Sermon  11.2-11

Each year in the UK over 154 million Christmas crackers are pulled (and just as many bad jokes are read)!

Between us, we Brits eat 308 million slices of turkey, we listen to Christmas songs 460 million times and around a billion Christmas Cards are bought each year.

The British people spend around £4.9m on Christmas nights out during the festive season and over £19 million on presents with each UK household spending an average extra £500 every December – all these big numbers, all the excitement building up.

You can almost feel it – you can almost taste it – you can almost touch it. Christmas Day is less than a fortnight away!

For most people Christmas is a time for excitement in some form or another. Whether the excitement is because we can’t wait to celebrate – or we’ve got some friends or family coming to visit that we haven’t seen in a while – or like me, you get a bit of time off work. There is usually some reason for joy and excitement.

But what happens after Christmas is over? It’s back to normal – sort of.

Some of us step on the scales and realise how much we’ve overindulged. We look at our credit card statements and realise how much it’s all cost and we wonder was it worth it? Did it meet our expectations? Did Jesus coming at Christmas match the excitement? Do the benefits outweigh the costs?

That’s the question before John the Baptist today. Did Jesus’ coming to earth match the excitement that John had built up?

Did the cost of following Jesus outweigh the benefits? Jesus, you know – the one who John claimed would come after him and that would baptise with fire. The one coming after him whose sandals he said he was not worthy to tie – the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Who is so important and exciting that “I must decrease so he may increase”.

But now in our gospel reading today – we find John languishing in prison and he starts to reflect on what it’s all cost him. Not his credit card – not his waistline – but his freedom.

 And so, from jail, John sends some of his disciples to ask Jesus – “Are you the one who is to come, or should we wait for another?

Now why would John ask that?  Well, it’s because Jesus didn’t turn out to be all John expected him to be. John had become so bold believing Jesus would “cover his back”. He called the Pharisees and Sadducees a “brood of vipers”. He seemed to insult Abraham – remember he said “don’t think just because you’re Abraham’s children”.

But then he goes too far and criticises the King, Herod for marrying his brother’s wife and for that he finds himself in prison.

And Jesus? Well, Jesus was not following John’s expectations.  Remember, John said that the chaff would burn with unquenchable fire.  But Jesus didn’t seem to be pointing the finger of judgment against the evil doers.  This was a disappointment for John sitting in prison, awaiting his own judgment instead of his enemy’s.  Instead, Jesus is proclaiming forgiveness, healing the sick, bringing Good News to the poor.

 Was this really what Jesus was supposed to be doing?  Couldn’t anybody just do that? Are you the one who is to come? Or should I hope for someone else?

Sometimes Jesus said and did things that weren’t what people hoped for.  Like riding into Jerusalem on a donkey instead of in a chariot drawn by horses.

Sometimes Jesus says and does things that aren’t what we hope for.  Maybe at times we are tempted to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for someone else?” And, certainly, many have done just that- looked for someone or something else.

Each of us has expectations about the kind of Saviour we want.  Some want a judgmental Messiah who points out where everyone else is going wrong.  To punish the evil doers by locking them up and throwing away the key – with no second chances. Some of us want Jesus to back our favourite cause, a Messiah who will assure us that God is on our side on a particular issue. Or maybe we want a gentle shepherd who will not demand anything of us, but only tell us that he loves us.

Jesus will at times upset our expectations. But that’s when we have to remember to trust His words – “your will be done, not mine”.

John wondered if Jesus was really the one in whom he should hope.  Maybe Jesus wasn’t exactly what John was expecting: He did bring fire – but it was the fire of the Holy Spirit. He did seek out  sinners – but forgave them. He confronted the unworthy– but he confronted them with grace – like Zacchaeus – like the woman caught in adultery – like the Samaritan leper – like the demon possessed man called Legion – even an undeserving dog, the Canaanite woman begging for crumbs from his table.  Grace upon grace.

John the Baptist couldn’t see that grace for himself being locked away in his prison cell. And maybe, at times, it is hard for us to see God’s grace in our times of suffering. But it is there. It’s always there. Paul struggled too with his thorn in the flesh – praying three times to have his suffering removed with the response from God: My grace is all you need – my grace is sufficient.

There will be times when we feel let down by God, like John did. There will be times when we may feel like looking for another Saviour. But Jesus is the only one in whom we can put our hope. As Luke says in Acts 4 – there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among people by which we must be saved. Jesus Himself says in John 14 – I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus is the one who was promised by God. But it’s the mystery of God we don’t always understand.

Jesus himself struggled with this when he cried out from the cross – My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He was repeating the very words of King David – God’s most loyal subject who cried out words that John the Baptist could also have cried out: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.

Words that maybe you have cried out at times expecting more from God. But we heed the words of James today – Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.

 Just as Christmas Day is near, so too is the return of our Lord, as St Paul reminded us recently: Salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers;

So, friends, you don’t need to look for another saviour. Trust and have patience. Patience in a God who does not want anyone to perish, but loves you as His dear child. Jesus is the one we have been waiting for – Jesus is the one we continue waiting for. And in the words of St Paul: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.