John Has a Point

Who here enjoys M. Night Shyamalan? He’s a divisive filmmaker for a reason - and not just because his movies tend to be pretty spooky. He’s become known for having a big twist at the end of his movies - from his debut The Sixth Sense, where it turned out one of the characters was dead the whole time to his more recent films. When a new Shyamalan movie debuts, we’re primed to watch for a twist.

But that’s fine with me. What I don’t enjoy about his films is how often he subverts my expectations. The first film that happened with was The Village. Did you see that one? It was about an 18th century village where there were monsters in the woods and the kids weren’t allowed to go outside.

The trailers made it look like a straight-up horror movie (which, as you know, I’m a big fan of). But the movie isn’t actually scary, arguably apart from one scene. It’s paced and plays out much more like a mystery than a monster movie. I remember sitting in the theater and being annoyed at the lack of scares. The film was approaching its climax when I finally realized the movie had never wanted to be a horror movie. Blame the trailers, blame my own expectations, blame whatever you want, but it wasn’t the movie’s fault I wasn’t enjoying it.

I had come in with the wrong expectations.

Can you relate? Is there a time in your life you’ve had a clear set of expectations that weren’t met? Maybe they were for something small, like a book or film. Or maybe they were for a new job that turned out not to be what you thought it would be. A relationship that didn’t go the way you expected it to.

It’s the holiday season, and I know a lot of us have expectations built up around these next few weeks: gifts we’ll receive, reactions to gifts we’ll give. Family and friends we’ll see.

And I’m willing to bet I’m not the only person who’s been disappointed by holiday realities that don’t match up to my expectations.

And of course that’s not just Christmas. We live in a world of failed expectations - and that extends to faith. Anyone want to admit they’ve been disappointed in God?

Again, you’re not alone there. In fact, we’re going to look today at someone who finds himself in a bad situation and expected Jesus to get him out of it.

What we’ll find is a tension with which we’re well-acquainted in this world - that pain of waiting for God to fulfill God’s promises. So let’s begin by remembering God’s faithfulness to us. It’ll be important as we move through worship today!

Message

Today is the third Sunday of Advent. Advent is the beginning of the Church year. Advent is a season of preparing for Jesus’ arrival - Christmas. Think about that for a moment: the beginning of the Church year is marked by waiting. By preparing.

That in and of itself is counterintuitive. We mark New Year’s by making resolutions - we’re going to be slimmer, richer, bolder, smarter in the new year! We do, do, do.

But faith says, “Let’s begin by waiting. By watching. By preparing.” Let’s let life be a response to God’s action.

We’re preparing for Jesus’ return to Earth, what Christians call the Second Coming. And for a couple of thousand years, we’ve thought the best way to prepare for Jesus’ second coming is by looking back at how God’s people prepared for Jesus’ first coming.

So: Advent to prepare for Christmas. A time to look forward by looking back. This year, our series is called, “I’ll be Home for Christmas.” We’re going to be looking at the Gospel of Matthew. In the passages this Advent season, we’re going to hear about what the world will look like when God returns, and how we can be preparing even now for that life.

We began by affirming the central truth of the Christmas story: this world belongs to God, and we are all part of God’s great rescue mission. God has not and will not abandon the world. God loves the world and is returning to reclaim a world under assault from evil and sin. We asked last week if we’re paying attention to that, preparing ourselves.

Last week, we explored the necessity of repentance in our preparation for Christmas. Do we produce fruit consistent with a life rooted in the Spirit?

Today, we’re exploring the other facet of a whole, holy life. If last week was about personal holiness, today is about our public faith. Are we a people who does the work of God? And, importantly, can we see these as evidence of God’s faithfulness to us in a world that so often seems to be against us?

Christmas is, more than maybe any other time of the year, a time we are confronted with the disjoint between the world as it is and as we wish it to be. This is, after all, when we celebrate ‘peace on Earth and goodwill to all people.” When we decorate our homes with lights and tinsel, creating spaces that look warm and inviting.

But we know we live in a world where not everyone is welcome, not everyone is invited. We know we live in a world where real peace is hard to come by and far from everyone experiences goodwill.

We have a tendency, I think, when there’s a tension like this, to push one direction or the other. A lot of us want to hide from the pain of the world, throwing ourselves into Hallmark Christmas movies and decorations and carols. But others of us - and I admit this is where I tend to go - want to sit with the world’s pain. We find it hard to celebrate at all with such pain in the world.

I want to suggest that we’ll find today in this Advent story a way to honor both impulses. In fact, that maybe what Advent is all about is refusing to hide and also insisting on celebrating. It’s only in holding these in tension that we find where Jesus is at work.

Turn with us to Matthew 11.

If you were here last week, you remember we met John the Baptizer, Jesus’ cousin who appeared as the Ghost of Advent Past, Present and Future to warn God’s people of the necessity of personal and corporate holiness in the face of God’s coming.

Today, we’re going to fast-forward. After Jesus’ ministry got into full swing, John actually got arrested. He kept attacking Herod Antipas for his marriage to his brother’s ex-wife, and Antipas finally got tired of it and threw John in prison.

Jesus, in the meantime, had made one of Isaiah’s prophecies the cornerstone of his public ministry. Here’s Luke’s account of when Jesus launched his public ministry in his hometown of Nazareth:

Luke 4:17–21 NLT

The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

Jesus reads the prophecy, then says, “This has been fulfilled today!” It’s his way of saying, “I’m the guy doing all this. This is what I’m all about.”

And did you catch the bit in there John was interested in? “The oppressed will be set free!” Yeah… if you’re John stuck in prison, that would be… compelling.

If you were in John’s position, what would your expectations be after you were arrested? Remember - not only did you help Jesus get his start in ministry, but he’s your cousin and liberating the oppressed is part of his main platform. So… that John might expect Jesus to get him out of prison isn’t unreasonable, right?

So let’s read this story from Matthew’s gospel about when John reaches out to Jesus.

Matthew 11:2–6 NLT

John the Baptist, who was in prison, heard about all the things the Messiah was doing. So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?” Jesus told them, “Go back to John and tell him what you have heard and seen—the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.” And he added, “God blesses those who do not fall away because of me.”

There are some who hear in John’s words doubt. But given Jesus’ use of Isaiah, I can’t help but hear something different - a challenge. Maybe a question. Cousin, you’re the messiah right? The one God sent to liberate the captives and free the oppressed? Hi! Here I am! When are you coming for me?

And Jesus replies by quoting Isaiah back to John but omitting that one key part. He says, “John, this story isn’t going the way you think it is. Yes, I am the Messiah. But something is happening here that you can’t see.”

I have to be honest: this is a really hard word to hear, particularly when you’re the one in John’s position. When you’re the one who’s not experiencing peace on earth and the goodwill that seems to be for everyone else.

Can we hold that as we return to worship?

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After Jesus tells John that his expectations are missing the mark, that this good news isn’t going to be good for him the way he wanted it to be, Jesus turns to the crowds and tells them about John. Let’s read:

Matthew 11:7–11 NLT

As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began talking about him to the crowds. “What kind of man did you go into the wilderness to see? Was he a weak reed, swayed by every breath of wind? Or were you expecting to see a man dressed in expensive clothes? No, people with expensive clothes live in palaces. Were you looking for a prophet? Yes, and he is more than a prophet. John is the man to whom the Scriptures refer when they say, ‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will prepare your way before you.’ “I tell you the truth, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he is!

Jesus has nothing but praise for John - of all the people who have ever lived, John is the greatest.

Noah? Moses? Deborah and David? All of them pale before the man who, for Jesus, was the greatest pillar of faith in the long history of God’s people.

And yet.

Jesus also declares that something new is happening, this new thing he keeps calling the ‘Kingdom of God’. It’s this putting right of the world, a global mission with eternal implications. It’s something that even John - the greatest human in the times that have come before - must submit himself to. John, the great prophet who prepared the way for God’s Messiah to come into the world, that guy - even he had to humble himself and start over, learn what being a disciple of Jesus means.

Because remember, friends - Jesus’ story isn’t one of triumphalism. Jesus’ story leads to a cross. And he will remind his disciples that if anyone wants to follow him, they too must pick up their crosses and follow. So no, John, you aren’t getting out of prison.

Can I be honest? This is pretty terrible. John ends up getting executed by Herod Antipas. And don’t think Jesus was callous about it - Jesus was absolutely devastated by his cousin’s death. Can you imagine? Having the power to save your friend and knowing that’s not the right move?

So Jesus is right here - John has to relearn what it means to follow God. Yes, even John. Jesus’ new thing is different. It’s counter-cultural. It’s not always (or even mostly) easy.

But we can also acknowledge that John has a point. This is hard, and he feels abandoned by Jesus.

Friends, Advent is a time when both of these things can be true. We can celebrate by faith, insisting that we believe God is on a mission to set our world right.

AND we can also experience the pain of failed expectations, hurt or broken relationships, financial strain or a season of spiritual darkness.

Jesus was right, but John had a point.

And friends, Advent is the season we claim both, by faith. We acknowledge the darkness of our world but insist that Jesus’ light shines in that darkness, and the light is winning.

Communion + Examen

We sit at this table by faith.

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Assignment + Blessing

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