We sat in my office and talked about the many religions in the world. He was a very religious young man and wanted to get my opinion about why I had chosen Christianity with so many other possible religious choices available to me.
The religion he was describing to me in my office wasn’t one religion in particular. A very opened minded person, he had chosen certain parts of several religions as well as a few that I had never heard about and had woven them together in a way that made sense to him.
I had the distinct impression that he probably thought I was a bit odd for settling on one religious faith when I could have so much more.
How do I know that Jesus is the one, he wanted to know.
In our scripture reading from Matthew’s Gospel this morning, a man is behind prison bars and he is asking the question, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another.”
Isn’t this the ultimate Advent question? As we prepare for Christmas in this season of preparation, what better question is there for us to ask then this very question: “Are you the one, Jesus?”
In John’s day which was a time when Israel was under the military occupation of the Roman Empire, there were a couple of religious options within Judaism.
The first option was to follow someone who claimed to be the Messiah and who was willing to lead a violent revolt against the pagans who were ruling over the people of Israel. And this is what some of the people of Israel did around the time of the 1st century.
About 150 years before Jesus’ birth, Judas Maccabaeus led such a revolt against the Syrians who were controlling Israel at the time and he actually defeated them, at least for the next hundred years. By the way, it’s through Judas Maccabaeus that we have the present day holiday of Hanukah, also known as Festival of Lights which begins today and lasts through December 22nd.
A 2nd option for the people of Israel during this time was to compromise and accept the fact that they were under Roman occupation. “Don’t rock the boat” was the mindset of some of the Jewish people during this period, although that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t have wanted to be delivered from the Romans. It just meant that they felt this was their only option. Get along as much as possible was their thinking.
So, we can see why John, who is now in prison, would still be wondering if Jesus was indeed the Messiah and if so when was Jesus going to make his move against the Romans.
Things don’t look good when you’re behind prison bars. “Are you the one, Jesus?”
Maybe you have asked that same question at one point or another. Maybe you’re asking that question now as you look around at so much suffering and heartache in the world – “Are you the one, Jesus?”
A friend loses his job, and she doesn’t know how she’s going to pay the bills, let alone how she will buy Christmas presents for her kids. “Are you the one, Jesus?”
You’ve been working hard on a new project that you believed that God was calling you to do, and it doesn’t seem to be making any headway and you’re about ready to give up. “Are you the one, Jesus?”
A man who was in the prime of his life is struck down by a terrible disease, leaving behind a grieving family who now must learn to live without his wonderful guidance and support. “Are you the one, Jesus?”
You get another news alert and there it is again. Yet another mass shooting. “Are you the one, Jesus?”
Some people want to ask that question but are afraid to ask it because people might think differently of them if they do. So they don’t ask it. They keep it to themselves.
But John the Baptist asked it. The one who had prepared the way for Jesus out in the wilderness. The one who said, “The one who is coming after me is more powerful than I.” He asked it. “Are you the one?”
So, Jesus’ disciples come back to him with this question from John the Baptist. And Jesus’ answer?
“Go and tell John what you hear and see.”
That’s just like Jesus to put the question back on us, isn’t it? Do you think the disciples, who probably wanted to ask Jesus that very same question weren’t just as curious as to what Jesus would say as John the Baptist was?
Jesus says to the disciples, “Go and tell John what you hear and see.” And he quotes right out of their own Hebrew scriptures – Isaiah chapter 35. “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”
“We were expecting a yes or no, Jesus. And here you go quoting scripture?”
Sometimes a straightforward answer just won’t do. While a simple answer might satisfy us on a surface level, what really matters is that we experience the answer for ourselves.
Educators tell us that we learn best when we are put in situations where we experience the world around us rather than simply taking notes in a classroom, as important as that may be.
If I were to ever go church shopping, probably the most important thing I would look for is if they encourage people to ask questions about their faith and not expect everyone to believe in the same way. It’s when we allow ourselves to be curious and ask questions, that we can experience the most growth in our relationship with God.
This spiritual growth happens because it starts with knowing that it’s ok to ask questions. What was the historical context of when that particular passage of scripture was written? Who was the author? How would the original hearers of that scripture passage received it? What have been my biases in interpreting that scripture passage? What does that scripture mean for us today in 2025?
And often times, those questions about the Bible will lead to a deeper understanding and maybe even lead to more questions and to new possible perspectives.
How we approach the Bible and how we develop our theology around various understandings of the Bible can lead to sometimes very unsettling times along our faith journey. Sometimes, out of fear of change, I want to keep my questions to myself and pretend they aren’t there.
But then I think of our focus today and how John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus was willing to ask his very important question. And that’s actually a more biblical attitude than the simplistic view of “the Bible says it. I believe it. And that settles it.”
That simplistic statement always assumes that my interpretation of the scripture is the right one and the only one. But if we are humble enough, we will realize that maybe I have more to learn. Maybe there are more questions to ask. Maybe for a period of time, maybe even a very long time, I will need to live without the answers that I am asking.
I have always sought to encourage people to ask questions about the Bible, about faith, about theology, and about the church.
Speaking of questions about our faith, many of us have read about Mother Teresa and her crisis of faith as documented in the book, “Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light” written by Brian Kolodiejchuk.
The book reveals that Mother Teresa, over the last fifty years of her life, often did not feel the presence of God. It’s a controversial book because a lot of people have assumed that Mother Teresa had more faith in God than almost anyone else on the face of the earth.
But think of what Mother Teresa saw and heard. Starving children and immense and overwhelming poverty day after day, year after year, decade after decade. She saw a world that was inequitable, unfair in its allocation of life-giving resources, and an economic system that is often unjust.
And yet, it’s also important to remember what else Mother Teresa has seen. The day that Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peace prize was December 11, 1979 during in the middle of the Season of Advent.
And she said in her speech that the upcoming Christmas holiday should remind the world “that radiating joy is real” because Christ is everywhere – “Christ is in our hearts, Christ in the poor we meet, Christ in the smile we give, and in the smile that we receive.”
Mother Teresa reminded us that to be a faithful Christian doesn’t mean that we can check off all the right answers on some kind of faith exam. We can be joyful followers of Jesus when we live out our faith with the people around us, especially with the poor and the needy.
“Go and tell what you see and hear,” Jesus tells the disciples.
For now, this response from Jesus will have to do for the locust and honey eating man who is now behind prison bars. It will also have to do for the young teenage mother who’s been told that she has found favor with God.
And it will have to do for us on this third Sunday of Advent.
But here’s what we can do between now and Christmas. I encourage us to read through the gospels and notice all the times that Jesus heals people, cares for the poor, and raises people to new life. It’s a lot.
And whenever you read or see someone feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, and providing for the poor in Jesus’ name, that also just might be an indication that Jesus truly is the promised Messiah, God’s only Son, the Savior of the world.
