If you want to know who God is start with this psalm. The Lord sets the prisoner free, the Lord opens the eyes of blind, the Lord upholds the widow and the fatherless, the Lord loves the righteous. And we, as those who love the Lord, are to keep the faith and fight for justice for the oppressed and feed the hungry. Over and over again in scripture we are given this task and told who God is. But I must admit that I often think of these as actions of Jesus and not so much God. That is because we came to faith looking at everything after Jesus arrived. Through the lens of Jesus. But the Psalm sets me straight. Yet for people in Jesus’ time, they know these acts are the essence of who God is. They know the Lord opens eyes, sets people free, loves the righteous. So when they are trying to determine if Jesus is the Messiah, the one they have been waiting for, they use this as the measuring stick. READ Matthew 11:2-11
One of my favorite books as a child was by PD Eastman entitled, “Are you my Mother?” Published in 1960 as part of the Beginner Books series, it was about a baby bird who hatches and goes on a humorous quest to find his mother, asking various animals and objects along the way, “Are you my mother?” Each would respond with something to the effect of, “I am not your mother, I am a dog,” for example. Each time the baby bird would move on, still looking for the one. The story speaks of our need for belonging and care and the basic connection of family. The closing lines capture it all. “Just then the mother bird came back to the tree. ‘Do you know who I am?’ she said to her baby. ‘Yes, I know who you are,’ said the baby bird. ‘You are not a kitten. You are not a hen. You are not a dog. You are not a cow. You are not a boat or a plane or a snort. You are a bird! And you are my mother!’”
Just like the baby bird had to rule out many things before finding his mother, the people had to determine if Jesus was the One or if they should look for another. You see the baby bird was trying to find the one who would teach him how to live, how to fly and how to be in the world. The people who encountered Jesus wanted to know if he was the one they should follow, the one who like God cared for the oppressed and gave sight to the blind. That is why John the Baptist, while sitting in prison, asked if Jesus is the one who is to come, the one they had all been waiting for. John is asking Jesus, “Are you the One?” “Are you my spiritual mother?” Do your actions match what we know the Lord does?
Jesus answered John’s question saying, “Go and tell John what you hear and see.” Now we are back to the list of who God is. Do Jesus’ actions match the list the psalm gave us about who God is. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, people are healed and raised from the dead, and the poor receive good news. Not a perfect match but it tracks with what Jesus taught the disciples in the last chapter. “Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast our demons” (10:8). Pretty close. Interestingly, it is in this moment, when Jesus gives the disciples the power to do all these miraculous things, these actions of God, that Matthew names the disciples. Not when Jesus called them, but when Jesus empowers them to do the work that they and WE are called to do in the name of Christ. We are to know Jesus is the Messiah by the signs and acts he does, and we as followers strive to do them as well.
It might seem strange that John the Baptist is asking this, when earlier (3:3) he is the prophet who is proclaiming Jesus as the one. Yet it speaks of the fact that the entire community is asking this very important question. One commentator writes, “John’s question—“Are you the one…?”—resonates in our present time (too). As ICE raids, detention centers, and mass deportations terrorize communities, many are asking: What is the good news for our times? How is God delivering God’s people in these fear-filled times? Such realities and questions invite us to consider how we, as communities of faith, can respond. How might we be present with those seeking the Messiah in the midst of incarceration, family separations, and uncertainty?” (Working Preacher, Karri Alldredge). Accompanying people to their court appearances, something I was trained to do last month, or bearing witness to masked people arresting our neighbors are some ways we can respond. Groups have formed to do just that.
Jesus said, “The poor have good news brought to them.” This means more than simply sharing good news with the poor. In the Greek it means “literally, that the poor are gospelized. They don’t just receive good news. They experience it. This reflects the long list of actions Jesus has just named. Those most vulnerable in society—like John in prison—receive the gospel not only through words but through actions and community relationships. Caring for those who are most vulnerable, oppressed, and ostracized is a sign of living out the good news, just as Jesus did throughout his ministry” (Working Preacher, Karri Alldredge). When we care for those in our community, when we serve the needy like providing showers and sheltering those without homes, they experience the good news and are gospelized. I love this term because it makes sharing the gospel a verb, a doing. And Jesus answered John’s question with all the ways he lived the gospel and did the actions of the Lord.
“In the wonderful story of Alice and Wonderland one of the characters is a lock. The Lock is very restless and cannot be still for a single moment. It is obviously hunting for something as it looks behind every rock and tree. As Alice watches the lock, her curiosity is aroused and she asks, “What is the matter?” The lock replies, “I am looking for something to unlock me” (Sermons.com, John Thomas Randolph). The good news is the key that unlocks many of our social concerns. When people experience God’s grace and are gospelized then our community begins to heal, one person at a time.
After Jesus confirms his Lordship with his caring actions, Jesus asks the crowds why they followed John into the wilderness? By claiming John the Baptist as the one Isaiah foretold, the one preparing the way, Jesus is connecting the dots. Jesus acts like the Lord by giving sight and caring for the oppressed, but identifying John, claiming John, as the forerunner to his ministry helps Jesus proclaim his own Messiahship. Jesus claims John as a prophet to help Jesus proclaim he is the One. Then Jesus says John is the greatest born of a woman, but there is a twist. The least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John. Wait, what? But that is where we come in. When we know Jesus is the One and live our life in service and seeking to gospelize those we know through love and care, we can be greater than John. To be honest I would be thrilled to simply be great enough to serve alongside Jesus. I don’t need to be greater than John. Just on the team. Then you and I can be ones who follow Jesus, ones who do what Jesus calls us to do, ones who become great in faith and action.
Everyone wanted to know if Jesus was the One, the Lord, the Messiah. I want to know if you are one who follows Jesus? One who does what is asked by feeding the hungry, helping the oppressed, faithfully following? In the children’s book I love, much of the story was figuring out who was not the baby bird’s mother. But the journey led the tiny bird to a wonderful reunion. The moment he discovered his mother and found his place, his home, his peace.
That is what Advent is all about. We discover once again that the child born in a manger is the One God chose to open our hearts to God’s grace. Emmanuel, God with us. As we anticipate the arrival of baby Jesus, we are opening our hearts to receive the One, the Lord who dwells with us through the incarnation. “How can we better become the ones who embody the good news, challenging societal injustices? How do we empower our communities to collectively continue Jesus’ ministry, bringing about liberation and glimpsing the kin-dom of God.” (Working Preacher, Karri Alldredge). Having found our spiritual mother, how are we, you and I, the one? Amen.
