Jesus is the one: wait for him

Readings

"Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?" The Baptist's question is the question of many people who have put their faith, their trust, and their hope in Jesus.

Matthew kind of gives away the answer when, even before posing the question, he refers to Jesus as "the Christ." "Christ," of course, means "Anointed." Anointed in the anglicized Hebrew is Messiah.

Jesus answered John's disciples knowing that, as the seal of the Old Testament prophets, the Baptist would surely know the prophets. Our reading from Isaiah, to which Jesus refers, is a Messianic prophecy. Hence, John would grasp that, indeed, Jesus "is the one who is to come."

But how much comfort was it for the imprisoned and doomed Baptist to have Jesus' Messianic identity confirmed? It's impossible to say, really. It seems likely that it was at least some small comfort for him to know that his ministry, which is what led to his predicament, was not in vain. I would be remiss not to note that Jesus' answer did not rescue him from jail nor spare him execution at Herod's command.

This brings me to my point: Jesus saves us through our experience, not from it. It's one thing to generally believe that God is at work in the world and in your life. It's another thing to experience for yourself just how God is at work in whatever circumstances you face.

Experiencing how God is present and active in your life, especially when things seem bad, is vital for anyone who would follow Jesus. Having such an experience might well make the difference between keeping and losing faith. No doubt, many have lost faith in God because they feel God broke faith with them, let them down, didn't answer their plea, failed to meet his/her expectations, or perhaps even seemed to crush expectations.

I am not being harsh on people who've not experienced God's way of working in and through experience. Doubting God is something virtually every believer, maybe even including John the Baptist, does at some point. Doubting to the point of giving up belief is a temptation most serious Christians face at one time or another. Maybe it's because someone wants a result s/he is not getting. Overall, I attribute this to our desire for the peace, hope, joy, and love that we celebrate successively on the four Sundays of Advent.

"You too must be patient," the scripture exhorts. Hope is perhaps best expressed as patience with God, with his means and methods of making all things work together for your good, which can sometimes seem like the opposite.

St. John the Baptist in Prison, Visited by Salomé, possibly by Guercino, 1591-1666

We experience the peace, hope, joy, and love God gives through Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit through what we experience, not in some other way. In other words, God meets you in the ordinary circumstances of your life. Along with faith, hope and love are theological virtues. As such, these are gifts from God. Peace and joy are fruits of the Holy Spirit. Hoping and loving in times of difficulty produce peace and joy. This is the witness of so many saints, including Mother Mary and John the Baptist, and our Lord himself.

In his second letter to the Church at ancient Corinth, Saint Paul states this rather forthrightly:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and God of all encouragement, who encourages us in our every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God. For as Christ’s sufferings overflow to us, so through Christ does our encouragement also overflow (2 Corinthians 1:3-5)

Keeping faith, even when all seems dark and there appears no way out, is what it means to hope. You see, hope kicks in when optimism runs out.

Hope is not optimism. If nothing else, hope not only permits but is strengthened by lament, doubt, and even anger at the way things are (in the awareness things could be different, better). "Joy comes when the sun rises, dispelling the darkness. At dusk weeping comes for the night; but at dawn there is rejoicing" (Psalm 30:6).

Advent is about waiting for the light to dispel this present darkness. Advent prepares us to celebrate the dawning of that "new and glorious morn" at Christmas. The promise in our readings today does not come from our Gospel reading. Instead, it is found in our first reading:

Those whom the LORD has ransomed will return
and enter Zion singing,
crowned with everlasting joy;
they will meet with joy and gladness,
sorrow and mourning will flee

Jesus is the Christ, the one who ransoms us, opening for us the gates of Zion. Wait patiently for him, not another.