Wednesday, November 24 – ADVENT ONE
As he [John the
Baptist] preached he said, “The real action comes next: The star in this drama,
to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will change your life. I’m baptizing you here in
the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. His baptism—a holy
baptism by the Holy Spirit—will change you from the inside out.” (Mark 1: 7 -8, The Message Bible)
I come by it honestly. My mother
always had to arrive a half-hour in advance of the starting time of anything.
When ordering in a restaurant, if the food was not in front of her within 15
minutes after ordering, she would begin to sputter how slow the service was. I
have been really trying to slow down my expectations and impatience since I
have retired – with some success.
What’s the hurry!
Perhaps, John the Baptist was beginning to wonder when the Messiah was
finally going to show up. After all, he had been preparing his whole life for
that moment when the one whose sandals he was unworthy to untie would make his
appearance. Then, look out world! You think John was a hell-fire preacher, you
haven’t seen anything yet, once the Messiah begins his work. “He’s going to
clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in
its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to
be burned.” (Luke 3:17, The Message) John can hardly wait.
Jesus shows up and the show is finally on the road.
Or is it? A little while later John finds himself in prison, his
ministry faltering to an ignominious close.
Who could have blamed him if he was beginning to wonder whether it had
been worth it? And Jesus? There appears
to be some sense of doubt, disillusionment perhaps, confusion as to what Jesus
was really about. John sent two of his disciples to Jesus and asked, “Are
you the One we’ve been expecting, or are we still waiting?” (Matthew 11:3,
The Message)
Jesus has not been brandishing a
willowing fork, but using a whole new approach to his style of Messiahship.
“Go back and tell John what’s going on: The blind see, the lame walk, lepers
are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the wretched of the earth learn that God is
on their side.” (Matthew 11: 4 – 6, The
Message)
Then Jesus asks “Is this what you were expecting? Then count
yourselves most blessed.”
Trust Jesus to ask the tough question. Is this what you were expecting?
People enter into Advent/Christmas with high expectations about family, gifts, quality
time with friends, travel plans and having an ideal Christmas. But it doesn’t
always happen that easily and we are left somewhat disappointed.
Same with our faith expectations. We expect all the glory to come our
way ASAP. But our church lets us down, our pastor lets us down, our fellow
believers let us down, our prayers let us down; we fail ourselves in keeping
the verve of faith. We may even feel that God has let us down. This Jesus-thing doesn’t seem to be working the way we
thought it would. Skepticism settles in. Disillusionment takes it toll. Doubts
creep in.
Are you the one, Jesus or, or is there something else I should place my
faith in?
Perhaps we need to rethink some
of our expectations, our models, our
boxes in which we have put Jesus?
I am not suggesting that we lower our expectations or tamper our
aspirations. But let us consider how we might open up our hopes to encounter the
true, life-giving presence of Jesus Christ. Just let him be the Christ
the way he wants – full of love, compassion, healing, grace, forgiveness, mercy
and Presence. Don’t suck the air out of Advent with your version of Christmas
but let the fresh Spirit of the Coming One renew your hope, give you peace,
grant you joy and surround you with love.
If this is what you are
expecting, then count yourself blessed!
Dale
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