In our gospel reading John the Baptist basically asks, “Who is Jesus?” You’ll remember that several weeks ago we read about John’s ministry of baptism. It was one of fire and brimstone. He was announcing that the Messiah was soon coming and people should repent. John said to the crowds, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits that befit repentance.” And later, “Even now the axe is laid at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” John expects Jesus to come with ferocity and upend the world.
In today’s gospel
reading we don’t actually meet John, but we hear that he’s sent disciples to
Jesus to ask if Jesus is indeed the Messiah.
Word has gotten to John that Jesus is performing miracles. That probably fit with what John
expected. But Jesus was not living up to
other expectations. While Jesus was also
preaching repentance, where was the fire and brimstone? Where was the judgment? Where was the ferocity that God was going to
drive out the bad guys and put the good guys permanently in charge?
As I’ve thought
about this text it was immediately apparent that not everyone has the same idea
of who Jesus is. While there is great
variety, I think people fall into one of two categories. One category is people who want Jesus to be
the sort of person who serves them and reinforces their world view. The other category is the sort of person who
looks to Jesus to give them direction in life.
We see these two categories at work in Jesus’ day as well.
I want to spend
some minutes looking at each. Which
category we tend toward says a lot about our faith.
Let’s start with
people who want Jesus to serve them and/or reinforce their world view. In Jesus’ day we see numerous examples of
people who wanted Jesus to serve them.
Early in the gospel we read about the way the people of Nazareth wanted
Jesus to perform a miracle like he did in Capernaum. The people of Capernaum wanted Jesus to stick
around because he was performing miracles and healings. It was as if Jesus would be a free and
instant medical clinic for them. In the
story of the Feeding of the 5000 the crowds want Jesus to stick around to keep
providing them with food. It would
surely have been a good thing to have someone always around who would provide
free and unlimited food!
There are many
stories in the Bible of people asking Jesus for a sign as proof.
These days people
look to God for divine solutions to their problems. People try to make deals with God: “God, if you let me win the lottery then I’ll
donate… such and such.” “God, if you
heal me I promise I’ll be a better person.”
These are selfish,
but there are unselfish things as well.
Last week we read about the Roman centurion who asked for Jesus’
miraculous healing for a slave he loved.
These days people often pray for family members and friends who are
going through difficult times. We pray
for God to help people nearby and far away who are suffering from wars or
natural disasters.
I’m not saying
that all of this is wrong. Not at
all. But it is still all someone turning
to God asking for something in their own agenda.
It is becoming a
pet peeve of mine when I hear church leaders talk about Jesus, “speaking truth
to power.” They tend to want to turn
Jesus into a social justice advocate who, as it turns out, they think has the same
worldview they do.
Lots of people
want to co-opt Jesus into helping them with their agenda or having Jesus
endorse their agenda. But regardless of
whether the motives are obviously selfish or seemingly selfless, that’s getting
things backwards. Jesus should be
setting the agenda for us, not us setting the agenda for Jesus.
The other category
of people is people who look to Jesus to give them direction in life. I suspect this is the sort of person John the
Baptist was. Luke’s gospel doesn’t
explicitly tell us where John was when he sent his disciples to inquire about
Jesus, but given that the last time we met John he had been put into prison by
Herod, it’s pretty likely he was still there.
I have the feeling John knew he’d never be freed. He’d angered and embarrassed Herod by
publicly condemning him. Herod had
locked John up to silence him. It seemed
pretty likely John would be executed at some time or another, or be so
neglected in prison that he died there.
So, perhaps John
was wondering if his life had been worth it.
Had he indeed followed what God was calling him to do? Or was he wrong all along?
It would be a
horrible thing to be approaching death and look back across your life and
realize that what you did was wrong all along; or that your life had been a
waste. People in this category want to
do things that are right, and good, and constructive, and meaningful. They’ll work hard. They’ll make big sacrifices for Jesus. But they want to have some sense from him so
they know they’re doing the right thing.
People in this
category cry out to God that if only they could be certain about what God is
calling them to do in life, and if only they were more certain of what Jesus
would do, then they’d feel a lot more confident.
I suppose we don’t
clearly fit exclusively into one category or the other. There’s probably a bit of both in all of
us. We want things from God and we want
to authentically serve God. The thing
is, it doesn’t seem to be that Jesus is interesting in fitting into any of our
needs.
If you know the
gospels well you know that the twelve apostles spent a lot of time with
Jesus. They, of all people, should have
known who he was. But they didn’t. When it came to Jesus’ arrest and
crucifixion, they all fled. They just
couldn’t understand that is who Jesus is.
In our gospel
reading Jesus sends word back to John of all the things he is doing: The blind
receive their sight. The lame walk. Lepers are cleansed. The deaf hear. The dead are raised up. The poor have good news preached to
them. That is all sending the message to
John that Jesus is indeed the Messiah.
John has been right all along.
John’s life and ministry have been important. His doubts should be relieved.
Yet all of this
still could not have prepared John for what would eventually come to Jesus –
the crucifixion. Again, no one could
foresee that. No one knew what to do
with it.
Who is Jesus? The crucified one. There’s no sense to that whatsoever. Died.
Dead. Followers scared and
fled. Talk about a wasted life!
This is the
incomprehensible nature of God’s love and the true nature of Jesus. Jesus is indeed many things. But he is first and foremost our crucified
Savior.
So what does that
do for us as we ask for who Jesus is?
Well, if you’re in the category that wants things from Jesus either for
your own selfish agenda or even if it is for someone else, don’t expect Jesus
to accomplish your purposes. He’s not in
the business of giving people wealth, prosperity, and supernatural protection
from the realities of life.
If you’re in the
category that looks to Jesus to give you guidance, don’t expect a crucified
Lord to lay out a clear path of answers for you. Life doesn’t work that way. Christianity does not pretend to give clear
answers when there aren’t clear answers.
When we can accept
Jesus as the crucified one then we are fully aware of God’s love. This is not a sappy sentimental love. It is not cute and sweet and cuddly. It is a ferociously powerful love. Live by that love and your problems will not
go away. But that love will accompany
you in them. Live by that love and I
don’t think life’s going to suddenly give you clear directions as to how to
live. But you’ll have the principles to
know how God’s love works.
I can’t promise
you that when it comes time to die that you’ll be able to look back across your
life and see great accomplishments and deep contentment. Perhaps that will be the case. Perhaps not.
But I can promise you that when you live knowing God’s cruciform love
for you, you’re life will have been well done.
Again, from the
point of view of the crucifixion, the ministry of Jesus must have looked like
foolishness and a waste. But by it God
did the most powerful thing ever, and changed the world.
May you feel God’s
world-changing presence at work in your life this day and always.
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