A, The First Sunday after Christmas - Matthew 2:14-16 "The New Israel"

Matthew 2:14–16 (ESV)  And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt  and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”  Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. 

The Christmastide infanticide at Bethlehem is a gruesome and horrible picture against the blessed nativity of Jesus.  Herod the Great, the illegal king of Israel, ruthlessly but unsuccessfully seeks to weed out the infant King of Israel threat. 

As Mary and Joseph escape to Egypt, in their wake Herod’s anger and rage brings death to all baby boys born in Bethlehem up to the age of two.  On the twenty-eighth of December, the church commemorates “Holy Innocents”, the children who died at the hand of Herod.  They are martyrs, not because they confessed the name of Jesus and died, but they are the most holy of martyrs because they were murdered in innocence and weakness, suspected as being Jesus the Christ Child, the true King of Israel.

Jesus was born into the danger of weakness and death.  But God protects the Christ-child through Joseph, and they escape to Egypt.  Years later Jesus’ Heavenly Father would allow his innocent Son to be handed over to death on the cross outside Jerusalem at the Passover, Easter.

There is a sense of irony in Jesus’ escape to Egypt, as sixteen hundred years beforehand Egypt is the oppressive place Pharoah had ordered midwives to murder Hebrew children by throwing them into the Nile River.  In that very river baby Moses survives.  The Moses story then comes to a climax sometime later in the tenth plague.  This is when God destroys all first born whose houses do not display Lamb’s blood on the doorposts. 

This would be the first Passover and Pharoah would grant the nation of Israel release from slavery.  Now the King of Israel was being carried by Mary and Joseph back to the land of slavery to escape from Herod’s murderous anger.  It was only after the death of Herod that Jesus and his parents made an exodus out of Egypt.  It was only after the death of Egypt’s firstborn that Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and the twelve tribes of Israel were freed to make that first exodus, sixteen hundred years earlier.

One might think Jesus is a new type of Moses coming out of Egypt.  But Jesus is not just a prophetic leader like Moses, he is not just a priest like Aaron, nor does he just bear the Greek name of the Hebrew, Joshua, which means “Yahweh frees, makes safe, saves”, in that he will save his people as a fighting saviour!

Jesus comes out of Egypt as the New Israel to save Israel.  Not as Moses as prophet, Aaron as priest, or Joshua as a strong and courageous warrior.  Death threatened this fragile human, and death continued to destroy innocence around him. 

Why did Jesus have to be the new Israel?  Why did God allow the death of the innocent?  And for that matter, why does he allow dreadful death to continue today?

This all has to do with anger and time.  The anger of God as a result of humanity’s, and Israel’s inability to follow God.  Secondly, the anger of humanity, collectively and individually, as a result of their refusal to follow God, then its subsequent fear because failure continues through the pursuit of pleasure.  Thirdly, God had to allow for the right time to fulfil his faithful plan of salvation.  We need to wait and trust him for the completion of his plans, the fullness of time!

So, Jesus in the fullness of time, is the completion of Israel.  In Jesus’ exodus out of Egypt he fulfils a faithful exodus, not into freedom but into death and suffering as the Son of Man.  The Son of Salvation, the Servant of Man, the Servant of Salvation, your salvation, Israel’s salvation, and humanity’s salvation!

Why is Jesus the New Israel?  To understand we need to know what the old Israel is to God and to us humans, and how Jesus fulfills his role as the Suffering Servant, the Son of Man.

We now look at God’s anger, humanity’s anger, and time.

Humanity proved they were unable to follow God.  After Adam and eve turned away, Cain, through his parents’ favouritism, also turned away from God, and in jealous anger killed Abel. 

Humanity became completely corrupt in the days of Noah, resulting in God rebirthing the world through the flood.  But even after the flood, humanity continued to challenge God at Babel, from where he dispersed them with the confusion of language.

God then chose to work through one man, Abraham, the father of Israel.  Israel went into slavery in Egypt.  After four hundred years God redeemed them through Moses.  In the wilderness and then in the promised land of Canaan, Israel continued to turn away from God.  God forgave, but the kings, priests, and Israelite people could not keep the Law to the glory of God.  Not even King David, God’s chosen one, was without sin.

Through this period God poured out his anger on Israel when they turned from him.  There was no one righteous, not one.  Only by God’s grace did Israel survive.  The Israelites continued to anger God using the Law to justify and glorify themselves.

The prophet Hosea, after years of corruption in a split kingdom, prophecies a faithful son, a faithful Israel, saying, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.” (Hosea 11:1 ESV) We hear, today in Matthew’s Gospel, this was fulfilled when Jesus came out of Egypt. 

But Hosea also laments, “The more they were called, the more they went away; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols.  My people are bent on turning away from me, and though they call out to the Most High, he shall not raise them up at all.” (Hosea 11:2, 7 ESV)

God exiles the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel and Judah and then falls silent for another period of four hundred years.  The anger of the Israelite people festers within.  Its people become more influenced by pagan doctrines.  God’s people had become so turned in on themselves that murder and deception became a regular occurrence within the temple and kingdom authorities.

The people of God became so diabolical, no king was able to be led by God, no priest sought to glorify God, and no prophet spoke on behalf of God.  It was here that the time was right for the New Israel to come out of Egypt.  Israel, embodied in one person, in God the Son, Jesus Christ, the Son and Servant of Man!

We hear, “after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem,  saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?  For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”  When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him;  and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.”  (Matthew 2:1–4 ESV)

It sounds as though they were caught off guard!  Such is always the case when we are turned in on ourselves.  We fail to realise the reality around us.  Nevertheless, Herod the Great, loathed by the people of Judah because he was not a Jew, was angered and sought to use the Wise Men to find and kill his competition.

This is the world Jesus was born into, and this is the world in which we live today.  In the fulness of time the Son of God became a human,  so that humanity could come to God.  There was no way a king, a prophet, or a priest could raise up Israel or humanity to participate with God to glorify him. 

Jesus became the New Israel to please God but also to bear the brunt of God’s anger against you, me, and humanity.  The anger that we hear so much about in the Old Testament, has now been poured out on the Christ child, in Jesus’ servanthood suffering on the cross.

The anger of humanity that fell, as deathly sin, on those baby boys at Bethlehem suspected as being the New King of Israel, is also carried and set free by Jesus Christ.

We are told of Jesus Christ, the New Israel, that, “For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.  For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers”.  (Hebrews 2:10–11 ESV)

And the author of the letter to the Hebrews continues, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,  and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.  For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.  Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.  For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”   (Hebrews 2:14–18 ESV)

Jesus is your brother, he bears the wrath of God for you, and frees you into innocence and holiness, by his life, death, and resurrection. 

In 2023, life and death will continue, but for those who continue remaining and abiding in Jesus Christ, there is no anger from God, just opportunity for repentance and forgiveness.  And despite the anger of humanity, death, and the devil, God is continuing and will continue to make those holy who suffer and endure by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

A, The Birth of our Lord, Christmas Day - Luke 2:13-14 "Gift Wrapped in Glory"

Luke 2:13-14 (ESV) And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,  “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” 

The shepherds sit around hoping for a quiet night.  They watch their sheep, they don’t want any trouble from predators or thieves, a quiet night is a good night.

But then in an instant the night is like day.  The shepherds are startled; their full attention has been gathered.  This brightness brings with it a weight they’ve never experienced.  It is heavy; but it’s heavenly!  They tremble in fear under the mass of light bearing down on them from heaven.  This is no predator; this is no thief!  Something is going down; but how to explain what is transpiring before their very eyes!

Then this heavy heavenly thing speaks out of the brightness and light, saying to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”  (Luke 2:10–12 ESV)

And if that is not enough for these simple shepherds to hear, then, “suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,  ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!’” 

When the angels went back into heaven, what did the shepherds do with this great burden of information left with them?  They left their sheep in the field saying, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”  (Luke 2:15b ESV)

The weight of the event left its mark on them.  This glory, the angel, and its heavenly entourage was so intense they could do nothing but go and see this Saviour lying in a manger.

As we have heard today, and have heard every Christmas, they found Mary and Joseph, they found Jesus in swaddling cloths lying in the manger, the sign revealed to them by the angel of God.

We are told of the shepherds, “And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.  And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.” (Luke 2:17–18 ESV)

What does God’s glory do to you? 

“And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.”  (Luke 2:20 ESV)

How would you explain this event to those who had not seen it? 

We hear this gospel message every year, every Christmas?  But how do you explain all that the shepherds saw, and how can we repeat the proclamation today with the same enthusiasm and excitement as that of the shepherds.

For us to share in the excitement of the shepherds with a willingness to repeat their sounding joy, we need to allow God the Holy Spirit to open up the text of this Christmas gospel for us.  Then we can intimately share in the event of the first Christmas.  And therefore, repeat it to those who do not know what this—everyday earthly, but heavy heavenly—birth does for all of creation.

Three times in the reading today we hear of glory.  What is the glory of God?  How do we explain the glory of God shining around the shepherds, the heavenly choir singing “Glory to God in the highest”, and the shepherds glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen?

The glory of God has a huge impact on the shepherds.  They saw it shining around them, they heard it heralded by the heavenly hosts, then they continued in this glory after seeing Jesus.  What is this glory?

In the Old Testament Hebrew, glory, simply means “to be heavy”.  In a bad sense it can mean to be a burden or severe, but in a good sense can mean numerous, rich, or honourable.  It means to be weighty in either a good or bad way.

When God reveals his glory over Pharaoh through Moses it is both a burden to Pharaoh but also a joy to the Israelites.  When the glory of the Lord covered Mount Sinai and when it filled the tabernacle and later the temple, people did not take it lightly.  In fact, the people of God feared the intense weight of God in his glory when it appeared.  Even using God’s name was a hefty thing for fear of saying it in vain and discrediting the weight of its glory.

In the New Testament the Greek word for glory is doxa, from where we get doxology, or words about glory.  In fact, the angels or host of heaven praise God with what we would call a doxology. 

This glory is: to please, to think well of, to be of good reputation.  With the Old Testament meaning to be weighty, to glorify God is to give the greatest weight of pleasure to him, he is worthy of the best thoughts and reputation among us.

Doxologies appear quite often when we acknowledge God’s presence with us.  On the end of psalms, the end of the Lord’s Prayer, which comes from King David (Psalm 145:11-13, 1 Chronicles 29:10-13), and the Great Gloria and the Holy, Holy, Holy in the liturgy are combinations of doxological praises sung in the presence of God.

The shepherds heard, saw, and felt the full weight of God’s presence when the angel appeared.  In fact, when the angels left and went into heaven, the shepherds didn’t say, let’s go and see what the angel told us”, but rather said let’s see that “which the Lord has made known to us.”

Much is made of angels today.  Many angelic experiences are over personified and in doing so glory is taken away from God.  However, angels are messengers of God.  Even if they are named in Scripture, it is not they who we look to, but to God in whose name they speak.  This is why the shepherds say, the Lord, rather than an angel, had made Jesus’ birth known to them.

The doxology of the heavenly host or angelic choir also functions in the same way.  They announce God in all his glory.  In fact, this is the first time the Heavenly Choir is heard on earth.  We are accustomed to it these days as we sing in God’s presence the Great Gloria and the Holy, Holy, Holy in the liturgy.  We sing it because God is present, but when Jesus was born the heavenly choir was heard for the first time on earth. 

We do well to be in awe of God being with us today in all his weighty glory, just as much as he was then before the shepherds, as we join the heavenly choir each time we sing or say, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” Or any other doxology!

“Glory to God in the highest” is the great glorification of God.  It is the heaviest pleasure that can be bestowed upon God.  And now this glory shines around the shepherds and they pass it onto all whom they see.  All who heard the shepherds marvelled and wondered at the news.  These shepherds had continued the messenger work, God had shone on them through his angelic messengers.

This glory of God is the wrapping of God’s greatest gift to us — Jesus Christ in human flesh!

The angels sing, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Not only is this glory given to God as the ultimate praise, but it is also given to the shepherds and us, those with whom God is pleased.  It is God’s pleasure in the highest to give you peace through Jesus Christ.

Such is the weight of this event that we receive the gift of love from God the Father, wrapped in glory and swaddling cloths.  With the Psalmist, we look not to our works or idols but look to the gift of God in the manger and say, “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!”  (Psalm 115:1 ESV)

We see the steadfast love and faithfulness of Jesus in human flesh and trust his work and word that his flesh now speaks for our flesh fulfilling the will of God.  This is the will of God done in heaven and on earth bringing peace to us and pleasure to God.

This gift of God covers us in his glory with his victory over sin and death on the cross, covering you with the forgiveness of sins.  Let the Holy Spirit unwrap God’s glory in you, so having seen and heard the gift of God, like the shepherds you continue to glorify and praise God to all whom you meet in these days.  Amen. 

A, The Fourth Sunday of Advent - Isaiah 7:10-16 "The Rejection of Immanuel"

There are many quotes out there about history.  Perhaps you’ve heard some of them. 

Such as the anonymous quote, “History repeats itself because no one was listening the first time.” 

Or from Karl Marx, the father of socialism, “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.” 

And from last century the Irish writer George Bernard Shaw, “If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must man be of learning from experience.”

These all hold certain elements of truth.  When history repeats itself, it demonstrates the foolishness of humanity, because we neither remember nor learn from what has happened in the past.  When an event tragically repeats itself, so often we react in complete surprise at the occurrence unfolded before us. 

Perhaps if we could hear and see those who’ve been before us, we’d be laughed at and lamented over as a joke, for our inability to listen, our incapability to learn, and we’d be humiliated and embarrassed by our ridiculous repetitious behaviour.

Isaiah the prophet of the Lord is sent to Ahaz, the king of Judah, to encourage him to place his trust in the Lord, for the Lord was with them.  In fact, recent history in Judah had been quite positive in reflecting God was indeed with them, in that the kings leading up to Ahaz had done mostly what was right in the eyes of the Lord.

Since the death of Elisha, about one hundred years before, the southern kingdom of Judah had kings who upheld temple worship.  Over the border in Israel (aka Ephraim), the northern kingdom was in complete disarray.  Their kings had led the people further and further away from God. 

The northern kingdom had separated itself from the southern kingdom, Jerusalem, and therefore the temple of the Lord.  And so in Samaria, Israel’s capital, the north continually committed evil practices and worshipped other gods as a result of excommunicating themselves from God’s presence in Jerusalem.

In Jerusalem, the southern kingdom of Judah still had access to God in the temple.  And although the kings did right in the eyes of the Lord, many of the Judeans were still applying themselves to pagan worship, at certain high places and spreading trees which the kings had not destroy.  However, because the kings preserved the ways of God, Judah lived under God’s favour, despite the many bad practices of the people.

Then Ahaz came to power as king of Judah in the southern kingdom.  In one sense he didn’t repeat the recent history of Judean kings; instead he committed evil in the eyes of God.  In fact, he was repeating the immediate history of the north, their wayward brothers in Israel.  His evil practices had not been seen amongst the kings of Judah since the time of Elisha the prophet, a century before.

King Ahaz grieved God and tested his patience.  Worshipping Molech and Chemosh, whom demanded child sacrifice.  Ahaz burned his son as an offering to these gods of Moab and Ammon.  He also joined his subjects in making sacrifices on altars at high places, hill tops, and under spreading trees.  

So, when Israel joined forces with Syria to attack Judah, God sent Isaiah to King Ahaz after he and the people were shaken at the thought of being attacked.  Isaiah tells him, “Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smouldering stumps of firebrands.” (Isaiah 7:4 ESV)

 These two smouldering stumps were Syria and Ephraim (aka Israel), and Isaiah goes on to deliver God’s word to Ahaz, “It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass.  For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin.  And within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered from being a people.  And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.” (Isaiah 7:7–9 ESV)

Through Isaiah, God was giving Ahaz and Judah, the history before it happened.  And in doing so God was calling Ahaz and Judah to return to the faithfulness of those righteous kings before him. If they were not firm in faith, they would not be firm at all.  Instead, they would be shattered as Israel was soon to be!

But things in Judah continued to go from bad to worse.  Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.”  But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.”  And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?”  (Isaiah 7:10–13 ESV)

The Lord promised to give a sign of his faithfulness to Ahaz, but Ahaz rejects it.  And in claiming he didn’t want to test the Lord, in fact, put God to the test, grieved him of his glory, and treated God as impotent in dealing with the attacking Syrians and Israelites from the north.

We are told in second Kings Chapter sixteen Ahaz sought an alliance with the Assyrians rather than trust in God.  When Israel and Syria had besieged Jerusalem, Ahaz sent word to the Assyrian king and placed himself in submission to him.  He sent silver and gold from the temple as a gift to the Assyrian leader.  And on receiving Ahaz’s plea and gift, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, marched on Syria’s capital, Damascus, and took it captive.

After the defeat of Damascus, the Syrian Israelite siege of Jerusalem disintegrated, and we can listen to what happens next from Second Kings…

When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details.  And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus. (2 Kings 16:10–11 ESV)

After Ahaz arrived back in Jerusalem, he began to change the structure of the temple to accommodate the Assyrian worship he had observed while in Damascus.  He placed the replica altar Uriah had built in the temple and moved the sanctioned bronze altar aside, as well as removed other sacred items placed in the temple at God’s command. 

In doing these things Ahaz was rejecting God and years of sound worship in the place God had set aside through Moses, King David, and others faithful to the Law of God.

History was certainly repeating itself in Ahaz’s rebellion against God.  He led the nation of Judah into the same sins as Israel; sins that had been absent from the king’s palace in Judah for over a century.

What was to happen to Judah, to King Ahaz, and the Judean-Assyrian alliance after the defeat of Israel and Syria?  This is what Isaiah prophesied on behalf of the Lord…

The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim (Israel) departed from Judah—the king of Assyria.”  In that day the Lord will whistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.  And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures.  In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired beyond the River—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also. (Isaiah 7:17–20 ESV)

God was going to give Ahaz what he sought – the king of Assyria.  Judah would become the battle ground between the Assyrians and the Egyptians, who would swarm over every part of the land like bees and flies.  And as a result Judah would be shaved and left as a bare wasteland.

If only Ahaz had returned to the Lord and not relied on Assyria.  If only he had listened to God who promised to be with Judah.  If only Ahaz was firm in faith and followed the Heavenly Father.

But Ahaz who had wearied his own people by his disregard for the sanctity of life in the death of his own son, was to also weary God by not holding fast to the sanctity of God’s promise in his word.  A holy word that would be a sign as deep as the greatest depths of Sheol and even as high as heaven itself!  A word from God through Isaiah who said…

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.  He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.  For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. (Isaiah 7:14–16 ESV)

Not long after, the Assyrians not only defeated Syria and Damascus, they also overran Ephraim and carted the Israelites into exile.  As God had promised, the two kings were overcome and their land was deserted. 

Yet a greater Immanuel was still to come.  Not just a child born with a name as a sign to Judah in the days of Isaiah; but rather a child who was indeed Immanuel – God with us!  But first Judah went the way of Israel and they lost their land to the Babylonians and were taken into exile too.

We hear this recount from God’s word today as a constant appeal from God that he is our Immanuel; he is God with us!  Every year history repeats itself in our remembrance of Christmas, so in faith we might grab hold of the true gift that Jesus Christ is our God with us!

We hear of the moment in history where Jesus was born to a virgin, to be your God with you.  This is a piece of history well worth listening to, hearing, and absorbing.  This is a piece of history that saw Jesus on the cross, which some see as a tragedy, and others see as a farce, but we see as our salvation from the very sin that sees history repeating itself.

We can also learn from the history of Ahaz, Judah and Israel’s constant repetition of sin against God, that we indeed are incapable of learning from experience, as George Bernard Shaw said last century.  And therefore turn to God who is with us not only as Father, and Son, but as Holy Spirit too.  And the Holy Spirit, coming to us from the Father and the Son, is faithfully more powerful at returning us to Christ and his forgiveness than our own human spirit.

  In these days of struggle, let the Spirit return you to the Christ child; let Jesus daily save you, from yourself, from temptation, and from all evil.  Let him be your daily bread so his will is your will, and you yearn not for this land but for the fruit of faith; peace, hope, joy, and love.  Be firm in this faith and you will be firm forever!  Amen.

Let us pray… O holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray; cast out our sin, and enter in: be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell; O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Immanuel!  Amen.

A, The Third Sunday of Advent - Isaiah 35:8 "Way of Holiness"

“What then did you go out into the wilderness to see?  What then did you go out to see?  What then did you go out to see?”

Three times Jesus asks the crowd, “What did you go out to see?”  Was it a reed swaying in the wind of the wilderness?  No!  Was it a man in fine clothing?  No, you only find them in king’s houses!  Was it a prophet?  Yes, John the Baptist, dressed in camel’s hair clothing, living off wild honey and locusts!  What a strange, peculiar fellow!

Jesus asks the crowd these questions after John’s disciples take news back to John in prison.

They return after, “Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see:  the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.  And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.’”  (Matthew 11:4–6 ESV)

In seeing and hearing Jesus, they heard and saw what was prophesied many years before.  Prophet Isaiah proclaimed, “They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God.  Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.  Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”  Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped;  then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy”  (Isaiah 35:2c–6a ESV)

People had gone out into the wilderness to see, hear, and be baptised by John in preparation for Jesus’ coming.  Jesus points out that this event had been previously forecast and quotes from Malachi three verse one.  He says, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.” (Matthew 11:10 ESV) 

Not only does he proclaim John as messenger, but also that John is preparing the way for him, not only as Christ, as God’s Anointed, but that he actually is God, the Son of God.

Now hear the exact words from Malachi chapter three to see how Jesus reveals himself as one with the Lord God who is speaking through the prophet Malachi, “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.” (Malachi 3:1 ESV)

God was sending a messenger to prepare the way of God, for God’s coming, and here Jesus says to the crowd, the way is now prepared for you, for my coming!  John the Baptist came proclaiming and preparing the way of God, God was now with them, both God and person in Jesus Christ.

This event, however, had come about through John sending his disciples to ask Jesus,  “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”  (Matthew 11:3 ESV)

It sounds like John had doubts.  John was languishing in prison.  After John baptised Jesus, John’s ministry of preparation was complete.  Jesus had come and was now baptised into his ministry of death and resurrection. 

Jesus declares, “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. ” (Matthew 11:11a ESV)  But now John was free to be less than the least in the kingdom.

If we think of John the Baptist as the greatest, born of women, it is quite amazing that he needs to ask if Jesus is the one who is to come.  After all, he is the most privileged among prophets.  He not only proclaimed Christ’s coming, but unlike all other prophets physically witnessed him.  And after refusing to baptise Jesus, arguing, “I need to be baptised by you”, John agrees to baptise him, fulfilling all righteousness.

But Jesus says, “ Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” (Matthew 11:11b ESV)  What is this riddle that Jesus says?  John the Baptist, the greatest of all and most privileged of all prophets is less than the least in the kingdom of heaven!

What Jesus does in front of the crowd with John’s disciples is fascinating, he takes these men and sends them back to John with his word.  John’s disciples are now Jesus’ disciples witnessing to John the least in the kingdom of heaven.  And this needs to be so!  Jesus has to be the Saviour of all called into the kingdom of heaven!

One might think John was being foolish, enquiring if Jesus was the one or should they look for another!  Perhaps the crowd thought this too when John’s disciples came asking if Jesus was the one.  But what Jesus says and does is good news for the crowd and for us.

Why?  Because those in the crowd are the blind, the lepers, the dead, and the poor.  They are the least in the kingdom of heaven.  But they are greater than he whom they went out into the wilderness to see!

Why are they greater and what’s this to do with us?  And with you confirmees too, about to affirm what Jesus has done for you in baptism, and continues to do in you, through the Holy Spirit? 

And not just the confirmees, but all you who are least in the kingdom of heaven.  Who continue in the faith, daily returning to your baptism into Jesus’ righteousness!  Seeing and hearing the Word of God!  Seeing, hearing, eating and drinking Jesus’ body and blood!  Hearing and receiving the forgiveness of sin!

Like the crowd, Jesus asks you, “What then did you come to church to see?  What then did you come to see?  What then do you see?”

Like John the Baptist suffering in prison, we will leave this place to go out and see many turmoils and tribulations in this life.  What seems to be a foolish question by John the Baptist, we realise is the same folly that assails all of us.  All humanity from the greatest to the least are tempted to lose hope in Jesus Christ, from the wearing effects of sin within, and a world without hope.

But like John, when we’re tempted to question if Jesus is really the Christ, if he is really the Son of God, if he really died for my sins, if my sins are really that offensive to God, or if my sin really can be forgiven, we are called to look out of ourselves and see Jesus Christ! 

We are called to see him born in the wilderness of our world.  We are called to see him on the cross.  We are called to see him resurrected in glory at the right hand of the Father.  We are called to see him daily drowning the darkness within, with the light of his holiness shining the way so you and I do not go astray.

As you leave here and walk through the darkness of these days, follow Jesus on his road of righteousness.  The prophet Isaiah says, “And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.” (Isaiah 35:8 ESV)

Many have departed this way and entered back into despair.  How can that be so,  if this way belongs to you and me?  Isaiah tells us, even if we’re fools, we cannot go astray from this Way of Holiness?

These are those who are rejecting the Holy Spirit.   The Holy Spirit keeps human beings from foolishly walking from the way of Holiness, the way of forgiveness, the way of salvation.  These are they who toss away God’s robes of righteousness in knowing Jesus, for robes of good and evil that make them once again unclean in spirit and in life.

But not you, when you patiently endure having your foolishness cleansed daily in the Way of Holiness, the Way of Jesus Christ, the way of perfect complete forgiveness!

Therefore, God’s call for all of us, recorded in the book of James, is one of perseverance and patience, “until the coming of the Lord.  See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.  You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.” (James 5:7–8 ESV)

Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28–29 ESV)

In these weary times the temptation is to go astray.  But let the Holy Spirit keep your eyes open, to see the right way!  The Way of Holiness, Jesus’ Holy Way!  Amen.