Father Gary’s Sermon

Inspired from Matthew 11:2-11

Proclaimed on December 12, 2004

Some time back Charles Shultz published a Peanuts comic strip in which Lucy is talking to her younger brother Linus. As she stands pointing to a distant hill she boldly declares, “I’m going to tell you something I’ve never told anyone before. Do you see that hill over there? Someday I’m going over that hill and find the answer to my dreams. Someday I’m going over that hill and find happiness and fulfillment. I think, for me, all the answers to life lie beyond those clouds and over the grassy slopes of that hill.” Linus, as usual, provides her with a provocative thought, saying, “Perhaps there’s another little kid on the other side of that hill who is looking this way and thinking that all the answers to life lie on this side of the hill.” Stunned with such a thought, Lucy shouting toward the hill proclaims, “FORGET IT, KID!”

Advent is that time when we stand facing that hill dreaming of better things. As we read the Scriptures we hear the prophets painting verbal pictures of the other side of the hill. Metaphorically, they spoke of the deserts being watered, accompanied with abundant blooming. They shared the dream of one-day humankind beating their swords into plowshares and learning warfare no more.

This too was the task of John the Baptizer in our Gospel reading today. He was the first prophet to the Hebrews in over four hundred years. He spoke of the present world order as coming under the judgment of the Lord. Indeed, he predicted the imminent coming of the Messiah who would bring in a new world order. The Romans would be driven from their nation. Israel would become the center of the civilized world. However, something was not going as planned. Now he sat in prison believing that his life was about to come to an end. Jesus, who he thought was the Messiah whose coming he had predicted, was giving him doubts. He was wondering if he had somehow misunderstood God. Would he die having lived a lie? Had he given up the very lucrative life of a Temple priest to be a threadbare false prophet? He sent some of his disciples to Jesus seeking answers to his doubts.

Jesus did not take offense at John’s concerns. He seemed to understand John’s disillusionment. The answer that Jesus gave John’s disciples was the simple fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophesies in his ministry. The blind had their sight restored, the deaf could hear again, the lame could walk, lepers were healed, the dead were raised to new life, and hope was being restored to the poor. He indeed was the promised messiah. Blessed were those who did not despise him.

We are not told how John responded to the answer of Jesus. On the other hand, Jesus had nothing but the highest praises for John despite his doubts. But greater would be those that followed who discovered the Lordship of Jesus in his utter failure on the cross, along with God’s approval and endorsement of his ministry in the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ. In essence, despite their disillusionments, how much greater are they who can receive the Lordship of Jesus when we find that he is not what we expected.

This certainly applies to us today. Are we any different than Lucy or John the Baptizer? The truth be told, the answer is a very definite “no.” We too tend to look for what lies on the other side of the hill, only to find it less than what we expected. Anyone who has been married knows of this feature of human reality. It is a very common experience of every newly wed to enter marriage with stars in their eyes, only to one day wake up with their mates asking themselves who the stranger was lying next to them. While the other’s body may be the same, something about them seemed terribly wrong. The same experience also occurs between a parish and their new priest. Initially everyone pins all sorts of hopeful expectations on the other. Such is certainly true of us. A year ago you were so excited to receive me as your new rector. Now you are having second thoughts. I am not what you had hoped I would be. However, it is not one-sided. I too have experienced painful disillusionment. This parish is not even close to what I had imagined. So here we are! The good news, however, is that this is normal. It happens in all relationships.

Indeed, as John the Baptizer came to be disillusioned with Christ, so the same is true for us. Jesus continues to evade our fondest hopes. How often I come across the newly baptized and confirmed as they begin to experience the beginnings of their disillusionment. Initially they think of the sacraments of the Church in magical ways. Then their faith comes upon difficult times. The sacraments no longer seem effective. It has happened to all of us. Part of the healing comes in discovering that we are not part of a nice, neat creation, set in motion by a loving God, but rather we are immersed in a mutinous world where rebellion against God is the order of the day. Indeed, we are part of the mutiny. In essence, the sacraments do not bring us heaven so much as they provide the power to transform us in the here and now.

As Jesus responded to John, so he responds to us. The sacraments do bring us into the presence of our Lord, but they do so by destroying our illusions, while empowering us to transform the present realities about us. Our hope, therefore, is in a Savior who is often not what he seems. On the other hand, he is a Savior that is always present!