Matthew 11:2-19[1]
I think finding a way to enjoy life is perhaps
one of the most fundamental human pursuits. One of the reasons I believe that
is because we have become more cut off from the very ordinary sources that humanity
has looked to for joy over the ages. With that loss of “ordinary joy,” we turn
to the extraordinary, to “special events,” in our search for happiness. We plan
bigger and grander vacations. We mark milestone events with “over the top”
gestures that we then have to try to “outdo” next time. We find ways to extend
our “celebrations” of birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays as long as
possible to get “the most” out of them. But with all that energy and effort
going toward making it more “special,” I wonder if it gets in the way of
finding joy in the “ordinariness” that has always been a part of human life.
At the same time, I think we try to keep our
distance from the extraordinary. The smartest student in the class is often
viewed as “freakishly smart.” We honor the soldier who goes over the hill
first, risking life and limb, but we want our loved ones to avoid “playing the
hero.” When it comes to religion, I think we still have remnants of the old
Roman Catholic reverence for “saints.” Because we both admire and fear them, we
put those who have lived extraordinary lives of devotion to Christ on pedestals
high enough to keep our distance. We do so to prevent their “extraordinary”
piety from “rubbing off” on us and removing us from being comfortably “normal.”
I think something like this was going on with
John the Baptist. The fact that he carried out his ministry in the “wilderness”
was not “normal.” And then there was his lifestyle: he wore clothing made of
camel’s hair and ate a strange diet of locusts and wild honey. But the real
“clincher” that marked John off as extraordinary was his message: “Repent, for
the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Mt 3:2). But he went beyond that: “the
one who is coming after me is more powerful than I …. He will baptize you
with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Mt 3:11). This was very different from
what people were used to hearing.
That last part became one of most important
ways of identifying John the Baptist in the Christian tradition. He was the
“the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight’” (Mt 3:3). That marked him off as a “prophet” in the
eyes of most people. That this was the way people identified him not only
expressed that conviction, it reinforced it. That was because the very words
came from the prophet Isaiah. That people would take a page from Isaiah and
apply it to John only elevated him even higher on their religious pedestals.
And like us, the people of that day both admired and feared anyone who behaved
like a prophet.
Here was John, his message one that led many
people to expect that he was the one to announce and even bring in the hopes
the people had cherished for centuries. In our gospel lesson for today, Jesus
endorsed the rumors that must have been going around: “if you are willing to
accept it, he is Elijah who is to come” (Mt 11:14). And yet, Jesus seemed to
say both that John was special, and that John was nothing special. He said it
this way: “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” (Mt 11:11). I would say that Jesus’ point was simple: John was
indeed extraordinary, and he played a special role in the fulfillment of God’s
purpose. John was the one who prepared the way for the coming of the Messiah.
But literally in the same breath Jesus said that John was also ordinary, no
greater than the “least” of those who had the faith to follow Jesus.
I think we see John’s “ordinariness” in that
John asked Jesus a surprising question. At least it’s surprising to hear it
from a “prophet,” the one who was the “voice crying in the wilderness” to
prepare for the coming Messiah. Matthew tells us that “When John, who was
in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his
disciples to ask him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we
expect someone else?’” (Mt 11:2, NIV). Wait, what? How could John doubt
whether Jesus was “the one who is to come”? It doesn’t make sense. I think this
gives us a glimpse of the “ordinariness” of even one so “extraordinary.” For
all of his unique devotion to God, John remained a man. And Jesus wasn’t
behaving in the way that anyone expected from the “Messiah.” John included.
And that brings us to the fact that there is
more going on in this Gospel lesson than just answering the question who John
the Baptist was. More importantly, it’s about answering the question who Jesus was
and is. When John’s disciples asked Jesus the question, “are you the one?”, he
answered in a way that they might not have understood in the moment: “Go back
and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the
lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead
are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor” (Mt 11:4-5). I would
say that’s the closest thing we have in Matthew’s Gospel to Jesus claiming that
he was indeed the Messiah.
But the way he demonstrates this is by
pointing to what John already knows: that Jesus was doing the “deeds of the
Messiah” (Mt 11:2, NIV). What follows is in one sense simply a summary
of what Matthew had already reported about Jesus: healing and restoring people,
raising the dead, and proclaiming the good news.[2] But it’s also a summary of the promises of salvation found especially in the
book of the prophet Isaiah.[3] We heard some of those promises in our lesson for today: “Then the eyes of the
blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be opened; then the lame
shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy” (Isa
35:5-6). But not only does Isaiah promise healing. He says that all those who
have been “ransomed” by the Lord will have “everlasting joy”; “they shall
obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Isa 35:10).
Jesus called John to rejoice because he was indeed fulfilling the promises of
God’s salvation.
That’s where all this fits in with our ability
to live with joy. Recognizing that Jesus did indeed come as the Messiah to
fulfill the promises of God’s salvation is cause for joy. And the joy of God’s
salvation in the process of being fulfilled by Jesus the Messiah can serve as
the foundation for a life of joy. While it’s true that we still deal with
“sorrow and sighing,” we have in Jesus the demonstration of the beginning of
God’s salvation. And I would say that Jesus’ whole life serves as a
demonstration of God’s intent to complete the work of salvation. When that kind of “everlasting” joy serves
as the foundation for our lives, I believe it sets us free from trying to grasp
at joy in ways that may be artificial. It sets us free to live joyfully in all
the “ordinary” ways that are available to us every day.
[1] ©
2022 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 12/11/2022 for
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE. For a video recording of this sermon, check out my Pastor Alan YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/vWDLT5ggoJA .
[2] Cleansing a leper: Mt 8:1-4; healing the lame: Mt 8:5-13; Mt 9:2-8; raising the
dead: Mt 9:18-23; restoring sight to the blind: Mt 9:27-31; restoring hearing
(and speech) to a mute: Mt 9:32-33; proclaiming the good news: Mt 9:35-36.
[3] Isa 26:19: “Your dead shall live; their corpses shall rise”; Isa 29:18: “On
that day the deaf shall hear the words of a scroll, and freed from gloom and
darkness the eyes of the blind shall see”; Isa 35:5-6:
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