Advent 3, 2024
Rev. Thomas Van Hemert
St. Matthew 11:2-10
Advent 3 Gaudete
December 15, 2024
In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Here is the prophecy that Jesus is referencing when He answers the disciples of John the Baptist who come to Him with the question, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”
“Hear, O you deaf; and look, you blind, that you may see. In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of the obscurity and out of darkness. The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. Your dead shall live; together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn.” (Isaiah 42:18; 29:18; 35:5-6; 26:19; 61:1-2)
John the Baptist is in prison. He is locked away in the dungeon because He preached God’s Word to Herod, warning him that living with his brother’s wife—cohabitating with one—who was not his wife was sin. John called Herod to repent. John warned Herod to cease from his infidelity and the pain that it is causing to those around him. But Herod would not listen. So he locked John away. Not only is John in prison, locked away, but John knows that he is not long for this world. Soon, for warning sinners of their sins, for calling sinners to repentance, and for preparing the way of the Lord, John will lose his head. It will cost him. It will hurt. And in prison, even John needs comfort. So he sends two of his own disciples to Jesus to ask, “Are you the Coming One, or do we look for another?” John needs to know. Ancient commentators have often thought that John may have been doubting. Maybe, down there, in the lonely, dark dungeon, even John the Baptist began to doubt his role in all this. John needs that comfort. He is seeking it—the comfort that only Jesus can give. Jesus answers John in quoting this Isaiah prophecy when He says, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: the blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” This is proof enough that He, Jesus, the Savior of John, and you and me, and the Savior of the world, has come into the world to restoring creation and to make all things new.
In a miraculous way, the blind receiving their sight, the lame being given the ability to walk, the lepers being cleansed, the deaf hearing, the dead being raised, and the poor having the gospel preached to them were all signs that this, in fact, was happening—that the Son of God became a Man and has taken humanity into Himself and thus, restoring humanity, rescuing it from sin, decay, and death.
No doubt, even though perhaps in a miniscule way, this gave John some comfort. But John still knows that his end is near. He knows that he will be martyred for the faith. He knows this because Jesus, in His answer to John’s disciples, leaves out part of that Isaiah prophecy. A portion of the prophecy in which Jesus leaves out in this answer to John’s disciples is that at the Lord’s coming, He will free those in prison. This is because, again, John will not leave prison. He will not be freed. He will die by the executioner’s hand. Jesus did give the blind their sight. He gave the deaf their hearing. He made the lame to walk. He made the mute to speak. He cleansed lepers and raised the dead. But most importantly, He forgave the sins of sinners. But He does not free John from prison. That is because John must decrease and Jesus must increase. John’s sins are forgiven. Jesus died for Him. So that even though John is suffering at the hands of Herod and John will die, in prison John can rejoice because He has the better thing—better than having sight or hearing or good health or even having his head. John has the Gospel preached to Him in prison by the Lord. That is enough. Jesus loves Him. So Jesus goes to take John’s place in death so that though John will die, John lives. This gives John comfort and cause to rejoice. John can now go and die and receive a crown of glory that will not fade away.
Perhaps the reason our Lord leaves out this part of the prophecy is because we too must learn to live and accept things for what they are in this earthly prison known as “life.” Jesus does not promise that everything will always go well for John or for us in this life. This world is corrupted by sin—by the sins of others, which we suffer and by the sins we bring upon ourselves. Jesus does not say that if we do good things that we’ll live the good life or our best life now. He does not say that because we are Christians, we’ll be relieved from all of our troubles, suffer less, or that we will endure easier, more manageable trials now. This life we live, now, is not our best life. We were not made for it. We were made to be with God. We were made to be with the Lord. He came once, to be sure. But He has since ascended into heaven. He will come again. And then, then, He will bring us to Himself.
At the same time, no matter what you’re going through; no matter what you’re suffering; or experiencing in this life, you hear our Lord’s answer to John and in so doing, you’re hearing Him speak to you through His Word. Our eyes are opened so that in faith, we see the Lord in the Sacrament. We see and know and trust that this is His Body and His Blood, placed into our mouths in faith for the strengthening of our faith. Our mouths are opened to confess that it is what God says it is and to praise Him for His mighty works. We were spiritually dead. But we have been raised to new life. Having been brought to life in Baptism, our ears are ready to hear His Word because we know faith comes through hearing. We hear the forgiveness, the absolution that He speaks to us. We hear His Law and we rejoice to know how it is we are to live as His chosen people. He has cleansed the leprosy of our sin. He speaks the good news of the Gospel, the forgiveness of sins to us who are poor in spirit. We will inherit the Kingdom of God.
Though John the Baptist was not freed from his earthly prison, he and us are all freed from the spiritual prison of Satan’s bondage. We walk through this shadowy valley of death now. But it will not last. God in Christ Jesus, having become a Man, is with us. He is Emmanuel. He sets all the prisoners free. Even now, we are free from the grasp of satan, death, and hell. God has become a man and has become enmity between us and them.
God in Christ Jesus speaks and we hear. He is not a God who keeps silent. God’s promise that He is, even now, working all things together for our good, is what we need the most. This is the comfort we need to hear when it feels as though we are in this spiritual prison. Hearing God’s Word is the most comforting sign we can receive, which gives us the greatest cause for rejoicing in this living death we call “life.”
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say, rejoice.
In +Jesus’ name.
