Will You Receive Him?
Matthew 11:2-11
December 15, 2024 anno Domini
Over the last two sermons I’ve asked you some Advent questions.
Do you want Jesus to come?
Do you think He will come again?
It’s okay if you don’t remember the questions. That’s why you get a sermon every week. Today the question is
Will you receive Jesus when He comes?
John the Baptist was well received when he came to prepare the way for Jesus. The prophets had been silent for 400 years. The people were eager to hear the Word of the Lord. The people living in darkness were waiting for a great light and John announced His coming.
If John had attended seminary, he might have gotten lectured about hygiene and diet. If he didn’t change his ways he wasn’t going to the big city and the upscale church. He’d be lucky to end up in rural Saskatchewan. He wore the old clothes of a prophet – camels’ hair. His food was locusts and wild honey. He lived in the wilderness. But all these old things signaled something new. God was about to speak a new word, His New Testament, His final Word, to fulfill His promises of old. The people were eager for this. St. Matthew tells us, “Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him.”
It was this uniqueness that drew the people to John. As Jesus asks them, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in king’s houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you. John called it as God Word says it. He wasn’t a reed shaken by the wind, telling people whatever they wanted to hear. He didn’t preach that everything is nothing and good is evil and boys are girls. John preached none of that nonsense. He wasn’t a man in soft clothes. A modern translation would say, “John wasn’t gay. He wasn’t soft.” He wasn’t living for his own pleasures and passions. Guys like that live in palaces – like King Herod who marries his brother’s wife. John was a real man. The Lord’s man. He called the rich to give away their clothing. He called the tax collectors not to cheat. He called the soldiers not to extort citizens. And finally, he called King Herod to stop fornicating with his brother’s wife.
Will you receive Jesus when He comes in this way? When His preacher comes to prepare His way condemning your sin? Will you receive Jesus when the preacher isn’t scattering bird shot all over the congregation to sting you a little bit, but when he aims the high-powered rifle of God’s Word and sets it scope on your sin. Are you going to listen when he speaks of divorce and remarriage, of drunkenness and possessions, of wealth and tithing? What if He calls you an adulterer? Or a thief? Or a murderer? I hope you’re disgusted with the assassination of CEO Brian Thompson, but who among us hasn’t assassinated presidents and politicians with our words? And people in front of us in the check-out line, and our neighbors in Saint Cloud? What do you do with the Word of Jesus when it convicts you? Will you receive it and repent?
This is how John the Baptist prepared the world for Jesus. The Son of God was coming into the world to deal with sin. If God’s own Son must take on human flesh, be born of a Virgin, suffer, be crucified, die, and be buried, then your sin must be serious. It’s not a character flaw. It’s not part of being human. It’s a deep and deadly corruption of your soul. If you wouldn’t go to a biohazard lab and lick Petrie dishes, then you should not dabble with sin. If sin isn’t deadly, the Son of Man didn’t need to come. If sin hasn’t corrupted your soul, you do not need a new spirit created in you. If your sin is minimal (and you think that), you have no need for Jesus.
It’s not hard to understand why John the Baptist ended up in jail. When a preacher condemns the sin of the powerful who needs to go? The preacher. There was a snake in Herod’s pretend paradise, so he cut off John’s head. But what’s intriguing about today’s text is that Jesus Himself is not always received. It appears that John’s own disciples questioned if Jesus was the coming one. Their problem in receiving Jesus was that He wasn’t doing what they thought He should do – especially for John.
John had faithfully prepared the way. He preached God’s Word without wavering. He had spoken the truth about sin, even the King’s sin, and he was suffering for it. Why should John suffer as a faithful preacher? Why should he be locked away while Herod continued to enjoy his soft clothes and nice palace?
When you have questions about how God is working, don’t try to figure it out. Go to Jesus. That’s where John sent his disciples. Talk to Jesus. Ask Him “Are you the One who is to come, or shall we look for another?”
Here is where the offense of Jesus comes. He doesn’t give John’s disciples any proof. He doesn’t do a miracle for them. He doesn’t say, “Tonight, my angels will bust John out of prison and Herod will fall down the stairs to His death.” Jesus doesn’t give them anything, but a sermon based on the facts. “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.’” Perhaps among Jesus’ followers there were recipients of these miracles. Maybe there was a man could have told John’s disciples, “I was a leper. Now look at me. I’m clean.” Or perhaps Bartimaeus was there and said, “I was blind from birth, but now I see.” But none of this happened. Jesus gave them nothing but His Word. He had given sight to the blind and raised the dead, but to John’s disciples that was just a news report, and as we know the news is not always true.
This is what you have from Jesus. This is how He comes to you. He comes to You in His Word, telling You what He has done for you. He died on the cross for your sins so that you could be forgiven. That’s the solution to all the trouble you have, the questions you ponder, the prisons you might find yourself in. There was all sorts of evidence for the miracles of Jesus – all the people who were made to see, who were healed, who rose from the dead. There is all kinds of evidence that Jesus rose – like no body and the 500 witnesses, but in the end Jesus has chosen to work through His Word. Christ Jesus died for your sins. Rose from the dead on the third day. He brings that Good News to you through the reading of His Word, the preaching of your Pastor, the waters of baptism, the bread and wine of the Lord’ Supper and the Word that you are forgiven.
You might think He should do more. Maybe trip up some evil ruler and send him down the stairs to his death. Or bust you out of the prison of your depression or dying body or the mess you’ve made of your life by your sins. But that’s not the normal way He works. Jesus won’t always deliver you from your troubles, because He wants you to find your hope and remedy solely in His Word.
John the Baptist never asked to be set free from prison. Perhaps he knew that death was the way he would become less so that Jesus would become more. We know that John’s disciples believed the sermon they heard from Jesus. They were not offended by Him. How do we know? After John was beheaded, these disciples took his body, buried it, and then they went and told Jesus. (Matt. 14:12) They went to Jesus. They believed in Jesus. So should you. Don’t be offended. Receive Him when He comes with His Word to condemn your sin and to save your soul. In the name of Jesus. Amen.