What then did you go out to see?
To the extent to which life is filled with surprises, so also is it filled with expectations. Indeed, much of life is just one expectation after another. We expect to grow up. We expect to get married, or at least have the opportunity. We expect to have children. We expect to get paid on time by our employers. We expect not to get let go from our jobs after twenty plus years of service. We expect food to be at the grocery store. We expect gas to be at the gas stations. We expect that in the winter the roads will be cleared of snow. We expect husbands to love their wives and vise versa. We expect that children will live beyond their parents. We expect to be safe in our homes. We expect from our church, our pastor, our fellow parishioners…go ahead fill in the blank, cause we do it every minute of the hour while we are here, judging, assessing what we believe what the church should be, what is people should look like, and what it should say.
And so what did you expect to see, to hear, when you came to church this morning? A reed shaken in wind? [Matthew 11:7] Did you come here to see the beautiful stained glass windows, the advent wreath, and the altar? Did you come to hear the lovely sounds of the organ, the church choir, and the melodies of favorite hymns? Did you perhaps come morning the loss of The Lutheran Hymnal and dreading the unfamiliar feel of the Lutheran Service Book? Behold, those who desire such things can find them in homes, concert halls, art galleries, museums, and libraries.
Did you come to church this morning because of the people that would be here, because of family and friends? Did you come out of habit because church going is a long standing tradition in your family? Did you come because you are a Lutheran, and that’s what Lutherans do on Sunday morning? Did you come because you see in the church a society that retains something from the past that you appreciate, because it remains unchanging in the midst of an ever so changing world? Behold those who desire such things can find them at family gatherings and reunions, with nostalgic memories and stories from ages past.
Did you come today because you have a responsibility in the congregation as pastor, as a Sunday school teacher, a board member, an usher, an elder, or with the altar guild? What did you come to see? A charismatic man dressed in suit and tie able to entertain, tell jokes, and give you answers to your most pressing questions of life. Behold, such men are in movies, on stages, in smoky bars, in conference rooms and towering offices. The Church, that is, the communion of saints, gathered around Word and Sacrament is not a spectacle or a performance that you should be amused by or entertained with. Indeed, one day this building, our families, our friends, our bodies, and our fellow believers in the pew right next to us will fade. And that day may come much sooner than we expect.
What, then, did you come to see? A man dressed in a white robe, yoked by the Word of Christ, who like John the Baptist heralds the advent of the Kingdom of God. Yes, I tell you, and more than that, a man who proclaims a crucified, risen, and coming King. Yet it is not the messenger that brings you here; he is only a man like you.
And what did John the Baptist expect to see, to hear about this Coming One? He was perplexed, perhaps even disappointed, because the works of Jesus he heard about were not the kind of works he had himself expected of the Messiah. After all, John did not flinch in his office of preaching. He preached repentance, and so he named sin for what is was, sin. Without respect for person John proclaimed the Law of God that calls the pious Pharisee, the religious Sadducee, and even the politically potent official Herod to repentance. It was politically incorrect for John to expose Herod’s adultery and ultimately it would cost him his life. Nevertheless, John the Baptist preached that intrusive word to the high and low alike. That was his calling, his office. John was no pampered preacher, no court chaplain who would tell the king whatever his itching ears wanted to hear.
Yet John’s faithfulness landed him in prison. Soon he would be put to death for his faithful service to Christ. Now John begins to reflect back and to reminisce about the past. The narrow walls of that prison cell close in on him and he has plenty of time to think. Was it worth it? All that time in the wilderness preaching and baptizing, did it make one bit of difference? Is Jesus really the Messiah? John sends this question back to Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” [Matthew 11:3].
At this point we stand at a critical juncture. The question before us is a Christological one. It is the question that Jesus puts to His disciples, to us: “Who do you say that I am” [Matthew 16:15]. What kind of Jesus, what kind of Kingdom do we expect to see? What will He or it look like? How will we know when He or it has come? What are the signs of His or its fulfillment among us?
Do we think that His kingdom’s essence is in social welfare, as a voice for the voiceless and a hand for the helpless? Do we think that His kingdom’s essence is in ethical instruction and moral uprightness, telling us what we should do at every moment of the day, how to raise our children in a complex society with myriads of influences closing in upon their young impressionable minds. Do we expect that His kingdom will be marked by miraculous healings, ecstatic emotional highs, and peace on earth? Do we expect to find a Garden of Eden in this desert of a world? I tell you His kingdom will not be marked by longitude and latitude lines.
His kingdom will not come by way of the moral majority at the ballot box. It will not come through social revolution nor will it be marked by those who are simply “good” people with an altruistic heart. It cannot be identified by perfect health or the power of positive thinking. The question is a good one: are we scandalized and offended by our unmet expectations of Jesus and His Kingdom. Are we disappointed that our King comes in humility riding on a donkey? Are we disappointed that He is born in a cattle trough and now comes to us hidden, underneath a mere wafer and a sip of wine? That we become united in His death and resurrection, His child forever in His Kingdom through a sprinkling of water and some human words at some time in our life that we probably can’t even remember?
For Jesus and His Kingdom to simply provide us with some food and clothes on our back, a system of health care that would span the world, would still be incredibly insufficient. For Him to establish a boarding school where kids would learn to follow the 4th commandment might solve some problems, but truancy would still remain. For Him to bring health and happiness may be desirable, but appearances can be deceiving. The root cause of our word’s ills, of our own problems, and of the problems that we bring upon ourselves is sin. Though some may find this to be a trite answer, it nonetheless true. It begins with our parent’s failure to follow the 1st commandment (to fear, love and trust in God above all things) and bleeds to us, their offspring. It is even possible that our coming to God’s house today was motivated by something other than an understanding of our depraved life and the desperate need we have for His undeserved grace and holiness. We may have come for all the wrong reasons, but God doesn’t let us get away with that.
Our Advent King comes to address the heart of the matter, sin. You see, our problem is not our distance from God, as if we could reach Him by a really long latter. It is our sin. His kingdom must first correct this problem. It must begin with our heart, soul, and mind. Only by addressing the issue of sin can He address the consequences of sin and the brokenness of our world. When Christ was born of Mary, His kingdom was marked by the forgiveness’s of sins and by the healing of the whole man, both body and soul. Yet it was the forgiveness of sins that lay at the heart of His becoming flesh. And it is the forgiveness of sins which remains at the heart of His life among us. Blessed is the one that is not offended by Him.
Jesus Christ came to save us from our sin; He came to save us from the sin of constructing His Church after the idols of our hearts. Often we make beauty, perfection, the participation of a select few, or entertainment the focus of the Church. All are beneficial. But they are not the center of the Church.
And for the King to establish His Kingdom, He had to meet His destiny, that is, His cross. That was the only place were sin could be overcome, the only way for Him to address the true needs of this world. He had to live the life of perfect trust in the Father as a replacement for our mistrust. And He had to endure the cross as an atonement for our sins. The life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ is what gathers the Church together. The God-man on the cross is our King. Blessed is the one who is not scandalized by such a picture, by such suffering.
What did we come here to see? We come here to see and hear God’s Word. To receive it in our mouths and to sing of it with our lips. We come not to hear the personality of the pastor, but to hear the Word of God through the mouth of the pastor who speaks simply the Word given him to preach, namely, repentance and faith, forgiveness of sins, life and salvation in Jesus name. We come not out of responsibility or obligation, as if God needs our service or that we get brownie points for coming, but rather we come because God serves us with His promises. We come not for family or friends, because God has adopted us as His children, which indeed makes this a gathering of family, brothers and sisters in Christ, bounded together by Christ who is our head. We come not because of the beautiful building or because of the particular hymnal we may or may not use; for if that beauty or that hymnal is its own end then it becomes a distraction and a stumbling block. Rather this beauty and the hymnal no matter its color, serves as to highlight Christ, and that is it. It is a fitting way for us to receive our King and His Kingdom.
And when this Kingdom of God comes to us through Word and Sacrament, then it also begins to make its mark on our world. Through us our Lord works in society, to provide for and help those in need. Through your vocation you are masks of God, again, you are little Christ’s to your neighbor. Through us, then, our Lord promotes good morals and civic righteousness and honorable behavior. Through us our Lord reestablishes a Kingdom where neighbor serves neighbor in love and harmony. When He grants the forgiveness of sins our Lord does begin a new Garden of Eden in the wilderness of this world. But it does remain an imperfect Eden. So we return to Church, that His Kingdom might continue to come among us, granting us strength for this life, and renewing our trust in God. And so we also wait and long for His Second Advent, the Kingdom of perfect beauty and fellowship and service. Until then, He gives us His Word and His body and blood. Through them both the King and the Kingdom are present with us.
What did we come here to see? We may have come to see a reed shaken by the wind, something which perishes, spoils, and fades, but we are given instead Jesus Christ our Lord who remains forever and we with Him for all eternity.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son+ and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.