Albert D. Mosley - "Look No Further" (December 16, 2001)
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
- | A reading from the Gospel according to Saint Matthew. | 0:05 |
John the Baptist who now was in prison | 0:11 | |
heard about all the things the Messiah was doing, | 0:14 | |
so he sent his disciples to ask Jesus | 0:18 | |
are you really the Messiah we've been waiting for? | 0:22 | |
Or shall we look for another? | 0:26 | |
Jesus told John's disciples go back to John | 0:30 | |
and tell him about what you've heard and seen. | 0:33 | |
The blind see, the lame walk, | 0:36 | |
the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, | 0:41 | |
the dead are raised to life | 0:44 | |
and the good news is being preached to the poor. | 0:47 | |
And tell him God blesses those who are not offended by me. | 0:51 | |
When John's disciples had gone, | 0:56 | |
Jesus began talking about him to the crowds. | 0:58 | |
Who is this man in the wilderness that you went out to see? | 1:02 | |
Did you find him weak as a reed, | 1:06 | |
moved by every breath of wind? | 1:09 | |
Or were you expecting to see a man | 1:12 | |
dressed in expensive clothing? | 1:14 | |
Those who dress like that live in palaces, | 1:16 | |
not in the wilderness. | 1:19 | |
Were you looking for prophet? | 1:22 | |
Yes, and he is more than a prophet. | 1:24 | |
John is the man to whom the scriptures refer | 1:28 | |
when they say look, I am sending my messenger before you | 1:31 | |
and he will prepare your way before you. | 1:35 | |
I assure you of all | 1:38 | |
who have ever lived, none is greater than John the Baptist, | 1:43 | |
yet even the most insignificant person | 1:46 | |
in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is. | 1:48 | |
This is the word of the lord. | 1:52 | |
- | Thanks be to God. | 1:54 |
- | Are you the one who is to come, | 1:59 |
or shall we look for another? | 2:02 | |
As a person engaged in ministry I've heard | 2:08 | |
many versions of this question over the years. | 2:10 | |
There's Robert, a dear friend and parishioner | 2:15 | |
from a previous ministry setting | 2:18 | |
who fears the approaching holiday celebration of Christmas. | 2:21 | |
Everyone around him tells him that Christmas | 2:26 | |
is supposed to be a happy time. | 2:28 | |
A time when family comes together | 2:31 | |
and rejoices at who they are. | 2:33 | |
The trouble however, is that Robert's wife died | 2:36 | |
a couple of years ago just before Christmas. | 2:39 | |
And not very many family members | 2:43 | |
take the time now to come home to be with Robert. | 2:44 | |
Now those once pleasant memories are bittersweet. | 2:48 | |
The memories hurt, and they hurt really badly. | 2:52 | |
Robert is certainly in a situation | 2:57 | |
where he might echo the question of John the Baptist. | 2:59 | |
Is Jesus the one who is to come and soothe the loneliness? | 3:03 | |
Or do I have to wait for something or someone else? | 3:08 | |
Robert is not alone. | 3:12 | |
There's Sarah who looks at her husband | 3:15 | |
of more than 30 years. | 3:17 | |
His facial expression is flat. | 3:19 | |
He no longer hears very well. | 3:22 | |
He gets confused quite often. | 3:25 | |
When he walks, Sarah's afraid | 3:28 | |
he will fall and injure himself. | 3:29 | |
She has to care for him and watch him | 3:32 | |
almost every hour of the day. | 3:34 | |
He's no longer sure how many children they have. | 3:37 | |
He sometimes forgets Sarah's name. | 3:40 | |
Sarah too is in a situation where she can echo | 3:44 | |
the question of John the Baptist. | 3:46 | |
Is Jesus the one who is to come | 3:49 | |
and help me understand why after so many blissful years, | 3:51 | |
life has come to this? | 3:55 | |
Or do I have to wait for something or someone else? | 3:58 | |
Then there's Greg. | 4:03 | |
Greg is only 31. | 4:05 | |
But as he lies in his hospital bed, | 4:08 | |
he finds it very hard just to get comfortable. | 4:11 | |
About two weeks ago, his doctors informed him | 4:16 | |
that the HIV has flourished into full blown AIDS. | 4:18 | |
There are numerous lesions over his body, | 4:23 | |
and even in his mouth. | 4:25 | |
As I visit with Greg, he tells me | 4:28 | |
that he believes he is dying, | 4:29 | |
but his mother and his partner | 4:32 | |
don't want to hear him speak like that. | 4:35 | |
He also tells me that since the word | 4:39 | |
has spread about his illness, he has seen | 4:40 | |
very few of his closest friends and relatives. | 4:43 | |
This has been life as Greg knows it for the past few months. | 4:47 | |
Greg can certainly echo the question of John the Baptist. | 4:52 | |
Is Jesus the one who is to come and relieve the pain? | 4:55 | |
Relieve the rejection, relieve the fear? | 4:59 | |
Or do I have to wait for something or someone else? | 5:04 | |
Robert, Sarah, and Greg are like many of us. | 5:09 | |
They are waiting for an unmistakable sign. | 5:12 | |
They're waiting to see and know | 5:16 | |
the presence of God on their terms, | 5:17 | |
and their unique situations. | 5:20 | |
They know what the outcome ought to be. | 5:23 | |
Naturally they have what they believe | 5:25 | |
to be the answer or the solution to their problems, | 5:27 | |
but when that answer does not come right away, | 5:31 | |
or when what is unfolding does not resemble | 5:34 | |
what they've devised in their own minds, | 5:36 | |
then there is that ultimate question. | 5:39 | |
It is a question that John the Baptist knew all too well. | 5:42 | |
Earlier in Matthew's Gospel we're told | 5:46 | |
that John the Baptist had been arrested | 5:48 | |
and placed in jail by Herod. | 5:50 | |
Herod did not tolerate John's constant reproaches | 5:53 | |
of his licentious life. | 5:56 | |
So after reminding Herod time and time again, | 5:59 | |
that his new life with his sister in law | 6:02 | |
was out of sync with the teachings of God, | 6:04 | |
John found himself being persecuted behind bars. | 6:07 | |
He had very few hopes of ever being released. | 6:12 | |
John had a sense that his situation, | 6:16 | |
like the situation of so many other followers of Christ | 6:19 | |
during his time, was one that would | 6:22 | |
entail trials and tribulations. | 6:25 | |
Even though John was locked away, | 6:29 | |
he made sure to stay informed | 6:31 | |
about what was going on | 6:33 | |
and was kept up to date concerning religious current events. | 6:35 | |
So after being informed about the works of Jesus, | 6:39 | |
John sent some of his disciples | 6:43 | |
to question the one who was already so talked about. | 6:44 | |
There seems to be a little bit of contradiction here | 6:50 | |
in the question that John has his disciples | 6:52 | |
to put before Jesus. | 6:54 | |
They ask Jesus are you the one who is to come, | 6:57 | |
or shall we look for another? | 7:01 | |
In chapter three of this Gospel, | 7:04 | |
John appears to know who Jesus is | 7:06 | |
and what his ministry's all about. | 7:08 | |
Perhaps his question has to do | 7:11 | |
with more than just John's interest. | 7:13 | |
By this point in Matthew's Gospel, | 7:16 | |
many different responses to Jesus have surfaced. | 7:18 | |
Some were saying never has anything | 7:21 | |
like this been seen in Israel. | 7:23 | |
Others were saying by the ruler of demons, | 7:26 | |
he cast out demons. | 7:29 | |
John's question then is not only | 7:32 | |
to satisfy his own curiosity, | 7:35 | |
but to set the record straight for all those interested. | 7:38 | |
Inquiring minds want to know according to recent ad byline. | 7:42 | |
Well if John was looking for a straightforward | 7:48 | |
and direct answer, he will certainly be disappointed. | 7:49 | |
Jesus tells John's disciples to tell John what they hear | 7:54 | |
and what they see. | 7:57 | |
Go and tell John how the blind receive their sight. | 8:00 | |
Tell John about the blind man I met on the road, | 8:05 | |
how I made a paste from the dust in the road, | 8:08 | |
and how I touched the blind man's eyes | 8:11 | |
and restored sight to him. | 8:13 | |
Go and tell John how the crippled | 8:17 | |
take up their mats and walk. | 8:18 | |
Tell John about the paralyzed man | 8:21 | |
whose friends lowered him through the roof on a mat | 8:23 | |
and how this same paralyzed man stood up | 8:26 | |
and walked away at the amazement of those who were watching. | 8:30 | |
Go and tell John how those with despicable illnesses | 8:34 | |
are healed and restored to wholeness. | 8:39 | |
Tell John about the woman who'd been subject | 8:42 | |
to bleeding for 12 years. | 8:44 | |
Tell John about the time I visited Peter's house | 8:47 | |
and how I healed Peter's mother-in-law. | 8:50 | |
Go and tell John how the poor hear something good | 8:53 | |
being preached to them about their lot in life. | 8:56 | |
Tell John how those who are held captive | 9:01 | |
are hearing the good news of their release. | 9:05 | |
Report these things to John, and let him decide for himself | 9:09 | |
whether I am the one who is to come | 9:15 | |
or whether he should be looking for another. | 9:17 | |
On the one hand, these words of Jesus | 9:22 | |
do not answer John's question with absolute certainty. | 9:25 | |
Many people have performed miracles | 9:29 | |
in the history of Israel. | 9:31 | |
Elijah had cleansed lepers | 9:33 | |
and raised a dead boy to life in Second Kings. | 9:35 | |
But on the other hand, the deeds that Jesus | 9:39 | |
wants John to know about recall the promised kingdom of God. | 9:42 | |
They are words that John and other Jewish believers | 9:47 | |
may have heard before from the prophet Isaiah. | 9:49 | |
What Jesus has been doing in his ministry | 9:53 | |
has been very similar to he who is foretold of | 9:55 | |
by the prophet Isaiah. | 9:59 | |
Jesus deeds of healing the sick, | 10:01 | |
raising the dead, and proclaiming the good news to the poor | 10:04 | |
sound like the sort of things | 10:09 | |
that will take place in Isaiah's vision | 10:10 | |
of a state of universal righteousness. | 10:13 | |
A state of universal justice. | 10:15 | |
Universal wholeness and peace. | 10:17 | |
And as John's disciples were leaving | 10:21 | |
to deliver their report, they heard Jesus identify John | 10:22 | |
as the prophet promised by Isaiah. | 10:27 | |
Well, after all this, | 10:33 | |
what then causes John's uncertainty? | 10:36 | |
What causes the uncertainty | 10:40 | |
that each of us feels from time to time | 10:41 | |
about who Jesus is and what he does? | 10:43 | |
What makes us, | 10:46 | |
people who boldly proclaim our faith in Jesus | 10:48 | |
as the Messiah, what makes us question | 10:51 | |
whether he is the one, | 10:53 | |
or whether we should be seeking something or someone else? | 10:55 | |
How does John move from being | 10:59 | |
the vigorous preacher of repentance | 11:01 | |
to being a questioning doubter? | 11:03 | |
What makes John wonder if he | 11:06 | |
should be seeking someone or something else? | 11:09 | |
In a Peanuts comic strip, Lucy is speaking with Linus | 11:14 | |
at the base of a hill. | 11:18 | |
Lucy says to Linus, someday I'm going over that hill | 11:19 | |
and find the answer to my dreams. | 11:24 | |
Someday I'm going over that hill | 11:27 | |
and find hope and fulfillment. | 11:29 | |
I think for me, all the answers to life | 11:32 | |
lie beyond these clouds | 11:35 | |
and over the grassy slopes of that hill. | 11:37 | |
Linus removes his thumb from his mouth, | 11:41 | |
points towards the hill, and responds | 11:43 | |
perhaps there's another little kid | 11:47 | |
on the other side of that hill | 11:48 | |
who is looking this way and thinking | 11:50 | |
that all the answers to life lie on this side of the hill. | 11:52 | |
Lucy looks at Linus, then turns toward the hill | 11:57 | |
and yells forget it, kid! | 12:00 | |
(congregation laughs) | 12:02 | |
Lucy felt like all that she ever | 12:04 | |
sought in life was someplace else, | 12:06 | |
and John the Baptist has a similar feeling. | 12:09 | |
Is this it? | 12:13 | |
Is Jesus the one? | 12:15 | |
Or should I look someplace else? | 12:18 | |
Perhaps John raises this important question | 12:22 | |
because in his mind, and in the minds | 12:24 | |
of so many other Jewish believers looking for the Messiah, | 12:26 | |
there simply is not a neat fit here | 12:30 | |
with the standard Messianic expectations | 12:32 | |
and with the sort of stuff that Jesus | 12:35 | |
is reported to have been doing. | 12:37 | |
John and other Jewish believers | 12:40 | |
were expecting a Messiah who would | 12:41 | |
exterminate wickedness in all its forms. | 12:43 | |
This meant that the sinful elements in Judaism | 12:46 | |
would experience a wrathful rejection, | 12:48 | |
and that the political forces | 12:51 | |
that restricted God's people would be overthrown. | 12:53 | |
But alas, Jesus was no Jewish Caesar. | 12:57 | |
In John's view, Jesus was supposed to be | 13:02 | |
in the process of carrying out the final judgment | 13:05 | |
of making sure that the axes laid to the root of the trees, | 13:09 | |
and to burn every tree that does not bear fruit. | 13:13 | |
What sort of Messiah goes around | 13:17 | |
teaching in the corrupt synagogues? | 13:19 | |
What sort of Messiah heals every disease and infirmity? | 13:22 | |
What sort of Messiah preaches a gospel of reconciliation | 13:26 | |
to enemies, and to those who persecute God's people? | 13:29 | |
Jesus is just not turning out to be | 13:34 | |
what John and others had in mind. | 13:37 | |
Sometimes Jesus does not turn out | 13:40 | |
to be what we have in mind. | 13:42 | |
What John the Baptist needs, | 13:45 | |
what my former parishioner Robert needs, | 13:48 | |
what Sarah needs, what my friend Greg needs, | 13:52 | |
what we all need is a new understanding of the Messiah. | 13:57 | |
We all need a new understanding of | 14:02 | |
what sort of work the Messiah does, | 14:04 | |
how the Messiah does that work, and most importantly | 14:06 | |
with what sort of people he does that work. | 14:11 | |
Yes, even today with those who have been in the church | 14:15 | |
for years, there needs to be a redefinition of what it means | 14:17 | |
for Jesus to be our Messiah. | 14:21 | |
We need to know that Jesus preoccupied himself | 14:24 | |
with people who were marginalized. | 14:27 | |
He spent his time with those who could do | 14:30 | |
little or nothing for themselves. | 14:31 | |
He hung around with the rejects of his time. | 14:34 | |
He taught against a conventional wisdom, | 14:37 | |
encouraging his followers to not take up arms | 14:40 | |
and retaliate against those who persecuted them. | 14:43 | |
This Messiah even taught his followers | 14:47 | |
to turn the other cheek, | 14:50 | |
to bless those who curse you, | 14:52 | |
to pray for those who mistreat you. | 14:55 | |
Talk about, you talk about unmet expectations. | 14:59 | |
Talk about things happening the way no one would expect | 15:03 | |
or predict them to happen. | 15:07 | |
I used to always hear my grandmother say | 15:09 | |
that God's plans never make any sense to any of us, | 15:11 | |
and basically because they're not our plans. | 15:14 | |
None of the prophets, not even the greatest of them, | 15:18 | |
were able to discern just what God would do | 15:22 | |
or how God would do it. | 15:25 | |
Even John the Baptist was taken aback by Jesus. | 15:27 | |
Everything about this man Jesus | 15:31 | |
from his birth to his death, was out of sync | 15:34 | |
with what was expected. | 15:37 | |
This person who was supposed to be | 15:40 | |
the promised Messiah of the world | 15:41 | |
was born in a stable, in a little unimportant village | 15:44 | |
nestled in the hills. | 15:47 | |
Few people took notice of his birth, | 15:50 | |
and for nearly 30 years of his life | 15:53 | |
we know very little about him. | 15:55 | |
Is this really the one who is to come? | 15:58 | |
Or should John and the others look for another? | 16:01 | |
If the one you're looking for resembles this strange Jesus, | 16:06 | |
then look no farther. | 16:10 | |
If the one you're looking for tries to convince you | 16:13 | |
to go against your sinful human nature | 16:15 | |
and forgive those who mistreat you, | 16:18 | |
then look no further. | 16:21 | |
If you're looking for the Messiah, | 16:23 | |
then look no further. | 16:26 | |
Jesus announces that those who are able to | 16:29 | |
redefine their image, their expectation, | 16:31 | |
their view of what the Messiah ought to be like | 16:35 | |
will receive a blessing, but there is no blessing | 16:37 | |
for those who insist that Jesus | 16:41 | |
match their own expectations. | 16:43 | |
There is no blessing for those who impose their views | 16:46 | |
of what the Messiah ought to be like upon Jesus. | 16:50 | |
There is no blessing for those who do not allow | 16:54 | |
the Messiah to give them a new point of view, | 16:57 | |
a new way of looking at life, | 17:00 | |
a new way of living based upon God's model for our lives. | 17:03 | |
Are you the one who is to come, | 17:09 | |
or shall we look for another? | 17:12 | |
Are you the one Jesus? | 17:16 | |
Can you come and give strength to our weary feet | 17:20 | |
this advent, this Christmas? | 17:22 | |
Can you come and restore some of the joy | 17:26 | |
we've known in years past? | 17:28 | |
Are you the one Jesus? | 17:32 | |
Can you come and restore sight to our eyes? | 17:35 | |
Can you heal our blurred vision | 17:40 | |
and help us to see what it means | 17:42 | |
to be one of your followers? | 17:44 | |
Are you the one Jesus? | 17:47 | |
Can you come and restore hope to our hearts | 17:50 | |
this special time of the year? | 17:53 | |
Can you come and restore wholeness to all those | 17:56 | |
who have been hurt and broken? | 17:58 | |
Are you the one Jesus? | 18:01 | |
Jesus might answer this question | 18:05 | |
with a question to each of us. | 18:08 | |
Are you the one? | 18:10 | |
I live in you. | 18:13 | |
You are my body in today's world. | 18:15 | |
It is through you that I can touch people's hearts, | 18:18 | |
bring wholeness to their brokenness, | 18:21 | |
and set them free to love and be loved. | 18:23 | |
With your hands, I can reach out to those who are lonely. | 18:27 | |
Those who will spend this season | 18:33 | |
and every other season by themselves. | 18:34 | |
With your words, I can comfort the grieving. | 18:37 | |
The child who will spend this holiday season | 18:42 | |
and every one after this without her father. | 18:44 | |
Today on this third Sunday of advent, | 18:49 | |
Jesus is asking this same question of each of us | 18:52 | |
that John the Baptist asked of him. | 18:55 | |
Are you the one who is to come, | 18:59 | |
or shall I look for another? | 19:02 | |
How will you answer? | 19:05 | |
Will you tell Jesus to keep looking? | 19:07 | |
Or to look no further? | 19:10 | |
Amen. | 19:12 |
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