Advent 3                                        Matt. 11:2-11                                                12/12/04

                                                         “Patience”

Patience is a quality most needed at this time of year.  Just drive on upper Peach St. at almost any hour of the day or night.  You wait for what seems like hours to get down the road and then drive around and around looking for a parking space at the shopping center or mall. 

Then there are the lines in the stores.  You need lots of patience, especially when you get behind someone who takes twenty items into the fifteen item limited line or have to stand behind someone who disputes the price of an purchase and you have to stand there while a clerk is called and sent to the department to check. 

If you are a parent you need even more patience as you answer the question, “Is Santa coming yet?”...for the twentieth time today.  It’s really hard for the children too.  Even tomorrow seems a million hours away and Christmas takes forever. 

“Is it time for Santa yet?”

 “Is it time for the Messiah yet?”  “Are you the one who is to come?”   Israel had been waiting a long long time for the Messiah promised by God to Abraham...to Adam even.  John had been told from birth that he was called to prepare the way, that the Messiah was actually coming and that he was to make the people ready for this wonderful event. John could be forgiven if he was just a little impatient.  He was sitting in prison, awaiting  execution.  He wanted to know for sure if he was giving his life in a worthy cause.  He wanted to know that this was not just another fanatic or imposter, that this one was THE ONE. 

We too may say, “Is it time yet?”  “Are you the one who is to come?”  We may not be thinking about the end of the world when we ask those questions.  We may be looking for One who can help us get out of the pain of grief, the limitations imposed by sickness, the stress of a troubling situation or the unhappiness caused by a broken relationship.  It’s hard to be patient when you are anxious and it’s hard to not be anxious in the midst of suffering.  We want to know, not just that relief will come someday – perhaps after death even – but that it will come soon.  We want assurance that the One we are called to trust will come and will have the power to save us.  Patience can wear thin in the face of suffering. 

It’s hard to not build our own expectations of what this Messiah, our Savior, will be like and do.  The people of Israel expected a mighty warrior king like David who would drive the enemy out of their country and lead the people to a time of prosperity and peace.  Since this is John the Baptist as Matthew pictured him, rather than Luke, it would seem that John has no prior knowledge or relationship with Jesus, so a Messiah who went around healing people and eating with sinners might not have met his expectations either. 

Of course, our expectations may run just the opposite way from those of the people of Israel and John.  Matthew wrote with a knowledge of Israel culture and mindset, so he would have John looking for a Messiah who would take over and save his people now.  We, on the other hand, coming from a “pull yourself up by your bootstraps, do-it yourself” culture may not expect a Savior who gets involved in our struggles.  We may feel we are on our own and have only our own resources to depend on. 

We hear then the same answer as John’s disciples, “Go and tell 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 the good news brought to them.” 

In other words, we need to look around us.  We need to look at the miracles happening  among people we know and we need to look at our own life histories to see how Jesus has touched us.  We also need to recognize that while Jesus did not cure everyone, all who call on Him will be healed.  This means that our healing may be something other than a change in the circumstances that are causing our suffering.  In any case, if we can look beyond our pain, if we can broaden our sense of what it means to be healed and if we can be patient, we will be given evidence that our Messiah has truly come and is with us. 

There is another important aspect to this story that we need to see.  Biblical interpreters argue whether John is expressing doubts when he asks, “Are you the One...?”  We have a tendency to idealize Biblical characters and this may rob us of important ways they can be models for us.   

If we take John’s question as an indication that he was experiencing doubt, showing a weakness of faith, expressing impatience, we can learn important lessons that we can apply to our own experiences.  First, the possibility that John doubted, had weak moments and became impatient, teach us that it is okay to experience those feelings.  They don’t mean that we are terrible Christians or that we are on a downhill road to losing our faith.  They definitely don’t mean that we committing some unpardonable sin, and risking our hope of heaven when we acknowledge and express them.  Bringing to conscious awareness and expressing how we feel – even our worst feelings – is the first step needed for Jesus to change our minds.  

John’s whole adult life was spent preaching repentance.  The word “metanoia” in Greek that we translate “repentance”  means “change one’s mind”  To be forgiven we must repent/change our minds about what we feel, think and do.  And to repent we must first have the courage to admit that we have wrong feelings, thoughts and deeds that we need to change.  Then, when we do that Jesus can send us the message that He truly is the One and has come to give us salvation.  And just as He is willing to patiently work with us, we need to patiently wait for Him and what He brings. 

Impatiently honking our car horns while caught in pre-Christmas traffic, fuming about fellow shoppers’ inconsideration, or giving in to frustration when a child asks for the umpteenth time, “Is it time for Santa yet?”, will not make our lives any more pleasant or even tolerable, nor will trying to hide our doubts and weakness of faith in the midst of suffering.  Patiently, being open to all of our experiences can lead us to experience wonders we can’t even dream of though.  Follow John’s example and ask Jesus to send you the answers you need and the ability to be patient.