Joy and Expectation

Isaiah 35: 1-10
Matthew 11: 2-11

At first glance, the passage in Matthew does not seem to have much bearing on the third week of Advent, the week that represents the joy of our coming Savior. However, John the Baptist is a lot like the rest of us and he was waiting for the Messiah just like we are today. John was waiting in a prison cell, when he hears about this man named Jesus who is doing great things and some confess him to be the Lord. But John isn't sure this man is truly the Messiah until he sends one of his disciples to make sure all of his expectations for the Messiah are being fulfilled because there are many that will come and try to pretend to be the Messiah and so John needs to be sure that this man is the one he's been waiting for his whole life. Just like John, we often allow doubts to creep into our hearts due to our expectations of what things should be like.

And so John sends one of his disciples to ask Jesus if he is the one who is to come, the one John has longed for and tried to prepare the world for over and over again. This tells us something very important. John, with as much knowledge and as much grace as God had given to him did not know if Jesus was really the Messiah. How are we to recognize Jesus if one such as John did not recognize him right away?

Jesus gives us the answer in this text just as he gives John the answer he seeks. Jesus looks at John's disciple and he does not tell him off or tell him to go back to John with mere words of "Yes, I am he". No, instead, Jesus tells the disciple to take a close look at what he is doing and report it back to John. He tells the man, "Report back what you hear and what you see."

There are a lot of false people out there. False prophets and false Christians and false charities, especially around this time of year. It can suck the joy of Christmas right out of us knowing how quickly and easily people are being scammed. Jesus understands our fears and our weariness. Jesus understands our lack of trust and our inability to put our faith in the mere words of another.

This is why celebrating Advent and Christmas is so important. It helps us to remember who we really are, and it helps us to regain our trust in humanity and in the gift that God has given to us. Christmas is not just a fleeting holiday for enjoying the flowering poinsettia before it fades. This is when we remember that we are not just parents, business people, or senior citizens. If you allow any job to define you, you will eventually be exiled from joy. Christmas is when we gather in homes and churches to remember that we are Christians who believe the word of the Lord will stand forever. We believe this Word became flesh and was incarnated to us in Jesus Christ. And we believe that means Jesus Christ stands with us – forever.

John the Baptist wanted to know before he died that the Messiah the world had been promised had finally arrived. He had great expectations for the Messiah just like the rest of the Jews did. They all wanted a Savior, but that savior took on many forms in their minds. Jesus still has that ability today because it has often been said that what we read and what we hear in the scriptures are what we expect from Jesus rather than what Jesus really is. For example, those of us that need a strong Jesus seek out the passages of him where he does not mince his words or actions. For those of us that need a gentle, loving savior we like to read about the Jesus who heals our wounds and offers comforting parables. Expectations can sometimes get us into trouble however.

I do not know who has a harder time with Christmas – those who expect it to be awful or those who expect it to be wonderful. In either case, it is the expectations that create the problem. Christmas is just the herald of good tidings. Do not get so preoccupied with what the herald is or isn’t that you miss the proclamation: “Here is your God. Standing right beside you in Jesus Christ.” In good days, in horrible days, or in ordinary days – that is our source of joy.

Don't you love to see people who are joyful? They have something that is different from happiness, which is more dependent on circumstances. They have joy, which emerges from the inside out, stays with them long after the holidays have faded, and allows them to work with delight.

But joy does not happen when we are caught up in our expectations of who Jesus is and who we are and what Christmas should or shouldn't be. On the news the other day, I saw a woman getting very angry at the idea that a blogger would talk about having a black Santa Claus instead of a white one. She even went so far as to say that Santa Claus came from the patron saint, St. Nicklaus who was from Greece and therefore white. She then went on to say that as we all know, Jesus Christ is also white.

I sat there for a moment, stunned and disbelieving as her panel of white peers did not disagree with her. Did not one of them realize that Greece back then is now what we call Turkey and Turkish people are brown skinned and therefore St. Nicklaus could not have been white? And did she not know that Jesus Christ was born in Israel, in Bethlehem and therefore could not be white either? And why did Santa Claus or Jesus'  skin color matter so much to her anyway?

She was raised with an expectation that they were white and to mess with that expectation took away  her joy and replaced it with fear. Fear causes us to say and do some awful things. The reason we spend four weeks anticipating the birth of our Savior Jesus is so that we can remove the falsities, remove the blinders, remove the unrealistic expectations in our minds and hearts and replace them with the hope, love, joy, and peace that is given through the birth of Jesus Christ.

This year, I want you to examine your heart. I want you to examine the expectations you have not only for this season, but for the coming year, and for yourself. What expectations are holding you back? What ideas do you have about your life and your church that keep you from doing something new? What fears do you hold in your heart that have you lashing out at others without thinking? Where has expectation removed your joy?

At Christmas, we who call ourselves Christians hear the incredible tidings that the Messiah has come to stand with us. That is how we find joy. And when we get clobbered by fear and unrealistic expectations, the joy is powerful enough to get us back on our feet again. That is because the word of God will stand forever.

May your Christmas this year be filled with all the peace and hope, love and joy that God has to offer you in the power of God's holy Word.

Amen.