Gaudete – December 14, 2025Psalm 85; Isaiah 40:1-11; 1 Corinthians 4:1-5St. Matthew 11:2-11
In the Name of the Father, and of the +
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
As St. John the Baptist sits in prison
for preaching against the adultery of Herod, he sends two of his disciples to
ask our Lord a question, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”[1]
This question is full of mystery and meaning. Why is John asking this question?
Is he questioning if Jesus is really the Christ, the Messiah, come to take away
the sins of the world? Is he confused over what the job of the Messiah is? Or
is John trying to teach his disciples a lesson, to prepare them for his
inevitable execution at the hands of the wicked Herod?
We can immediately rule out the idea
that John is questioning if Jesus is really the Christ. It was St. John the
Baptist who leapt in his mother’s womb when the mother of our Lord greeted
Elizabeth for he knew his Savior was near.[2]
John was our Lord’s cousin and grew up around Him, being only six months older
than He. And in adulthood, St. John loudly proclaimed Jesus to be the very Lamb
of God who takes away the sins of the world; He whose sandal John was unworthy
to untie; the One who must increase that John might decrease.[3]
St. John saw the heavens opened as he baptized our Lord, and heard the voice of
the Father proclaim, “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.”[4]
Everything we know about St. John tells us that he is confident that Jesus is
the Christ, the very Lamb of God and the Promised Messiah.
There is, however, a good chance that
John is asking this question because he is doubting the job of the Christ. This
says more about St. John than it does about Christ. John is wondering if he has
misunderstood the Scriptures. Afterall, the Old Testament prophets speak of the
Messiah freeing the captives. Isaiah says, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon
Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has
sent Me to heal the broken hearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And
the opening of the prison to those who are bound…”[5]
And again, Isaiah says, The Messiah is given as a covenant to the people, “As a
light to the Gentiles, To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the
prison, Those who sit in darkness from the prison house.”[6]
And again, Zechariah says, “As for you also, Because of the blood of your
covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.”[7]
Here John is sitting in prison, and he
knows the Scriptures speak of the Messiah freeing the prisoners from captivity.
He must be asking himself, “Did I misunderstand the Scriptures? Is this Christ
different from the one who will free the captives? Will this one be the Lamb of
God and then we must wait for another to fulfill these other prophecies? What
gives?”
In this way, we can find St. John to be
very relatable. There are plenty of passages of Scripture in which God promises
wonderful things and yet our experience is different. Sometimes, we want to
clear up this seeming contradiction by simply spiritualizing everything we read
in God’s Word. “Freeing the prisoners just means freeing us from our sins.”
That is true in one sense. Especially the passage I read from Zechariah, “Because
of the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless
pit,” speaks of being free from the eternal consequences of your sin. The blood
of the covenant speaks of the blood of Christ, which, because it was shed on
the cross, has set you free from slavery to sin. This is most certainly true.
But if we are content with the
Scriptures only giving spiritual truths, then the moment we face tragedy,
disaster, poverty, or other great ills, there will be a strong temptation to
believe that God has no answer. The opposite is also true. If Scripture only
gives spiritual truths, then when we are tempted by sin, our pride will puff
up, believing that since God only cares about the Spiritual, our actions have
no consequence. God forgives me so it won’t matter if I give into this sin or
that sin.
St. John is humbly asking Christ to
clear up this confusion. The Scriptures say one thing, and I am experiencing
something entirely different. Why? God sometimes allows His saints to suffer so
that we would learn to rely on Him; that we would learn that God knows how to
care for us better than we know how to care for ourselves. This includes
learning not to trust our senses or our own experiences. St. John needs to
learn that imprisonment and even suffering a martyr’s death are not the worst
things that can happen to a man. The worst that can happen is to suffer
eternity in hell. And so, John’s faith needs encouragement. His soul needs
encouragement.
When Christ says, “Go and tell John the
things which you hear and see,” He is confirming for John that He is the
Christ, the promised Messiah, and those things that He is doing have effects
even in the material world, not just spiritual effects. The blind see, the lame
walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear. And these outward signs are
themselves pointing to the spiritual truth, that Christ has forgiven the sins
of these people. Just so, John will be released from prison. It won’t be the
way that John hoped. He won’t walk free to again follow Christ across Judea. He
will leave prison in a proverbial body bag.
But even this isn’t the end of the
story. John also will be released from the prison of the ground. His flesh will
be raised on the last day, reunited with his soul, and he will spend eternity
with Christ, seeing Him, hearing Him, and praising Him without end. Once again,
God knows better how to take care of His saints than we do.
To John’s credit, he already had some
idea that this was true. The translation of John’s question we read this
morning gets something wrong. John doesn’t ask, “Are you the One who is to
come,” but “Are You the Coming One?” That seems like a small difference but it
is important. Christ is not the One who came once, but the One who is eternally
Coming to His church. Baked into his question, St. John is asking if Jesus is
the One who not only came in the flesh but will continue to come to His saints.
St. John is fairly certain that he is going to die in prison, so he wants to be
sure that Christ is going to come for him in death and again come to raise him
from death.
So Christ gives John an answer which
says, “Yes. Not only did I descend into your flesh, but I will forever be with
you. I will come to you in prison. I will come to you in death. And at the last
day, I will come to raise you from the grave. There is never a time that I am
not coming to you. My presence is not a fanciful, spiritual ideal, but a
present reality, no matter what day or time you have in mind.”
And our Lord’s final words to St. John
this morning are “Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” This
offense is not hurt feelings or a bruised ego or hurt sensibilities over
manners. Offense in this context, like most of the times in Scripture, means to
loose faith, to fall away from the faith, to abandon the faith of the
Scriptures. Christ pronounces this beatitude on all who would not abandon their
faith because God isn’t meeting their expectations; on all who humbly approach
the Scriptures, realizing that any misunderstanding or seeming contradiction
exists only because of a failure on their part, not on the part of God. St.
John is truly blessed, as are you, for coming to Christ to say, “Lord, I
believe. Help my unbelief.”[8]
The final option I gave for why St.
John asked his question was to teach his disciples. This can be true even if
John is also asking for comfort for his own soul and clarity for his confusion
over the words of the Scriptures. St. John clearly confessed that he must
decrease as Christ increases.[9]
John does not want his disciples to make any mistake. His role of prophet was
to point people to Christ, not to gather followers to himself.
St. John was a good pastor. His
disciples loved him, even coming to take great care of his body once he had
been martyred.[10]
John’s chief concern was that his disciples not become “Johnnites,” but
Christians. He did not want them setting up shrines or praying to John after
his death, but to turn to Christ. And after the Ascension, John wants his
disciples to listen to other preachers who have dedicated their lives to
pointing people to Christ.
This Sunday is called “Gaudete,” which
means, “rejoice.” We light the rose colored candle in the Advent wreath as a
momentary break from the penitential nature of the season of Advent. The same
thing happens about halfway through Lent, on the fourth Sunday in Lent, when we
celebrate Laetare. It is funny that we celebrate the Advent Sunday of rejoicing
by reading of St. John sending messengers from prison.
At the same time, this is an incredibly appropriate reading for a Sunday of rejoicing. St. John is experiencing perhaps the worst chapter of his life. What does he do? He calls on Christ. And what does Christ tell him? “John, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. Though the kings and princes of the earth throw you in prison and execute you, they have no power over your soul. They have no power over your life. Live each moment knowing that your present suffering is nothing compared with the bliss of eternity which you have inherited through My Blood. Well done, My good and faithful servant. Soon, I will see your face in the kingdom of my Father.”
As we pray in the psalms, “One thing I
have desired of the Lord, that
will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the
Lord, and to inquire in His temple.”[11]
Christ assures St. John that this desire will be fulfilled in today’s reading.
He is also assuring you of the same. This place, here at the altar of the Lord,
you behold His beauty. And so long as you are not offended by Him, trusting
instead that He knows what He is doing, then you will one day see Him as He is.
Today, you see bread and wine with your eyes but the eyes of faith know that it
is the very Body and Blood of Christ. In the day of the Lord, He will no longer
veil Himself in earthly elements. You will see and behold Him as He is, even as
you are made like Him.[12]
What better cause is there to rejoice?
In + Jesus’
name. Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all
understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
