No Expectations; No Frustrations


Advent 6A/Matthew 11:2-11
Sermon
From time to time, believe it or not, I get frustrated.  And when I do, Andrea is quick to remind me, “No expectations; no frustrations.” It took me a long time to understand what she was talking about but when I finally got it, I realized she was right. When we go into a situation or encounter another person with our minds already made up about what it is we are going to experience, we set ourselves up for disappointment and frustration because rarely will our experience match our expectations. Sometimes, if we are lucky, the experience will actually delight us as it exceeds even our wildest imagination; but, other times, we end up feeling flat about the experience – or frustrated.
In today’s Gospel reading, John the Baptist is in prison and sends some of his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”[1]  The question can be puzzling at first because we know from the Gospel that John the Baptist, in fact, knew that Jesus was the One, the Messiah. When Jesus arrives at the Jordan River for baptism, John at first resists saying, “'I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?' But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.’”[2] So John the Baptist, at least at the time of Jesus’ baptism, was clear about who Jesus was.  So, I think that when John has his disciples ask Jesus if he is, in fact, the One, that it is a case of expectations being frustrated. Many people – perhaps John included – expected a Messiah who would overturn the Roman Empire and take back the nation for the Jewish people.  They were expecting a military leader; but instead they got Jesus – a man who would see to it that “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”[3] John the Baptist who has spent his prophetic career preparing others for the One who is to come, is now imprisoned and is perhaps questioning the work that he has accomplished. Was it all in vain?
Jesus response assures John that while Jesus is, in fact, the Messiah they were waiting for, his ministry is very unlike that which they were expecting. No expectations; no frustrations. Jesus came to create change for the oppressed. Jesus came to radically transform society, to help build up the oppressed by tearing down oppressive systems. And through his ministry – through what we hear and see – we are invited to participate in and, as importantly, to experience the radical transformation this entails. But if we come to this encounter with Jesus already set in our expectations, we may, like John, miss the surprise that is right in front of us. Christian living is a balancing act between knowing what we are looking for – the Messiah – and being open to surprise – that the Messiah may come to us in a way unlike anything we were expecting. And if we open ourselves in this way, what might we experience?
Years ago, I attended a spiritual retreat. I went to the retreat anticipating a time of relaxation and refreshment. Wow! Was I in for a surprise because what I got was a week of some of the most physically and emotionally exhausting work I’ve ever done. One day, they had us using plastic baseball bats to pound pillows that were on the ground in front of us.  Now, without providing you with much context, that may seem pretty silly AND, I admit that with context, it still seemed pretty silly – until several hours later, still pounding pillows, it was extremely frustrating because this was not the relaxing and refreshing retreat I had envisioned for myself. To be sure I was in the Berkshires and it was beautiful; but, this “spiritual activity?” Come on! But after a week of this and other equally bizarre experiences, I have to admit, I came home feeling different.  And I must have been different – one person actually said I looked taller?! At some point during the retreat, I was able to let go of my expectations and just experience what was right in front of me and the result was a radical transformation.
I believe that is the same experience that Jesus offers us. After John’s disciples leave, Jesus begins to speak to the remaining crowd asking them, “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at?”[4] In other words, “what were you expecting to see?” Were they expecting to see reeds along the shore of the River Jordan – was it a simple nature walk? Were they expecting to see someone in soft robes – a king perhaps? Instead they got this man, John the Baptist, wearing camel’s hair, eating honey and locusts. What they got was so much more than they expected. Instead of royalty, they found this more-than-a-prophet offering them the gift of repentance through the waters of baptism. And what’s more, he was offering them the promise of another who would be even greater!
In the same way, John the Baptist himself is now questioning his own experience, his own expectations of the Messiah and Jesus offers him a word of assurance. “No, your work was not in vain; yes I am the One you were preparing for.” Jesus invites John the Baptist to let go of his expectations so he can fully experience what Jesus is actually offering.  Jesus invites the remaining crowd to let go of their expectations so that they too can fully experience the truth of what John had offered, the Truth that now stands before them in the person of Jesus.  And Jesus invites us to join the movement that John the Baptist initiated so many centuries ago – a movement that asks us to significantly change our “lifestyle, ethos, and worldview. . . [a movement that calls us] to alter [our] expectations.”[5] The promise? An encounter of the Advent of the Messiah – unlike any we expected but exactly who we need.


[1] Matthew 11:2-3.
[2] Matthew 3:14-15.
[3] Matthew 11:4.
[4] Matthew 11:7
[5] Raj Nadella, “Commentary 1: Connecting the Reading with Scripture, “ in “Third Sunday of Advent – Matthew 11:2-11” in Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship, edited by Joel B. Green et. al (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2019), p. 47

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