What Do You Hear and See?

December 16, 2007 John P. Wilkinson

A friend of mine told the following story:" I served a rural church as a student. In reading the minutes of the church council some years ago, I came across the following: Elder Smith recommends we hire Mr. Johnson as our student minister. He has a background in music and a history of outstanding youth work. Music and youth are two areas of church life where we need improvement.

Eighteen months later there was another entry: Elder Jones made the motion that we fire Mr. Johnson, our student minister. The man spends too much time working with the kids in the church and it seems all we do is sing during the worship service. We need more preaching and someone to work with the older people."

Mr. Johnson didn’t know what to expect from his church council. He tried to please them in one area, and they changed their expectations of him. John had the same problems with Jesus. John had preached that the Messiah was coming, he told the people to repent, or they would go to hell. But, then Jesus comes and his preaching is one of compassion, and John doesn’t know what to expect. SO, he tells his disciples to go to Jesus and ask Jesus if he is the one, if he is the Messiah, or should we look for another?

John had doubts about who Jesus was. As he sat in jail, he struggled with what he had heard about Jesus. He questioned, he had doubts, he wondered.

He might be thinking, "Lord, where did I go wrong? I said what I thought you wanted me to say. You told me that Messiah was coming. But where is he? Where’s the fire, the ax, the judgment he’s supposed to bring? And why, if he’s here, would he let me stay in this place? I thought I knew my cousin pretty well. I remember that day in the Jordan when I baptized him. What a glorious day. I knew it was all beginning then. But, where is he now? Why isn’t he doing what I said he would do? Is he really the one or should I look for another?

What Child is this who lay to rest on Mary’s lap sleeping? What child?

Wondering, having doubts, is that okay? Do we shy away from these questions of doubts? As Christians do we say doubts, questions of faith are wrong?

Paul Tillich points out that God does not stand aloof, apart from our questioning; rather God is in the struggle of doubt, making himself known through it. Doubt therefore is a vital part and element of the faith which justifies.

In the book, "A sign in the straw" Richard Hoefler asks, "Who of us have not cried out with John, ’Are you the Christ, or shall we look for another’? When life gets tough and we see innocent people suffer. When we face a world locked in the death grip of one meaningless war after another; when we witness the destruction of nature as greed and desire for comforts drain the earth of her natural resources; who can help but cry out, ’If you are the Messiah, why this? Must we, shall we, look for another?’

He asks again, "When will we learn that faith does not have all the answers? Faith is a risk. Faith is a life of trust, not of certainty and security God never promised answers to all our questions or promised life without stress. He promises and gives only himself, with all the dangers and risks of personal encounters."

He states further, "Our hope? Not faith without doubt, but faith within doubts. Not the answers we possess but who possesses us. We may doubt God, but God never doubts us. We may not know God but He with absolute certainty knows us. This is the gospel. This is our life. This is the love that will never let us go."

So John had his doubts, he wondered, but he did not stay with those doubts, he sought answers. He sent his disciples to ask Jesus if He was the one!! If He was the Messiah.

And look at the answer Jesus gives. He says: "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

Frederick Buechner says the following in his book, Peculiar Treasures: "Where John preached grim justice and pictured God as a steely-eyed thresher of grain, Jesus preached forgiving love and pictured God as the host at a marvelous party or a father who cannot bring, himself to throw his children out even when the spit in his eye. Where John said people had better save their skins before it was too late. Jesus said it was God who saved their skins, and even if you blew your whole bankroll on wild living like the Prodigal Son, it still wasn’t too late. Where John ate locusts and honey in the wilderness with the church crowd, Jesus ate what he felt like in Jerusalem with as sleazy a bunch as you could expect to find."

Jesus did not fit John’s expectations, but He said loud and clear through His actions that He was indeed the Messiah. The world was changing, God’s great plan of salvation was unfolding in the world, and John did not understand at first.

I wonder what John thought when his disciples did return with the news about Jesus? Did he now believe with certainty that Jesus was the one? Did he see the gospel of salvation unfolding upon the earth? Could he sense the hope, the life, the salvation that Jesus was bringing to all people? I hope so.

But some people cannot see God’s redeeming work in this world. They cannot see the changes that people make.

My friend Ed Johnson also told me of a Christian education committee meet he attended that someone remarked: "If God would take one of the town’s down-and-outers and change that person over night, it would do more to convince us of his presence than anything I can think of."

And Ed remarked, " What about Bob."

Bob had been an alcoholic, and he had drunk himself out of a job, a family, and the town’s respect. Then a new priest was assigned to the parish. He and Bob struck up a friendship, and through his influence, Bob started going to A.A. meetings, soon he was sober. After 3 years, Bob was back at work, back with his family, back in church. When I knew him 10 years later, he was a leader in the community, a lay reader in his church, and a successful businessman."

God had been working, redeeming in Bob’s case, but because it happened over a period of years, people missed it. But indeed, God dealt with Bob as a whole redeemed person, redeemed his soul, his relationship with his family, his job, and his relationships with everyone in town."

God is indeed redeeming the world. Sometimes it is in front of us that we cannot see the forest for the trees. We must stop look, feel and experience God’s redeeming work all around us.

And sometimes, God uses us to do that work. Sometimes He uses us in the most unassuming way. In the mere presence, the touch of a hand God uses us to redeem people and situations.

For example: Joseph Baylys wrote a book entitled The View from a Hearse after he experienced the death of 3 children. He says this: "I was sitting, torn by grief. Someone came and talked to me of God’s dealings, why this happened, and of hope beyond the grave. He said things I knew were true but I was unmoved, except to wish he would go away. He finally did and someone else came and sat beside me. He didn’t talk, or ask leading questions. He just sat with me for an hour or more, listened when I said something, answered briefly, prayed simply, left. I was comforted. I hated to see him go."

Mr. Baylys recognized God in the presence of his comforter.

What Child is this who lay to rest on Mary’s lap sleeping?

The Savior, the Messiah!!

Amen