“Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”
Is this a word from a renowned skeptic? Is it a word from someone who only distantly knew Jesus?
No. These are the words spoken by John the Baptist’s emissaries who were reading aloud a letter John had sent to Jesus from the prison cell where Herod Antipas had chained him.
It’s so sad for me to think of this sentiment coming from John.
John, whose own predestined purpose as forerunner to the Messiah, was announced by Angel Gabriel, to his father Zachariah at the altar of God.
John, whose mother Elizabeth was Mary’s cousin, and who rejoiced about their miraculous pregnancies together in the months leading to delivery.
John, who led a movement of repentance in the wilderness, convincing the people from every part of society that they should repent and turn around.
John, who proclaimed there is one stronger than I, who is coming after me, and I am not worthy to stoop and untie his sandals. His winnowing fork, separating the wheat from the chaff, will be in his hand, and he will baptize with fire.
But now…
“Hey Jesus, John the Baptist wants to know if you are the One who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”
I wonder if John’s question is asked after months of torture in Herod’s dungeon. I wonder if John’s question was asked after being waterboarded, or subjected to shock, or extreme cold, or lashes.
“Hey friends, can you check in with Jesus? Is he going to make a Messiah move? Where is that winnowing fork? Where’s that baptism with fire? Can you make sure he is the One who is to come? I don’t know how much longer I can hold out here.”
I’m not really sad about John expressing doubts. I’m sad thinking about the kind of experiences of suffering John had been going through that could lead to doubt.
I’m sad because it reminds me of the times some of you, and sometimes I, have had things so knocked out of whack in our lives that all our old confidences have vanished, all our certainty and sense of refuge—gone. Messiah, where are you?
Uncertainty happens, and it especially hurts when it’s driven by suffering.
Maybe it was the combination of the suffering he was facing in prison, coupled with some of the sporadic news he was getting, about Jesus’ work, that left him wondering. From what he was hearing Jesus was just traveling around Galilee, teaching mostly.
This wasn’t the Messianic revival and triumph that John was expecting. Maybe John would have been more patient, waiting for Jesus to move in Jesus’ time, but John could tell time was running out for him. This political prisoner thing was dicey.
And Jesus responded by saying, “Go tell John what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight. The lame walk. The lepers are cleansed, the poor have good news brought to them, and Brittney Griner was released from a Russian prison forced labor camp.”
Tell John this: The President of the United States of America, in the middle of wartime, cared enough about this black woman–this black lesbian married woman; this black married, lesbian woman with lots of tattoos; this black, married, lesbian woman with lots of tattoos and who got caught in a “drug charge”–that he negotiated with arguably the most offensive despot currently on earth to get her released.
Tell John that this President got Brittney Griner released while the despot is carrying out a grotesque war that is dehumanizing on so many fronts. And yet, the President managed to humanize this situation, and have a human interaction with the despot, without disrespecting the nation that is being invaded by the despot.
Tell John that the despot assumed he could sow ongoing division in the United States by arresting and targeting this “poster child” of every polarizing issue that would further disrupt the political and electoral process of the United States.
Tell John that this despot went from making fake Black Lives Matter social media platforms to forcing a nation to ask if this particular black woman’s life mattered. And his efforts didn’t lead to polarization, instead, overall, it led to support and concern for this black woman.
Tell John that the nation largely stood beside Brittney Griner. Tell John that Brittney Griner’s wife was honored and listened to, and worked carefully with the White House, and joined the President and Vice President in the Oval Office for a moving speech at the news of Brittney’s release.
Tell John that a married lesbian woman speaking in the Oval Office is hardly news now. That God’s kingdom must be coming, for up on Capitol Hill, Democrats and Republicans just worked across the aisle to protect the marriage of these two women with federal legislation after a few rogue judges threatened to undermine it.
Tell John that Vladimir Herod-Putin is still holding tight to his Cold War human action figures, as if they are worth gold. But you can bet that the people of Russia, when they learn of the choice of who and what is of value, will love the new world where Brittany Griner is more valuable than an arms dealer from the underworld.
And tell John that the United States, and even the international community, were already familiar with Brittney Griner because women’s sports have been elevated so much from even a few years ago, that she was a household name, a hero especially to young girls and to the LGBTQ community.
Tell John that. Ok. Tell John that.
As John’s disciples prepared to head back, but before they did, Jesus stopped and spoke a beautiful and affirming word about John.
Tell John, “Blessed is he who will not be scandalized by this order of choices, who will not take offense at me.” I imagine Jesus adding, “and I know that this will be John’s perspective as well. He’ll appreciate this order of things, even from his chains.”
He then turned to the crowd and said,
“You know, I love John, and I loved everything about him, way out there in the wilderness. So many of you went out to be with him. Was he a reed shaken by the wind?” (Herod’s coins, by the way, had a reed on them. The people often critiqued him, like we critique politicians today, pointing to that reed and saying “his opinions shake like a reed the moment the political winds start to change.”)
“Did you go out and find a ‘fair weather friend’ when you went out to see John? No! Did you go out to find a rich man dressed in soft robes of royalty? No! You went out there looking for a prophet, and that is what you found. You found a real messenger, a real vehicle to prepare the way.”
And Jesus went on, “From the days of John’s arrest, and until this very day in Advent 2022, the kingdom of heaven, the in-breaking kingdom of heaven, has suffered violence and the violent are always trying to take it by force.”
“You may not get out, John.”
Just because there are these incredible signs, just because Brittney Griner was released from prison, does not mean that violence is gone. Her release is a sign that the last are first. It’s a sign that the kingdom is here, and yet it is still coming. But it’s not complete.
Friends, we know that John didn’t get out. John’s story ended in a meaningless, cruel, mockery-ridden murder—and he deserved none of it.
We are not told how John reacted when his disciples showed up with the news of Brittney Griner’s release. What I imagine is John’s eyes welling up with tears, and him slowly nodding, ”Yes, Jesus is indeed the One we’ve been waiting for. Jesus Christ is the Messiah of God!”
God is indeed visiting the world with love—good for Brittney! Good for Jesus! Good for the arrival of the kingdom of God! Thanks be to God! Amen!
Adapted from a sermon preached at the Reformed Church of Highland Park, New Jersey, Sunday, December 11, 2022
