December 14, 2025

Advent 3 Year A

Matthew 11:2-11 (and Isaiah 35:1-10; Luke 1:46b-55)

Epiphany, Winnipeg

1. John sits in prison, and he wonders if Jesus is really the one who is to come, the one who will set things right. “Are you the one who is to come, or do we just keep waiting?”

Earlier this week I was talking with someone about one of the readings from last week’s service. It’s that one from Isaiah about the wolf and the lamb lying down peacefully together. Isaiah was talking to people who are living in political uncertainty. Their nation is being pressured by their neighbours and it looks like war is on the way, or their country is going to be taken over. But in the middle of that Isaiah has a different vision: He paints a scene where the wolf and the lamb will lie down together, lions will eat straw, bear cubs and cute little calves will snuggle up together and their parents won’t mind; they’ll just graze together in a peaceful pasture. There won’t be predators or prey any more, and Isaiah thinks that applies to people and nations too. His final word? “They won’t hurt or destroy any more. They will be done with all that.”

So we talked about all this over coffee and they just said, “Do you think that will ever happen? Peace? And they won’t hurt or destroy?” We both knew that promises like that are so so far off. And I wanted to say, “Yes, it will, because God has promised it!” Sometimes I’m sure of that. Sometimes I feel like I have to say so because I’m a pastor and pastors are sure about these things, right? But both of us that day kind of shook our heads and wondered if all of that promise would ever come true.

We were sitting having coffee somewhere in Winnipeg, but on that cold Advent day we could have been sitting with John in prison and in our own way we were asking if Jesus is the one we’ve waited for, or do we just have to keep waiting? And how much longer can we wait?

If any of us have asked, “If God is so good, then why this?”, we’re in good company. “If God, then why war? If God, then why not peace; if God, then why poverty; if God, why nowhere to live; if God, why cancer; if God, why don’t I get better; if God, why does nothing change? If God, then why this and not that?” If we’ve asked that, then we’ve been sitting with John in prison, asking together If Jesus is really the one.

2. John used to be so sure. Maybe you remember hearing about John the Baptist. He was Jesus’ second or third cousin or fifth twice removed, or whatever. He and Jesus are family. There was a time when John spoke the truth boldly and didn’t back down. He was out there in the wilderness, and he didn’t dress or eat like and regular polite people would. He baptized people in the river, and told them to change their ways, and he confidently called out the religious leaders and said “Even you’ve got to change, or else!”

He seemed so strong, and he seemed so sure.

But today, all he’s got to say is, “Are you the one to come? Or do we have to keep on waiting?”

3. What happened to all that?

John had probably heard about the wolf and the lamb and the promise of peace before. And he might have heard what we heard earlier today from Isaiah, about a promise of weak hands made strong, and the blind seeing and the deaf hearing, and refreshing water bringing life to the hot dry desert. So much healing and refreshment and new life for a people who are struggling to survive. John would have heard all this before.

But here he sits in jail.

Jesus, are you the one? Or do we keep on waiting?

We spoke words this morning that were spoken by Mary, Jesus’ mom. Remember? “You, O God, have filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. You have cast down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the weak ones.” Mary sang this song when she was visiting her cousin Elizabeth, who was John’s mother. So maybe John had heard the story from his mom more times than he could count about when her cousin Mary came and sang about God overturning all the powers. Maybe John even got his hopes up. But now he sits in prison, thrown away by the powerful ones who sit on thrones. And he sends someone to ask Jesus if he’s the one. “Are you the one who will come to be with us? Or do we just need to keep on waiting?”

And what happens when Jesus hears that question? He doesn’t really give an answer. He just says, “Tell John what you see. That stuff Isaiah told us about and that my mom sang about? It’s happening.”

He just says, “Go and tell.”

And maybe that’s the hard part: seeing signs that all this is true.

So here’s our homework for the week. Look around for signs, even little little signs, that all that is promised is coming true. We might not see the dead raised or diseases healed this week, and we probably won’t see that world peace or an end to violence or an overheating world being refreshed and cooled and made healthy and whole. We won’t see the big picture all come true.

But there are signs. So look for small signs. Like good things that happen between people, like when people who can’t get along try to get along and they do, even if it’s just for a minute. Look for signs of nations working to be at peace, or that city that’s trying to end homelessness, or a place where the hungry are fed. Look for people trying to include and welcome instead of putting up walls and keeping others out. Look for signs, even small hints, of healing and life that show up in the world, around the corner right here. And then say, “Hey, that’s a sign that something’s happening. That Jesus is the one who’s coming, and these promises are coming true.”

And then tell someone. Tell a friend, e-mail your mom, put it on Instagram, tell the pastor…we need to hear it too.

If you’re the one who’s not sure, that’s OK. You’re in the good company of John the Baptizer, who sat alone in prison, where he’s not so sure any more. Are you one of the ones who is certain? Well that’s good! You’re in the good company of John the Baptizer, who was so strong and clear when he spoke in the wilderness. You’re in the good company of Mary, Jesus’ mother, who sang that song to her cousin Elizabeth, Elizabeth who later on told John again about that great song that Mary sang.

Or is it all clear to you one day, and then the next day you just kind of want to give it all up? Are you both of those things all at once? That’s OK.

4. Advent is a season that makes room for all of that. Advent calls us to be realistic about what is broken and hurting in the world, and it calls us to get ready and to wait – even with hope and joy! - for the one who is coming to bring healing and life and to make all things new. All at the same time.

So we sang a joyful song this morning about the wonder of Jesus’ coming. A traditional piece from Cameroon: “He came down that we might have love and light and peace and joy; Hallelujah forevermore!” And we sang it with gusto, we sang it like we meant it, we sang it with such conviction that we even moved our bodies! Because we know that it’s true. We’ve seen the signs.

Then we sang a mournful song around the Advent wreath. It’s an old Yiddish folk tune with new words that express the longing and the worry and the hope of all people: Light one candle to watch for Messiah…let light shine in the darkness. We sang it quietly, with such conviction, because we know that it’s true. We’re still waiting.

Next week we’ll sing “O Come O Come Emmanuel,” with all its longing and hoping and waiting and wondering and pensive and praise. And we’ll follow it all up with that voice from Cameroon again: He came down, already, that we might have life.

Advent gathers it all up, gathers us all up, with our sure and our doubting, with our praise and our lament, and it makes room for all that. We gather here, with all of those things going on inside and around us; we prepare for the one who is to come and we give thanks for that same one who has already come.

And we wait together for one who is called “Emmanuel”, a name that means God-with-us. We wait for one who is God-with-us, who was sometimes so certain but who knows what it is to worry and to fear. We wait for the one who is called Emmanuel, who has come and who will come to give us life, and peace, and joy. And light.