Christmas letters are strange birds that carry good news and bad. I read of adventurous trips and children blessed, along with a deadly siege of pneumonia and a crippling fall followed by months of rehab. Not the former litany of triumphal wins and public prizes, there is a growing thread of humility and appreciation of small things this year. I wonder if this is the way Christ comes again?
On this third Sunday in Advent, we find John the Baptist questioning the very essence of his ministry.* Now imprisoned by Herod, facing torture and probable death, John sends this plaintive message to Jesus: Are you the one? Or must we wait for another? Did I mistake the message? Or the messenger?
John had spent his life preaching in the wilderness, predicting a terrible judgment on those who did not change their ways. Although he recognized Jesus as the promised one at his baptism, John must have wondered when Jesus was going to take action, bring on fire and sword to create God’s intended new order. John’s disciples confront Jesus with the question that all must ask: Are you the one? Is this the way?
Jesus points away from himself: some blind people now see; a few of the lame now walk; the poor have a place at the table. Jesus reminds John’s followers that these are signs of God’s reign. The evidence is sparse and not at all reassuring. This new order seems to be spreading in small ways, through marginal people who reach out for help, and not through apocalyptic events that topple systems or punish the powerful. I wonder if John could hear?
Then I open another Christmas letter, and find there good news of great joy, for one who was crippled is now able to walk, and another one has found a job that will pay her rent. Quietly, one at a time, good news ripples in beneath the cacophony of political discord which is designed to keep us in a state of fear and numbness. Perhaps this is exactly the good news we are waiting for if we have ears to hear.
- What expectations might you need to understand in a different way?
- Where has your life been touched by grace this year?
–Marjory Zoet Bankson, editor of InwardOutward.org
