( Matthew 11:2-10 ) - [ Deutsch ]
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"Now, just kiss her already!" I want to shout into the television. Impatient anticipation of the happy ending wells up within me. What I am waiting for is about to happen, both in the movie and in real life.
As one grows older, these desires undergo changes. Even in old age, one waits for opportunities to redirect life in a different direction.
I want the chance to start anew finally. This is a wish that you surely know from your own lives. Waiting for something new to begin. Waiting – also in Advent. Day by day, another door opens on the Advent calendar. A sweet
preview of the grand celebration. Children can hardly wait for Christmas Eve. Every year.
Waiting. It is often unbearable. Advent – a time of waiting. Because someone was supposed to come...
"Someone was supposed to come." This thought doesn't leave John's mind. Restlessly, he paces back and forth in his cell. His situation seems hopeless. Confined, set firmly in place, condemned to wait. Time is running
out for him. Rumors reach him through the thick walls. Rumors that Jesus is traveling through the land, healing individuals, celebrating feasts, drinking wine, sitting at the table with tax collectors and sinners, and
speaking about the love of God.
Could HE be the one they've all been waiting for in Israel? That's not how he imagined it. "Prepare the way for the Lord." Indeed, he had done that.
His entire life had been lived for this, alone in the desert. Calling for repentance, announcing God's judgment. Selflessly. But now: where was God's kingdom? If it was indeed Jesus, shouldn't he intervene and
establish order with a firm hand? Where was the salvation for all, and where was his own salvation? And would he live to see it? Herod, the brutal ruler, had imprisoned him. His execution was only a matter of time.
"Come on, Jesus, get moving. I don't have much time left. Someone was supposed to come, is it you?" John wants to know.
I read the sermon text. It is in the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 11, Verses 1-6:
1 When Jesus had finished giving instructions to his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.
2 When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples
3 to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
4 Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see:
5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.
6 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me."
Dear congregation,
"Are you the one who is to come?" That is the only question occupying John's mind. But Jesus responds differently than expected. He doesn't say, "Yes, it's me, don't worry, John, everything will be fine. Happy ending." No,
what he says is only what everyone can already hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the
poor. This answer is different from what John hoped for.
Perhaps you know this from your own life: situations where things turn out so differently than you expected. Disappointing. But repeatedly realising:
someone has overturned my plans.Has God intervened? If so, then certainly not in the way I expected.
Trapped in my own little cell, I start to reflect. I'm frustrated that I am so powerless against all of this and don't hear the soft knocking on my door... Jesus is coming. Sure, he comes differently than I expect, but he comes.
The blind see again, the lame walk. Jesus wants the world to be different from what it is. In his own way! Often, there are no grand, spectacular actions to be seen. He doesn't march with drums and trumpets. He doesn't
bring fire and sword, doesn't forcefully break the chains – like a superhero.
He comes – differently than expected – to you and me. He wants to renew the world. Person by person. The blind see, the lame walk, the leper is cleansed, the deaf can hear again, and the good news is preached to the
poor. And blessed are those who are not offended by me.
These are small miracles when people emerge from darkness into light, from loneliness back into community. When the sick regain new courage.
When mourners overcome the death of a loved one and turn back to life. When people draw new strength to shape their lives and not just wait.
Jesus is coming. He heals what is broken. He brings light into despair.
"Open your ears, open your eyes. Hear and see." That is Jesus' assignment to John's disciples: go and tell John what YOU hear and what YOU see. What WE hear and see. The big and small things. It doesn't
happen without us and our own experience with God.
Where we listen and look, there God's kingdom begins. (Verses 7-10)
7 As John's disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind?
8 If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings' palaces.
9 Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
10 This is the one about whom it is written: 'I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.'"
John was a messenger of God who was supposed to prepare the way for Jesus. The way of Jesus to us, the way from us to Jesus. Being a pathmaker is often arduous. It means preparing people for the presence of
Jesus. That things don't have to remain the same as they always were.
That there is hope coming, which sometimes shakes things up and questions them. But the path leads to the happy ending. We are all pathmakers of Jesus and witnesses of faith.
We don't just sit and watch until other people finally kiss in the end. It should happen among us. It could be like this: we encounter each other and try to understand what moves the other person. The kingdom of God
begins where we initially accept the other person as they are. We comfort people for whom everything seems hopeless. We tell of our own hope. We open eyes and ears and help people get moving. Toward the one who is
coming toward us in Advent. It could be like this, and it is already happening: small miracles among us. It happens that we all prepare the way for the Lord. Like John. The way to us, because that's where he wants
to go. And he wants to stay there.
Amen.
