(A video link to this sermon is below.)
When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask Him, “Are You the one who is to come,or should we expect someone else?” Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you 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. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” (Matthew 11:2-6)
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That question from John the Baptist – passed to Jesus' through John's own disciples – strikes home with me for some reason. John (Jesus' own cousin according to Luke's Gospel) clearly wasn't convinced about Jesus: who He was, who people were saying He was. Clearly, John thought it was possible that his cousin was the Messiah – as hard as it was for him to believe that. I mean, I have a lot of cousins – none of whom I would take seriously if they claimed to be the Messiah! Nor would they take me seriously if I made the claim! But John was torn. He had his expectations about the Messiah, and Jesus hadn't really been living up to them apparently. But there had been a lot of exciting and dramatic things happening around Jesus ever since He appeared – so, well, maybe. John has never struck me as a shy guy, or a guy reluctant to speak his mind, but in this particular case he was reduced to asking (in what I, at least, think was a rather hesitant and uncertain tone): “should we expect someone else?” It's as if he was saying “Wait a minute. You're it?” Yes – just a tinge of hesitation; maybe a dash of disappointment; certainly a good helping of uncertainty. “Are You the one Who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
So - what do people say today when they think of the church? “This is it?” Truthfully, people have been asking that for a long time when they think about the church. I've quoted Mahatma Gandhi many times – because his words are so challenging to us and so thought provoking to us – or at least they should be: “I admire you're Christ, but you Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Then there's John Wimber – the founder of Vineyard Christian Ministries. The Vineyard is a sort of hyper-charismatic Christian denomination. I have a lot of differences with the Vineyard in terms of theology, but I know where Wimber was coming from when he started it. He actually began by attending the Church of England when he first came to faith. And after a while he finally went to the priest and asked “Where's the stuff?” “What stuff?” the priest asked. “The Jesus stuff – like in the New Testament.” At least Wimber understood that we're supposed to reflect Jesus, and he understood – like Gandhi – that we often don't do a very good job of that. When John sent his disciples to challenge Jesus about who he was, and to ask “should we be expecting someone else?” Jesus pointed to everything that had been happening in His life and ministry: “Go back and report to John what you 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.” There had been healings, there had been resurrections and there had been proclamations of good news since Jesus appeared on the scene.There had been no rebellion against Rome, which is what many people had been expecting of Messiah, but there had certainly been a lot of signs that this Jesus was something special.
What of the church? What are the signs that accompany we who claim to be the followers of “the one who is to come”? I'm not sure that our presence is supposed to be demonstrated by exactly the same signs as those that accompanied Jesus. I'm certainly not closed to the possibility of miracles. But I do think that some Christians are too quick to claim miracles – and the fact is that if miracles are as common and happen as easily as they do at a Benny Hinn Miracle Healing Service then – well – they really wouldn't be miracles, would they? A miracle has to be something out of the ordinary; something unexpected; somehting that seems impossible. Too many Christian ministries are too quick to jump on the miracle bandwagon and too reluctant to let their miracles be confirmed. But that's an aside. I don't deny the possibility of miracles, but I'm not sure that those things (the “stuff” that John Wimber talked about) are necessarily supposed to be the signs that accompany the presence of the church, and that point others to Christ. But I do think that the ministry of Jesus guides us and tells us how we ourselves, as the church, are supposed to proclaim the presence of Jesus and the appearance of Messiah in our midst.
Jesus healed the sick. “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear ...” is how Jesus defined this part of His work. We, of course, read these words and assume that the reference is only to their physical healing. But I think not. I don't discount that Jesus could do such things. But there was more going on than just physical healing. Jesus was restoring these folks to their place in society. The sick, the disabled, the blind, the lame – they were often outcast in Jesus' day. They were generally reduced to begging at best. They were shown no respect and the thinking was that they were deserving of no dignity. They were looked down upon. As a church, I'm not sure that we can easily heal physical afflictions. Miracles happen, but there are enough sick Christians that we have to understand that they are miracles – and they don't happen as often as we want them to. But we can welcome people who've been cast out into the circle. We can show people respect. We can offer people a sense of dignity. And we can do that no matter who we're talking about. We do that by treating all people – whatever their walk in life, whatever their socioeconomic status, whatever their lifestyle choices might be, whatever their sexual orientation is – with the dignity and respect that all people deserve, simply because they are beloved of God. When we are able to do that, then people will know us!
Jesus raised the dead. “... the dead are raised ...” He said – offering this as a sign to John the Baptist. The dead don't rise very often. Sometimes the dying get better, but the dead don't get raised very often. There are stories ... rumours ... accounts of such things ... but usually unverified. And should we expect to do that anyway? Or is our calling – our sign to the world – to restore life to those who have chosen for whatever reason not to live it. The church can offer hope to those trapped in behaviours or patterns that suck life away. We can raise the dead in our own way when we reach out to drug addicts or alcoholics – whose very addictions are ways of escaping life – and off them to hope of God; a God whose love can fill whatever hole causes a person to turn to addictions or destructive lifestyles in the first place. When we are able to do that, then people will know us!
Jesus proclaimed good news to the poor. It wasn't necessarily those living in poverty. It was perhaps the poor in spirit. The point is that Jesus went to those who had the most need. Does the church? Or does the church content itself with those it knows well? With those it knows won't rock the boat too much? With those who have something to offer back to us? What Jesus did for the poor was to offer them practical hope – with not just words but actions. He proclaimed the grace of God and He lived it out by standing with the poor and the oppressed, and giving up status and privilege. The church can do that. The church can stand up and be heard on behalf of the poor and the marginalized and the outcast. The church – in its earliest incarnation according to the Book of Acts – was such a place, where all were treated as equals and there were no distinctions of class or judgments to be made. And people responded to that vision. The church today can proclaim good news by offering the vision of a community (and a world) where all truly are equal – certainly equal in God's eyes, and certainly equal in our eyes – and by welcoming all into our midst. When we are able to do that, then people will know us!
“... should we expect someone else?” was what John the Baptist asked of Jesus. It might be what many people ask about the church today – especially if they don't see us going about the business of Jesus!
Video Link: Will People Know Us?
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