“GAUDETE 2023”
Saint Matthew 11: 2-10
Gaudete: 17 December Anno Domini 2023
Fr Jay Watson, SSP
John the Baptist had leaped in the womb—before he was even born—at the presence of Messias; at those things he “hear[d]” if not saw, by the voice, the Magnificat, of The Blessed Virgin. John had been catechized from the very beginning by his father, the Levitical Priest Saint Zacharias, by way of the Benedictus Canticle. Instructed from the start in what God had prepared for him to do. John was “more than a prophet” and he knew it. In the “fullness of time” he began preaching and teaching the coming Kingdom of God, the imminent arrival of The Way! John prepared that way by preaching: “repent and believe,” by baptizing the Judeans (and everyone else that came to him by The Holy Spirit) for/to the forgiveness of their sins.
Every bit as inane and insulting (possibly blasphemous) to chirp out “did Mary know,” is to question John’s faith in Messias; to wonder re: his knowledge of just Who his Kinsman was!
“What went ye out for to see (hear)” in this morning’s text? John having doubts? John being frightened? Oh, The Baptist was a sinner, to be sure, but a soft man clothed in soft garments frequenting king’s houses? No! No, St. John is not like you fearful, anxiety-ridden, complaining, selfish, greedy, and resentful. And you are not like The Baptist—you are rather like two of his disciples. Too often you look to the wrong solutions, answers, and “saviors.” The Law asks you the question, and often convicts you of your faithless answer: “are you offended in Me; of Jesus?”
Lutherans growing up in prosperous (until recent times) post-war America are used to success, goods (mammon), and the promises of happiness. That is, they are totally ignorant of Scripture and the lives of the Saints and Martyrs, men like John. We even find ourselves occasionally turning Jesus into a Christian Conan the Destroyer, to be our almost “Goliath-like” champion to defeat all the things we dislike in the political realms and geo-political landscapes. As Advent draws closer to its fruition, Christ will return as the ultimate Warrior King…but not quite yet.
Jesus is The Lamb. Jesus is the lowly, uncomplaining, and suffering servant. He continues to do all the janitorial and labor intensive (Those Stone Tablets are heavy) duties you refuse to do and do not do. He continues to be the one Whose “stripes” heal you, and whose “sacred head now wounded” replaces your sinful head and John’s decapitated head.
So, quite clearly, you all are the two disciples of John sent straight to Jesus. But He is not visibly present like in Matthew 11. So, John the “messenger” directs you to The Message, Christ The Word—In The Word, and in The Sacramental Word. It is in Scripture and The Supper that you behold God’s face and have your “way” prepared for The Way; The Truth, and The Life.
We do get weary. From time to time our faith is weak; we are compassed about by a sea of troubles, trials, and temptations. Things do not go well for us and our own. We tire of manna and we chafe under the hot burden of our old natures and the pain of life under the cross. We desire “our will” be done—glory, or some glory.
But that is not Christianity. Christ’s Way is that God’s will be done. You receive Christ Crucified, and that means you too are crucified—life under the tree—the true Christ-Mass tree.
So, you do ask Him “the question,” not only “who do men say that I AM,” but also “art Thou He that should come, or do we look for another?”
I will show you—by “telling you,” as faith comes by hearing. You do know that Dr. Luther said that when a preacher preaches, it is Jesus Who preaches. Luther was correct. Let me answer you: “Jesus answered and said unto them,” unto them Augsburgers: what do the Scriptures say? And, what has been done for you? Because Christ went into the wilderness you have been deposited here in the green pastures. Because Christ had a reed placed in His hand by the mocking Romans; was smacked on the head with the reed; and was given vinegar to drink on the end of a reed [Mt. 27. 29-30, 48] John the Baptist was no “reed shaken with the wind.” And neither will you be fickle and delicate paper mache manikins, but rather lively stones.
You who were blind in the darkness of unbelief have been given sight by He Who is light of light, as David says “…a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path” [Ps. 119.105]. You who were cripples, hobbled, deformed, and by broken old-Adam skeletal bones, can now leap like the hart and walk in the land of the living—the Redeemed. The fetters are broken. You who were puss-sacks of moldy and cancerous leprosy—pieces falling off like Satan’s sulfur crumbs, now are + Baptized into Jesus. Your flesh is as fresh and pure and undefiled in the eyes of The Father because He sees you in The Flesh of His Son—and His Son’s flesh is in you. Baptized, yes! You had your ears opened and death clean and routed out of your spiritual ear canals. You hear the voice of God telling you of His love for you and His forgiveness of you.
Jesus lives. He is raised from the dead to die no more. This is the gospel preached to you—you will be raised again also and given the “life of the world to come.”
You seek no other. This is He Who came and Who comes now, for you!
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
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