Sermon on Matthew 11:2-11

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

Last week, we heard John the Baptist boldly and even brashlyexhort the people who sought him out to change their minds and their lives in preparation for the coming Messiah.

But by eight chapters later in today’s Gospel reading, John had been imprisoned for speaking truth to power. He sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he was the Messiah that John had been preaching.

It seems that John’s circumstances had understandably shaken his confidence in his message. He had dedicated his life to preparing the way for the Messiah, but he wasn’t sure Jesus was the one.

In response, Jesus could have just told John’s disciples, “Yep! It’s me!” Or he could have said, “Yeah, I was born in Bethlehem, and all these prophecies were written about me. Let me show you all the scriptural evidence.”Or he could have been Transfigured right there instead of on the mountaintop and glowed with God’s glory.

But instead, Jesus told them to tell John about his actions. He invited them to listen and see—to witness with their own senses what Jesus was up to.

I often point to Luke chapter 4 as Jesus’ mission statement, when he quoted Isaiah about bringing good news to the poor and oppressed. But for the Gospel of Matthew, this part summarizes his mission, again drawing imagery from the book of Isaiah. This is what he’s about: “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with a skin disease are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”

Jesus didn’t command armies, amass wealth, or garner political popularity—all aspects of earthly power. Instead, he manifested God’s power through acts of mercy and compassion. He focused on the marginalized, the poor and the oppressed—those who lacked earthly power.

This is God’s dream for the world: liberation and healing.

Jesus showed the world this dream by acting it out and called his followers to do the same.

Unfortunately, we don’t always do a good job of that.

Christianity today is largely known for who ithates, excludes, and lobbies to legislate against.

Churches are known for infighting, abuse, and control.

And while I argue that the gospel is inherently political in a broad sense, because it involves how we live together as people, the Church has historically run into problems when it gets too enmeshed with political power. And too many Christian leaders are expending too much effort toward amassing political power right now.

On the whole, we’ve got a bad reputation.

We live in a society that wants to see to believe.

And people see us getting grumpy about people cussing, instead of turning the other cheek to people who cuss at us.

People see us judging people instead of welcoming the stranger as we would welcome Jesus himself.

People see us investing in building projects instead of housing our neighbors.

In my second year of my program, my seminary sold its property up in the hills of Berkeley and relocated to the second floor of an office buildingdowntown. It was great to be in the heart of the community. We found out, though, that some of our downstairs neighbors from Berkeley City College, saw the word “evangelical” in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and were a little scared of us.

It's unfortunate that a word that just means focused on good news has become so loaded and politically charged.Sometimes when people find out I’m a Christian, I have to resist the urge to cry out, “No! Not like that! I’m not that type of Christian!”

It’s not entirely fair that people see us the way they do when Christians have and do a lot of good, including the great work of Caring Hands and the other ways this generous congregation loves our community, but the reality is that when a lot of people hear the word Christianity, they don’t associate it with liberation, healing, or love. Often quite the opposite.

But we know that we have a God who calls flawed human beings into the Beloved Community. We’re simultaneously saints and sinners who are capable both of loving and of harming others.

God knows this and loves us and welcomes us into God’s family anyway.It doesn’t excuse any harm we cause—we need to try to make amends, whatever that looks like. But it does relieve us from the burden of trying to be perfect.

Trying to give off an image of perfection won’t help us salvage Christianity’s reputation. If anything, it’ll cause more distrust, because people can sense when people seem fake, especially younger generations.

Instead, we can bring our whole selves to church and to the world in our daily lives. We can be honest when we’re struggling. We can ask for help. We can admit our doubts, discouragements, and fears.Honesty and vulnerability can be risky, but they help our relationships with others deepen. Supporting each other and accepting support are how bonds form—the kind of bonds that make for the kind of imperfect and beautiful Christian community we would be proud to let the world see.

And we can follow in Jesus’ example—not trying to be a savior, but showing our gratitude for how God makes a difference in our lives through our actions.

Jesus told John’s disciples to tell John what they heard and saw Jesus do. We can follow in Jesus’ footsteps and imperfectly do what we can to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Roman Catholic Cardinal John Dearden wrote a poem about doing just that:

“Prophets of a Future Not Our Own”

We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference
between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.

Beloved children of God, we don’t have to save the world. We don’t have to salvage Christianity’s reputation. We certainly don’t have to be perfect.

Jesus set us free to do our little part in cocreating God’s dream of liberation and healing for the world.As we sing “Light Dawns on a Weary World,” imagine what God’s dream for the world will look like and how you can be a part of making that dream come true.