A Christmas Sermon I preached in 2006

I am blind and I can see...

Let us pray – Lord God, Creator and Maker of us all, speak in the calming of our minds and in the longings of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen

For those of you who are wives I am sure you will be in agreement with me if I said that every year you do spend a lot of time looking for the perfect birthday card for your husband. I came across a story of a woman who was searching for the perfect card for her husband, and came across one that she quite like; it was written on the outside “Sweetheart, you are the answer to my prayers.” Then she opened up the card, and look inside, and saw what was inscribed there was “You are not what I prayed for exactly, but apparently you are the answer to my prayers.”


For thousands of years, the people of Israel had been praying for a Messiah. A Messiah who would lead them into the conquering of all their enemies. A Messiah who would establish in this world a kingdom of righteousness and might. A Messiah who would throw off the Roman yoke. Their Messiah would be powerful. Their Messiah would be a warrior and a king. They prayed that they can have such a Messiah so that Israel will rise up again as a nation, and the Israelites would rule their world in peace and prosperity. In other words, they were praying for earthly things. The praying for worldly things, does this not sound familiar to you?

Then here comes Jesus, a poor carpenter, and to make matters worst, he had for his friends, tax collectors, prostitutes, thieves, and all kinds of sinners. From society’s point of view, all his friends were questionable. He came to set up a very different kind of kingdom to the one they had bee praying for. And I think we can easily forgive even Jesus’ strongest supporters, let alone the Pharisees and the Scribes for asking “Are you really the answer to our prayers?” John the Baptist had, throughout his life, been praying for and preparing for the Messiah all his life. He has been preparing the people for the coming of the Lord. He has been doing all this with a harsh criticism of the ruling religious establishment and a stern call to the people to repent. Like all the Israelites of his time, John the Baptist’s idea of the Messiah, was, one of the warrior kind, someone who is like John the Baptist, preach fire and brimstone. John the Baptist had even told the people that he baptized with water, but the coming Messiah will be baptizing with the “Holy Spirit and Fire.”

In today’s Gospel reading, we heard that John the Baptist is in prison. Herod had put John into prison for having criticized him in public for marrying the wife of his own brother, Herodias. Needless to say, Herodias hated John the Baptist more than Herod hated him. It is very likely that John knew that he will be dead soon.

It is very likely that he heard from his own disciples of all that Jesus had been doing; the very same Jesus whom he thought was the Messiah. In preparation for the Messiah’s coming, he has been working very hard. In preparing for the Messiah’s coming he had given his whole life. He possibly heard from his disciples, that Jesus, instead of preaching hell and brimstone, was actually performing acts of mercy. John the Baptist was totally confused and therefore started having doubts. He sent some of his disciples to ask Jesus if he was the one to come.


In reply to the question of John the Baptist, Jesus could easily have said, “Yes, I am the one.” He did not do that, but he did not avoid the question either. Jesus would have made an excellent salesman, for he performed what most top sales people would have done, he, as he frequently does when asked a question. He throws it back to the questioner. Here we can see Jesus showing his clear understanding of human nature. Anyone who has been to a counseling course will know that there is no easy answer to hopes and doubts.

I remember the story about a newly graduated psychiatrist starting his practice. A patient said to him, quite frankly, that she was certain that he knew what her problems were clearly. She asked him to tell her what her problems were, and therefore save her a lot of money by cutting short her therapy. He was so new and green to his profession that he did as she asked him to do. At which point she literally exploded, ran out of his office, shouting, “Well, if that is what you think of me, I certainly have no wish to have you as my psychiatrist.”

In order for an answer to be of value and valid for the person who is asking the question, it must always come from deep inside the questioner, even if Jesus is the person answering the question. The possibility of salvation for Israel and for some people present in this world today may perhaps seem a bit remote, because maybe some of us are looking for the wrong kind of salvation. Maybe instead of looking for salvation, some of us are looking for a parent who will make things “better” for us, without our doing anything at all.

Or maybe some of us are looking for a Saviour who is more modern, more global, and flashier. Just like the Israelites who were looking for a warrior kind of Saviour who will help them defeat the Romans and throw off the yoke of the Roman occupation.

Jesus’ answer is different. In order for us to hear it, we need to let the answer to the problems of the world thrown back at us, just as Jesus threw the answer back at John the Baptist.

Imagine what a big difference it can make in your own life to try the slow way of change, of taking personal responsibility and living out the Saviour’s way of life. We may not be able to perform miracles just as Jesus did, but we can certainly work to bring to reality the prophet’s visions of a better world. A world where those who are in need are ministered to and the Gospel of a loving God is made know by word and actions.

We can certainly work together to bring to reality the prophet’s visions of a better world.

Yes, this is a slower way to make the world a better world to be in; it is a slower way to bring about the kingdom of God into this world; it will take time and a lot of work to see results. It will require the patience that the epistle of James that we heard this morning – the patience of the farmer, who waits for the crops to grow. A farmer will never be that silly to pull up the plants to see how the roots are doing. The slow way will be requiring the same kind of patience from each and every one of us. James was telling us what we should be doing while we are waiting for the precious crops, strengthen our hearts for the coming of the Lord, and not complaining against each other. I know that I am an impatient man and, if you ask my wife, I complain a lot. I do not know about you, but I know that this reading from James for me.

I remember hearing the story of a man who came upon a number of cocoons from which moths were emerging. He picked up one of the cocoons and saw through the membrane that a living moth was moving. Noticing that his warm breath upon the cocoon accelerated the emergence of the moth, the man continued to blow gently upon the cocoon. The membrane quickly opened up, the struggling moth came out, but not in the way that the man expected. The moth’s wings only partially unfolded while the moth struggled helplessly. The man learned that it was foolish of him to forcefully take matters into his own hand. It would have been best to wait upon subtle and hidden powers beyond the powers of one’s own will.

To get back to the story, Jesus answered John the same way that God answers us, and not as what John expected Jesus to answer him.

It is the same as with our prayers and expectations. We come to Jesus with our shopping list, and he gives us the Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus sent John’s disciples back to John with the very same quotation from the book of Isaiah we heard from the first reading of this morning. Jesus knew that John would understand, for John, together with Elijah, was the greatest prophet that Israel would ever know.

It is very interesting to note that Jesus never directly answered John’s question: “Are you the expected One or shall we look for someone else?” Jesus never gave a straight “yes” or “no.” Jesus could have pointed to hundreds of Biblical prophecies that his life and work had fulfilled. He could have performed some great miracle that would have immediately silenced all of John’s doubts. Instead Jesus said, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them.”

Why did Jesus choose these particular things to prove that He is the Messiah? What does his answer tells us of his priorities?

All these miracles seem to involve restoration and compassion. Just as they are today, the deaf, the blind, and the lame are normally kept outside the mainstream of the society of the world. They are often forced to beg in order to support themselves. A lot of people viewed their disability as a punishment from God. Lepers were outcasts, unclean, cut off from all social acceptances. Cut off from all religious acceptances. Jesus did not just hear the cries of these people; he restored their place in society. And the restorative powers of Jesus were never on greater display when he resurrected a dead person back to life.

These answers show to us the compassion he has for the least and the lowest. They remind us that Jesus came for the helpless, the hurting, and the overlooked people of society.

Jesus came for the helpless, the hurting, and the overlooked people of society.

This is a good thing to remember at this time of the year when the greed and materialism of human beings are in full show for the world to see. Do not confuse our society’s way of celebration of Christmas with the character of Jesus. The two are as different as day and night.

There was, during the Vietnam War, an army lieutenant who spent seven years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. During his second Christmas in that rotten hellhole of a prisoner of war camp he made an amazing discovery. He has been stripped of everything by which he normally measured his identity; his rank, his uniform, his family, money. And yet, alone in a cramped three by seven foot prison cell, he began to understand the meaning of Christmas.

Removed from all the commercial distractions, he was able to focus on the simplicity of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Although he was afraid and lonely, he realized that this Christmas could be his most meaningful, because now, more than ever before, he understood the meaning of Christmas.

I think we can assume that John the Baptist discovered exactly the same thing. As he sat in his prison cell, stripped of all the things that we consider to be necessary for life, he discovered the one most important thing in life: hope. John glimpsed the hope that the Messiah had come to set up an eternal kingdom. A kingdom of compassion and healing, of justice and mercy. A kingdom that was for all mankind.

I pray that during this Christmas season we may all discover the same hope. May his name be blessed forever, Amen.