Have you ever had a time when you really wanted something? I
don’t mean just kind of casually hoping for something. I mean really,
really wanting something, wanting it so much that you think about it almost
every day. And then, you get the thing you wanted, and--you have a hard
time believing it. You think, is this really true? Did this really
happen? Do I really have this thing that I wanted so much?
Well, we’ll come back to that.
We’ve been looking at the life of Jesus more or less in chronological
order. At this point in Jesus’ life, he’s been in active ministry for
probably a couple of years. That means Jesus is starting to get a reputation.
People are hearing about these miracles he’s performed. They’re
hearing about the people he’s healed. They’re hearing about the things
he’s been saying, too.
One of the people who heard about
all this was John the Baptist. This is the part of John the Baptist’s
life we don’t talk about too much. We talk about how John the Baptist was
sent to prepare the way for Jesus. We talk about how John the Baptist
baptized Jesus. But then, we just kind of let John the Baptist fall out
of the story and focus on Jesus instead.
That’s understandable. And of
course, John the Baptist himself said that Jesus was much more important than
he was. But still, after John baptized Jesus, he did not just go away and
retire or something. He was still an important person. He was still
preaching and he was still baptizing. He did not hesitate to speak his
mind and he did not hesitate to declare the need for people to repent of their
sins. And he did not hesitate to say that even the King, King Herod, was
a sinner who needed to repent of his sins.
That did not sit well with King
Herod. So, Herod had John the Baptist arrested and thrown in jail.
And that was where John was at the time of our Bible reading for today.
But as we said, John the Baptist
heard about what Jesus was doing and saying, even in prison. So, John
sends some people to Jesus to ask him one question. They ask Jesus, “Are
you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”
Now, I don’t know about you, but
when I read that, I think, how can John ask that question? I’d have
thought that if there was anyone who knew who Jesus was, it was John the
Baptist. I mean, by earthly reckoning, they were related. Jesus’
earthly mother, Mary, and John’s mother, Elizabeth, were related to each other.
In fact, in the first chapter of Luke, we read about Mary going to visit
Elizabeth while she was pregnant with Jesus. And Elizabeth instantly knew
that Mary was going to give birth to the Savior. Surely she must have
told John about that, right? So why would John send people to ask Jesus
if he was the Savior? He should’ve known that already.
And then, there’s the story of
Jesus’ baptism. We talked about that earlier in this sermon series.
Jesus comes out of the water, and a voice from heaven says, “This is my
Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” And of course, John is
right there. You’d think he’d have to have heard that. So again,
why would John send people to ask Jesus if he was the Savior? He
should’ve known that already.
And that gets me back to the
question I asked at the start of this message. John the Baptist wanted
the Savior to come. He wanted it more than anything in his life.
He’d spent his entire life doing everything he could to prepare the way
for the Savior to come. He completely dedicated to getting as many people
as possible ready for the coming of the Savior.
And then the Savior came. And
John the Baptist knew he had come. He heard the voice from heaven saying
so. He heard all the reports of everything he was doing. And yet.
And yet. He still was not quite sure. He had wanted this so
much, and yet now that it had happened, he hesitated. He wanted to trust.
He wanted to have faith. But could he? Could he really trust
that this was the Savior? What if he’d gotten something wrong? What
if he put his trust in Jesus, and it somehow did not work out? John
wanted this so much, and yet, he was afraid to actually believe it had
happened. He could not quite bring himself to believe that the Savior,
whom he had waited for all his life, was actually here.
I think we all have times when
that’s where we are. We want to believe in Jesus Christ. We want to
surrender our life to him. And yet. And yet. We hesitate.
We’re just not quite sure. We want to trust the Lord. We want
to have faith. But can we? Can we really trust that Jesus is the
Lord, the Savior? What if we’ve gotten something wrong? What if we
put our trust in the Lord and it somehow does not work out? We want to
believe. Sometimes we really, really want to believe. And yet,
we’re afraid to actually believe. We cannot quite bring ourselves to
believe that Jesus Christ really is the Savior. We cannot quite trust
him.
Jesus does not get mad at John for
sending these people to ask the question they asked. He does not
criticize John the Baptist for his lack of trust. He just tells them,
look, go tell John what you’ve seen and heard. Tell him everything there
is to tell about me. Tell him about all the people I’ve healed.
Tell him about the things I’ve said. Tell him what he’s heard is
true. He’ll know what it means. Just tell him.
What Jesus was telling John’s people
to do, in effect, is to remind John of what he already knew. And a lot of
times, that’s what we need to do--be reminded of what we already know. We
know all the things the Bible says about the Savior. We know the things
it says he said and did. We also know all the times when we’ve felt the
Lord working in our lives. We know all the times we were in a tough spot
and the Lord helped us out. We know all the times when it looked like
things were going against us and we did not know what to do and somehow it all
still worked out all right. We know all the times God has been there for
us. We know all the times God’s Holy Spirit has worked in and through us.
We know that we can trust the Lord. We just need to be reminded of
it. Or, sometimes, we may need someone else to remind us of it.
And sometimes, we need to be the
ones who remind others. Because we know there are a lot of people out
there who are struggling with their faith. If you and I, who are in
church, struggle with truly believing in Jesus Christ; if you and I, who are in
church, struggle trusting God enough to truly turn every aspect of our lives
over to God; then how much more are people going to struggle who are not going
to church anywhere?
This is not said in a judgmental
way. It’s not for me to judge anyone’s faith. That kind of judgment
is God’s job, not my job. But there are lots of people out there who
struggle with this. There are a lot of people, right here in this
community, who would say they believe in God, who would say they believe in
Jesus Christ as our Savior, but who struggle with really trusting God enough to
really surrender our lives to him.
They’re afraid. They’re scared. They don’t know what
will happen if they really surrender their lives to God. Often, they want
to believe it would be something wonderful, but--what if it’s not? And
so, again, they hesitate.
They know they need God in their lives. But they need to be
reminded, just like we need to be reminded. They need to be reminded of
who Jesus is. They need to be reminded of how much they need him.
And if we don’t remind them, who will? And I don’t mean we as
United Methodists. I mean we as Christians. If we, as Christians,
don’t remind people of how much they need God who will? If we, as
Christians, don’t remind people of all the things God has done, who will?
If we, as Christians, don’t help people get over their fear and get over
their hesitation, who will? If we, as Christians, don’t tell people
everything there is to tell about Jesus Christ and remind them of who Jesus is,
who will?
That thing that we’ve always wanted, that thing that we’ve been
waiting for all our lives--it’s here! It’s actually here! So let’s
stop hesitating. Let’s stop being scared. Let’s truly turn our
lives over to the Lord, knowing that God really can be trusted with our lives.
And let’s help others turn their lives over to the Lord, too. Let’s
help them know that God really can be trusted with their lives. Our
salvation is here. Now.
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