texts: James 5:7-10 & Matthew 11:2-11

Not Yet…

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John the Baptist is probably my wife’s absolute favorite person in the whole Bible… next to Jesus, of course! I have to admit that I don’t always understand today’s gospel lesson without a bit of extra work and study, …but I do this year.

John asked: Is it you, Jesus? Are you the one who is to come, are you the Messiah, or shall we continue waiting for another? This year, I understand waiting, and I understand John’s question. Is it time, Lord? When, Lord?

These last two weeks, I have probably said those two words more than anything else: “Not yet.” The fact that I’m up here today giving this message answers the question of whether our son is born yet. Nope, not yet. Actually, I’ve come to know that phrase pretty well for a number of years. Whenver I’ve introduced myself to new people, after all the normal questions about my job, or marriage, people very frequently ask about family or children, and starting about 5 years ago, my answer switched from “no” to “not yet.”

And starting about 3 years ago, I had an inkling that one day under some circumstance, I would preach this sermon with this title. Not yet. Not yet. Soon, but not yet.

There are some things that I am not good at. And other things I can do pretty well. I am usually very good at waiting. I get impatient like everyone else, but if things need time to grow, to change, to ripen or to gain momentum… in my own life or at church, I am usually pretty good at waiting, dropping hints, planting ideas, and then waiting. But not this year, not this month.

Every time the phone rings, every time I walk in my front door, or wake up in the morning, I am thinking about my future kid. When? Not yet. Is this the day. Not yet. For the first time since I was seven years old waiting for Christmas morning, it feels like time is just dragging.

But that is okay. I know it’s coming. I’m treasuring this, pondering it and holding it in my heart as much as possible. I know perfectly well that very soon everything will pick right back up to its impossible speed. Lots of you have told me so, and I believe you.

Not yet, it’s coming soon, but not yet.

So, I understand John and his question. Sitting there. He did all he could to prepare things for Jesus. His confrontations led him to those four gray walls of prison. He had nothing to do now but to wait and think and worry, and so he asked, “If you are the Messiah, when, Lord, when will you bring in the new kingdom? When will you start tossing the Romans out on their ears, and clearing out all the riff-raff from the Temple?”

I wonder what answer he was hoping to get from Jesus. Even though Jesus answered John’s specific question, I am positive that his answer left John still hopeful, but confused. Hopeful because Jesus was saying, “Yes… it’s me. Remember the promises of God and look at what I’m doing… blind people are receiving sight, lame people walking, lepers are cleansed, deaf people can hear, dead people are coming to life, and the poor are receiving the the good news. All of these things are happening just as God promised. In other words, yes, John: Jesus is the Messiah.”

We could continue to say the same things today. Jesus is already here. Miracles continue to happen. I am convinced of that by each one of you, every week Pastor Steve, Lydia and I hear powerful stories and works of the Holy Spirit happening right here in our congregation.

I see gifts arriving for our Christmas Hampers, I see the dedication of your church council president and lay leaders, the love and prayers and gifts and cards that all of you have been pouring on Pauline and me.

Physical and spiritual miracles are all around us. People continue to receive new vision. Jesus still gives us new directions in life, new ways of hearing, walking. He continues to give you and me new life, every day. He clearly is the Messiah. He is already here.

At the same time, we are still waiting. The last day, heaven, is not fully here, not yet. It is coming, but not yet. And so James wrote in our second lesson: “Be patient, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. Be like the farmer: plant seeds, believe, wait and expect, without grumbling, but with patience.”

John the Baptist lived and died in his own season of Advent. The preacher William Barclay once compared John to a true story about the old days, when street lights were lit by a lamp-lighter. There was a lamp-lighter, once, who was blind. He couldn’t see, but he knew his way to each lamp-post, and lit the street lights for all the others who needed that light to find their way. John lit the lamps, the way for us to see Christ. And he was put to death before Jesus died on the cross and was raised from the grave.

And in this season of “already, but not yet,” it is now our job, our responsibility to begin lighting lamps. It is our job to light the path for people and children and families who may be coming to worship here at Messiah Lutheran Church after you and I are gone.

I believe that the time is right. It is time for us, as a congregation in the New Year, to stop dividing ourselves, but to find ways, physically and symbolically to come together as a church family, with a single worship space, and a plan to grow.

We need to stop worrying about what we might be losing in the process, but instead concentrate on the things that are central in faith, and all that we can use and include. It is time for us to honor the work of all those who established this congregation, and built this church. It is time to honor God and the commission of Christ by doing what it takes to rededicate this building for the purpose of spreading the Word of Christ in a growing community.

Not for our sake. But, like John the Baptist, we work for the sake of those who need us now, and for the future, for those who come after us. Let’s begin talking now. Let’s keep it positive and constructive and patient. Perfection is not here yet. Heaven is still waiting for us. But in the meantime, we have the power and message of the Holy Spirit to guide us, hold us, and bring us together. And we have work to do.

I dedicate this message to the memory of John the Baptist.

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