SERMON 3 rd Sunday in Advent December 12, 2010 Isaiah 35: 1-10 Psalm 146: 5-10 James 5: 7-10 Matthew 11: 2-11 Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus, who is the Christ. Amen. Quite a few years ago, back when I was in college, there was a popular movie that came out that was filmed right here in Houston. It starred John Travolta and Debra Winger. It was called Urban Cowboy. Out of that film came a hit country and western song by the artist Johnny Lee, entitled; Lookin for Love. Listen to see if there is anything in your life that can relate to the words of this song in some way. The lyrics went like this: I spent a lifetime lookin for you Single bars and good time lovers were never true Playing a fools game, hopin to win Tellin those sweet lies and losin again. Lookin for love in all the wrong places Lookin for love in too many faces Searching your eyes, looking for traces Of what I m dreaming of Hopin to find a friend and a lover God bless the day I discover You, oh, you, looking for love.
I was alone then, no love in site I did every thing I could to get me through the night Don t know where it started or where it might end I d turn to a stranger just like a friend. It seems that in life, we are all looking for that someone or something to fill the void that is within us. In our single life we look for a mate someone to share life s joys and challenges. In our married life we look for the spark that once lit our relationship. In our work life we look for a job that gives us a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction, not to mention financial gain. In our material life we look for that one thing that will finally make us happy, whether it is a fancy car, a boat, a larger home, a newer kitchen. In our physical life we look for the quick fix the diet pill that will melt away the pounds with no exercise the face-lift, the tummy-tuck, the liposuction that will make us look young and shapely. In our spiritual life, we look for the one church that will meet all of our needs, the one devotional book that will give us inspiration, the worship experience that will make us feel close to God, the answer we want to a prayer request. But like the song lyrics, perhaps we are looking in the wrong places. The song talks about looking for love. And I think that this is the key. You see, if we get right down to it, all of these things I just mentioned don t mean a thing without love. Let me quote to you from St. Paul s first letter to the Corinthians: If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
You see, if we are really honest with ourselves, all we want out of life is to love and to be loved. When these two things take place, our looking is over. That brings us to our Gospel reading for this 3 rd Sunday of Advent. John the Baptist is in prison. He had already baptized Jesus and new that Jesus was, at the least, a prophet of God. But John still doubted. Should I quit looking? Have I found what I was looking for? John had heard some of the things Jesus was saying. But he wondered why there was no terror or urgency in what Jesus said, you know, like the prophets of old. Jesus was not preaching the wrath of God, the harsh judgment of God, as I had, thought John. So John sends his followers to go and ask Jesus; Hey, are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another? Listen to how Jesus responds; Go and tell John what you hear and 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. What John s disciples saw and heard was not the wrath of God, the harsh judgment of God, but rather the grace of God the love of God. For Jesus was saying that he has come not with the wrath of God to drive people away from God, but he was coming instead to attract people to attract them with love and with mercy. The theologian Frederich Buechner says the following in his book, Peculiar Treasures: Where John preached grim justice and pictured God as a steely-eyed thresher of grain, Jesus preached forgiving love and pictured God as the host at a marvelous party, or a father who cannot bring himself to throw his children out even when they spit in his eye.
Where John said people had better save their skins before it was too late, Jesus said it was God who saved their skins. And even if you blew your whole bankroll on wild living like the Prodigal Son, it still wasn t too late. Where John ate locusts and honey in the wilderness with the church crowd, Jesus ate what he felt like in Jerusalem with as sleazy a bunch as you could expect to find. Now this is not what the people expected of the Messiah. After all, even John did not know what to expect. You see, John might have been praying something like this: Lord, where did I go wrong? I did what I thought you wanted. I said what I thought you wanted me to say. You told me that the Messiah was coming. But where is he? Where s the fire, the ax, the harsh judgment he s supposed to bring? And why, if he truly is the One, would he let me stay in this filthy prison? I ve heard rumors about this one called Jesus. I thought that I knew my cousin pretty well. I remember that day in the Jordan when I baptized him. I knew it was all beginning then. Your whole plan to save your people was being put into play. But, where is this messiah now? Why isn t he doing what I said he would do? Is he really the one, or should I look for another? I think that John was having some doubts. But is it any different for us? Don t we too, sometimes have doubts? Is it wrong to question our faith? The theologian Paul Tillich points out that God does not stand aloof, apart from our questioning; rather God is in the struggle of doubt, making himself known through it. Doubt therefore is a vital part and element of the faith.
In the book, A Sign in the Straw, Pastor Richard Hoefler asks, Who of us have not cried out with John, Are you the Christ, or shall we look for another? When life gets tough and we see innocent people suffer. The bad so often succeed while the good fail. When we face a world locked in the death grip of one meaningless war after another. When we witness the destruction of nature as greed, and the desire for comforts drain the earth of her natural resources. When we choke on pollution and stumble over wrecked lives of people struck down by drugs and alcoholism; who can help but cry out, If you are the Messiah, why this? Must we, shall we, look for another? Hoefler goes on to ask; When will we learn that faith does not have all the answers? Faith is a risk. Faith is a life of trust, not of certainty and security. God never promised answers to all of our questions. God never promised life without stress. God promises and gives only himself, with all the dangers and risks of personal encounters. In a Charlie Brown cartoon, Charlie is standing on the pitcher s mound saying: We lost again. I can t stand it. I just can t stand it! Our losses are so meaningless! I think that s what bothers me the most. We get beaten and nobody even knows about it. Our games aren t even important. If you lose an important game, your loss would have meaning, but our games aren t even important. I think I ll go home and lie in a dark room. Sometimes, suffering, opposition and rejection makes us feel like our lives are also meaningless. It seems like we are looking for love in all the wrong places. In our turmoil, we ask our Lord: Are you really the giver of hope and peace, joy and love? In our suffering we question: Why are you not caring for us have you forgotten us? So you see, in times of despair, we too question our God, asking: Can you really save us? We look for something absolute upon to live out our lives.
But even Jesus answer in today s Gospel isn t a definitive YES. Rather, Jesus points to the liberating and life-giving activities which he performs. When we, like John, question Jesus and confront him with our doubts, we are not always given the proof we seek. Rather, we are pointed in the direction of the cross, and the one who was raised up on that cross for all the world to see. This is where our hope lies. Hoefler concludes: Our hope? Not faith without doubt, but faith within doubts. Not the answers we possess, but who possesses us. We may doubt God, but God never doubts us. We may not know God, but God with absolute certainty knows us. This is the gospel. This is our life. This is the love that will never let us go. Amen. May the peace that passes all understanding be with you now and for life everlasting. Amen.
How many of you have ever looked for something before? Maybe it was something that you lost. Maybe it was something that you wanted. Sometimes when people go shopping for a gift for someone, they don t really have any ideas as to what they are looking for. They say: I ll know it when I see it. In our Bible story today, a man named John the Baptist was in prison. Remember that he was telling people to quit doing bad things and to make room for God in their hearts. He then baptized Jesus in the River Jordan. Now he was in jail. He asked his friends to ask Jesus if he was the one who God had sent to save his people. They had been looking for the Messiah for so long, and they wanted to be sure that Jesus was the one. Now we have a big holiday coming up in a couple of weeks, can any of you tell me what that might be? Christmas. How do you know Christmas is getting close? Signs are everywhere, we see lights and decorations, packages arrive in the mail, we hear Christmas music, people are buying gifts, lots of traffic. Christmas is coming, but it seems like such a long time to wait until it s finally here! The people of Jesus time had been waiting for a long time for someone to help them. When Jesus finally came, did they need to keep looking? NO When Christmas morning finally arrives, do we have to keep waiting and counting the days until it s here? NO. It is then time to celebrate. As we wait for Christmas to come, we know that we have found the one that the world has been waiting for. Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior of our world. We don t have to keep looking. We have found God s son, Jesus. And that is why we celebrate Christmas. Let us pray God of love, thank you for sending your son Jesus into the world. Help us to follow him always, and share his love with others. Amen.