that.
I don’t think I would have listened.
That Saturday, I met him.
He was a lot taller than I expected.
And built like a Mack truck.
I gave him the one card of his I could find.
He smiled widely & signed it.
He was really nice.
It was awesome.
That fall, I bragged to my school buddies about meeting him.
They didn’t believe me.
So I showed them the autograph.
He wasn’t my favorite player before, but he was quickly becoming one of them.
The more I talked about the autograph the more I learned about him.
He won the Heisman & a national championship.
Some told me he was the greatest college football running back ever.
By the time he was done playing football, he had gained the 2nd most all purpose yards in NFL history.
And that was after playing 3 years in the USFL.
His athletic ability grabbed headlines off the gridiron, too.
He was a 6th degree black belt in taekwondo.
He competed as an Olympic bobsledder.
At 47, he fought in Mixed Martial Arts.
He was the man.
But as I’ve grown up, I’ve told the story about meeting him less & less.
I mean who cares about a 90’s NFL running back anymore?
Until suddenly everyone did.
Not because I was talking about him.
But because Herschel Walker was running for the U.S. Senate.
Suddenly, the man who signed his autograph for me at 8 was being made fun of for being ineloquent and unqualified.
Then it got worse.
Rumors leaked that he had a violent streak.
Reports came out that he had paid for abortions.
Never meet your heroes.
Even decades later, you’ll see that they are flawed human beings.
Finding out that the athlete whose autograph you got as a kid may not be a great person is a bummer.
John the Baptist was dealing with a much greater let down.
John the Baptist had spent much of his life telling people to get ready for the coming Messiah.
John said: (Mt 3:7) Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.
He warned people that Mt. 3:10 the axe is already at the root of the trees.
Mt. 3:8 Produce fruit! or be thrown into Mt.
3:12 unquenchable fire.
He assured people that God’s Anointed One already had (Mt.
3:12) his winnowing fork in his hand.
John the Baptist didn’t blink.
He wasn’t afraid to call the Pharisees (Mt 3:7) a brood of vipers, or lambaste (Mk.
6:18) Herod for divorcing his wife so that he could marry his brother’s wife, Herodias.
It was that last one, that got John into hot water.
Surprisingly, Herod (Mk.6:20) liked & respected John.
Herodias did not.
(Mk.
6:17) She pressured Herod into arresting John and throwing him into prison.
That’s why John is where he is at the beginning of our text.
Sitting in a desert prison, hearing whatever news trickles into his prison cell.
And what he heard about Jesus was disappointing.
Not that Jesus was running around developing a bad reputation.
People loved him.
But John had been telling people, in no uncertain terms, that judgement was coming.
And Jesus didn’t seem to be doing much of that.
So John sent his disciples with a simple question: (Mt.
11:3) Are you the one who is to come or should we expect someone else?
That description—the one who is to come—is an Old Testament description of the Messiah.
John was afraid he had literally pointed people in the wrong direction.
Yes, Jesus was healing the sick and curing diseases and casting out demons, but where was retribution?
Where was the axe-wielding servant of the Lord?
The people were still lost.
The hypocrites were still running things in Jerusalem.
Where was Jesus’ support for John?
Why hadn’t he said anything about Herod’s marriage and his wrongful treatment of John?
Why hadn’t Jesus even come to visit his cousin, John, in prison?
Why wasn’t Jesus doing something about all these injustices?
You don’t have to be behind bars in a desert prison to have that struggle.
When we are emotionally drained, it’s easy to wonder why God is letting the bad guys get away with so much and blessing us so little.
When we are stuck in some place or situation we don’t want to be in, it’s easy for us to get frustrated with what God isn’t doing.
When God doesn’t match our expectations, we come face to face with the temptation of doubt.
Moments of doubt force us to make a choice.
Will we trust God’s wisdom, when he isn’t following our plan?
Will you trust God’s love when you’re feeling trapped in a loveless marriage?
Will you trust God’s goodness when every single day you physically feel worse, or weaker?
Will you trust God’s wisdom when you can’t make sense of it all?
Or anything that is happening to you?
Will you trust your heavenly Father is in control when you can’t seem to get your kids under control?
Or your finances?
Or your health?
It is these moments—and thousands more—when we feel weak and weary, lost and challenged, burned out and exasperated.
And that’s why this text—and Jesus’ response—is such a blessing.
Listen to what he says: (Mt.
11:4-5) Go back and report to John what you hear and what you see: The blind receive sight.
The lame walk.
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