Faint of heart or strong, Advent finds us all in a world that shakes our faith and drives us to wonder about the work and promises of this God who claims to love us.
A few years ago, I was looking for a new Advent devotional to really fit the mood of the season. I wanted something more substantial than the whole getting ready for Christmas with “Santa Claus and ‘ho-ho-ho’ and mistletoe and presents for pretty girls” to quote Lucy from a Charlie Brown Christmas. It needed to be a devotion with weight, but one that was filled with the joy of the season, nonetheless. So, of course, I picked up Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Christmas Sermons.[1] Now, I do not know what I was expecting from a mid-twentieth century, neo-orthodox Lutheran living under Nazi tyranny. Let us just say, it was not a book filled with mistletoe and holly!
Yet, Bonhoeffer’s sermons, meditations, and letters perfectly capture the true sentiment of Advent. Far from the cheapening of the “pre-Christmas” season, Bonhoeffer preaches real hope forged in the cold depths of darkness. His is a faith that is tried, challenged, and still gripped by the promises of Christ’s return. Towards the end of the collection, we are given to read excerpts from letters he wrote during the season of Advent from his time in Nazi prison. After a night of air raids over the concentration camp, he wrote to his friend Eberhard Bethge:
“I must say something quite personal to you: During heavy bombing, especially last night, when the landmine fell on a nearby factory and windows were blown out, bottles and medicines burst out from the cupboards and fell on the floor in the dark, and there seemed no hope of getting out, I found myself driven back to prayer and the Bible. We must talk about this later. In more than one way this imprisonment is a very healthy, if drastic, cure!”[2]
This is Advent. As Fleming Rutledge says in her collection of Advent sermons, “Advent is not for the faint of heart.”[3] Yet, faint of heart or strong, Advent finds us all in a world that shakes our faith and drives us to wonder about the work and promises of this God who claims to love us. Advent prompts a certain honesty from our hearts. It calls us to engage and confess our doubts, and drives us back to “prayer and the Bible.” It is prayer to the God who gives us His Word of hope in Jesus Christ, the crucified one. Jesus who gives us a “healthy, if drastic, cure.”
Textual Analysis
This week in our reading, we find John the Baptist being driven back to Christ. But this John find appears in sharp contrast to the John we heard from last week. Then, we had John and his blessed finger confidently pointing us to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, to the One whose sandals he was not worthy to untie. It was a glorious and powerful sermon from the greatest of all prophets.
This week, however, we find John in a much less confident position. He is in prison for his bold preaching against Herod’s immoral lifestyle. He likely knew his days were numbered with a guy like Herod on the throne. He had proclaimed how this Messiah would come baptizing with “the Holy Spirit and with fire! His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12). And now? John sat in prison and there was no burning judgment outside the prison walls. Evil still seemed to have its day. So, John wondered, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another” (Matthew 11:3)?
Such wonder and doubt drove John to prayer. He sent to his holy cousin with his concerns. Jesus responded with the Bible. “Go and tell John what you hear and see: The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by Me” (Matthew 11:4-6).
Such wonder and doubt drove John to prayer.
Jesus tells John, in no uncertain terms, that He is, in fact, the One who is to come. He is fulfilling the prophetic promises laid out for Him in the Scriptures. Yet, paradoxically, John remains in prison and evil still runs amok. God’s reign comes in a hidden manner. Jeffrey Gibbs says, “The reign of God has broken into history in the person of Jesus, and He is the Coming One. But the power of evil remains strong, and Christ will not overthrow that evil—yet.”[4]
You can imagine John hearing the words of promise and the beatitude, “Blessed is the one who is not offended by Me” (11:6), and being filled with hope. Jesus is giving him a healthy, if drastic, cure!
After this, Jesus goes on to declare John righteous on account of his faith. He speaks words of love and honor over John to the people. Though John suffers in prison and struggles in faith, Christ’s word of promise is what matters. The focus here at the second part of our text is not the wavering nature of John’s faith, but the sure and certain promise of Christ’s Word for those He loves. John may struggle, but Jesus justifies Him!
Application
This is a wonderful Sunday to deal with people in your congregation whose lives are inevitably plagued with doubts. Be it the shaky circumstances in our world, personal sins, tragic losses, job instability, or family struggles, many look to God and wonder where He is in all of this. Why does He allow suffering? Is He really the One we should trust in?
It will be a healthy and necessary thing for you to confront doubt head-on in the pulpit. In his book, You Lost Me, David Kinnaman shows that 50% of 18-29 year olds with a Christian background cannot ask their most pressing questions at church and 10% agree with the statement: “I am not allowed to talk about my doubts in church.”[5] But Advent gives us the opposite of this. It tells us that church is the very place we should be engaging our doubts! Our trials should put us in the company of John’s disciples, running to Jesus with our fear, and back to prayer and the Bible with Bonhoeffer.
It will be good for you to address the doubts but answer them with the promises of Jesus. Though he struggled with his faith, John was declared righteous by Jesus. So too, your congregation has the promise of baptism clinging to them even as they wrestle with the truth of God’s promises in a sinful world. Do not celebrate doubt for the sake of doubt, as though it were a virtue. But direct the doubts of your people back to the promises of Christ and the hope He offers in a world of darkness and sin.
Structure
This would be the ideal of week to do a Paradox Maintained sermon.[6] Talk about how John is the greatest man born of a woman (11:11) and the most important of God’s prophets. Yet, even he had times of darkness and doubt. Talk about how Christ already reigns and has conquered evil on the cross. Yet, we still live in a world where “oh the wrong seems oft so strong.” Finally, talk about how the weakest of faith and the strongest of struggles are met by the justifying Word of Christ. Remind them how when we are weak, He is strong and the brightest faith is forged in the darkest of places. You may even use the illustration of Bonhoeffer’s prison, where the bottles of meds are shattering on the floor and, yet, God was working a very healthy, if drastic, cure!
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Additional Resources:
Craft of Preaching-Check out out 1517’s resources on Matthew 11:2-15.
Concordia Theology-Various helps from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO to assist you in preaching Matthew 11:2-15.
Lectionary Kick-Start-Check out this fantastic podcast from Craft of Preaching authors Peter Nafzger and David Schmitt as they dig into the texts for this Sunday!
The Pastor’s Workshop-Check out all the great preaching resources from our friends at the Pastor’s Workshop!
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[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Christmas Sermons, ed. Edwin Robertson. Zondervan: Grand Rapids, 2005.
[2] Bonhoeffer’s Christmas Sermons. 171.
[3] Rutledge, Fleming. Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ. Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, 2018. 9.
[4] Gibbs, Jeffrey A. Concordia Commentary: Matthew 11:2-20:34. Concordia: St. Louis, 2010. 557.
[5] Kinnaman, David. You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church. Baker: Grand Rapids, 2016.
[6] https://concordiatheology.org/sermon-structs/thematic/paradox-maintained/
