Episcopal Church of the Incarnation

The Third Sunday of Advent (A)

Isaiah 35.1-10 Psalm 146.4-9 James 5.7-10 Matthew 11.2-11

May the Lord be in my mind, on my lips, and in my heart, that

I may rightly and truly proclaim His holy Word. Amen.

“Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” That’s the question John the Baptist asks of Jesus. It’s a question which refers back to John’s own message, one we heard last week, from the third chapter of Matthew, when he said, “... he who is coming ... is mightier ...” Right after this proclamation of the Messiah, John baptized Jesus, so why is he asking if Jesus is the one? Doesn’t he know who Jesus is? He does, indeed. The question is rhetorical, both as reflected in the original language in Matthew’s gospel, and in how Jesus answers the question.

Jesus answers by describing the works of the Messiah, as described in Isaiah: The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. He answers in effect by saying, “Look at what is happening. This is what happens when the Messiah comes.” And Jesus continues to quote Isaiah in describing to the crowd who John is: the messenger who goes before, to prepare the way for the Messiah.

John asks the question rhetorically, knowing the answer, just as we who claim the name Christian know the answer; know that Jesus is the One. But we are surrounded by many people who don’t know the answer: people who have no faith or who have lost their faith; people who despair of life because they do not know the Good News. And it is to these people that we need to provide an answer; an answer–indeed the answer–to their groping question, “Is Jesus the one? Is Jesus the Way, and the Truth, and the Life?”

We need to answer with a resounding “yes,” but that is, unfortunately, not enough. At 1 Pet. 3.15 we are reminded that we must always be ready to testify to the hope that is within us. And here we are in Advent, a time of hope, a time when we prepare once more to greet “the one who is to come”. And so let us each ask ourselves the question, “How do I answer the question ‘Is Jesus the One?’”

One way to answer this question is to describe what the Lord does; to answer the question the same way Jesus answers John’s question. But here we can run into a problem. Do we see the miracles described by Isaiah and recited by Jesus? Do we see the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them? Maybe, although I suspect that most of us have never seen a medical miracle, and in terms of the raising of the dead we can at best quibble about the definition of clinical death. This problem is, however, probably false, for the miracles described by Isaiah and seen with Jesus are those described as signs of when the Messiah first comes. So looking for miraculous cures and signs might be misleading. Perhaps we should rather look for the signs that God is with us, rather than signs of God arriving in the flesh.

When we look for these signs, what do we see? We see that life is created. We see the wonders of creation. But a person without faith can also see the wonders of creation, even though he or she might not find them wondrous. What do we see, what do we experience, that happens because of Christ? We see that love is shared. We see that burdens are lifted. We see that sins are forgiven, and we see that death has no triumph. We see these things in our own lives and in the lives of those around us. We see that hope is not in vain, and we live in this hope. We live in this hope, and part of our calling is to share this hope, broadcast this hope, broadcast this Good News; to let all others know that the One who is to come has come. He has come, and He has given us His Spirit to be with us.

Think to yourself for a minute, what have I experienced in my life and in the lives of those around me that has shown me what God does? In other words, what has God done in my life? Notice the switch in pronouns? Let us not talk about how we see God active among us; rather, let me talk about how I see God working, how I experience His salvation. Part of the calling each of us has is to proclaim the Good News of God in Christ Jesus to all people. That means that each one of us is to recognize “I am to be like John the Baptist. I am to be the Forerunner, the one who goes before the Lord to say, ‘He is coming! He is come! Jesus is the One!’”

I am called to be the Forerunner, and in following this calling each of us can ask, “Who has been the Forerunner in my life? Who taught me about God? Who said, ‘See what God does!’? Was it a parent? A teacher? A friend? Who was the one who prepared the way for me to meet the Lord, and who helped me to come to know Him?” Just as each of us has been led to the Lord, we are each now called to testify to the hope that is within us, to testify to what it is that God does; and so we must ask, “How will I be the Forerunner? How will I say ‘See what God does!’ to those who do not know hope?”

Testify. Ooh, now there’s a scary word for many of us. It’s a word that might make me think that I have to talk publicly about what God has done in my life; about what He does. And it might; I might well be called to offer such personal witness, but I suggest to you that the testimony that people pay the most attention to is what we do rather than what we say.

So how can I witness to the hope of God in Christ Jesus? I can witness in how I honor God in worship, and give thanks to Him for what He does by sharing His bounty. I can witness by an active worship life and an active life in the works of the Church. I can witness in how I express love and understanding, in how I forgive wrongs. In other words, I can be seen to love the Lord my God with all my heart, and with all my mind, and with all my soul, loving my neighbor as myself. If I do this,if people see my testimony, then somebody is going to want to know why I act the way I do–why I act as though I have found the Way–and then they might just ask, “Is this Jesus who you serve the One?”

That’s the question the world asks. The question that John the Baptist asked Jesus rhetorically is the question the world asks each one of us who bears the name “Christian”. But when the world asks this question it is not rhetorical. The world wants proof, and in answering the world then each one of us can be the Forerunner to someone. Each one of us can be the herald who goes before the Lord to announce His advent. Each one of us can answer, “Here is what God does, the one God and no other. God is with us!”

Take a look at the Collect in your bulletin. This Collect for the third Sunday in Advent has given this day the name by which it is often known, “Stir up Sunday”. What do we pray together this Sunday in this season of hope?

Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

There’s a message of hope in there for sure, but do we pray this only in hope and expectation? When we pray that our Lord may with great might come among us and deliver us, is not this prayer also a prayer which recognizes that the Lord has come among us, that He does deliver us? You see, our prayers too can function like a rhetorical question. Just as John can ask, “Are you the one ...?” knowing that Jesus is, we can pray for deliverance in thanks, knowing that we are delivered. Just as the answer to John’s question is to recite what the Messiah is doing, our prayer is answered in what God does; that He has come among us, with bountiful grace and mercy to help and deliver us. So may our lives reflect that our prayer is answered, so that each may testify to all, “See what God does!”

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son,

and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.