Bring Your Hope to Jesus

It’s not a typo, for a week of Advent we move out of the larger birth narrative and fast-forward some thirty plus years. By the time we get to Matthew 11, John, who had born to Zechariah and Elizabeth, is an adult. He’s already been on the banks of the Jordan River crying out “Prepare the way of the Lord” (Luke 3:4). He’s already baptized Jesus, and pointed his own disciples to him saying, “Here is the Lamb of God” (John 1:29).

And now, he is a prisoner – held under Herod’s authority, cut off from the crowds that had once followed him.

In fact, John’s bold and prophetic voice has been silenced. And in its place, we hear something of a whispered question, carried to Jesus through his disciples: “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” (Matthew 11:3)

It’s more than just a question. It is a cry from the edges of despair.

John, the prophet sent to prepare the way of the Lord, who baptized Jesus, who declared Jesus the Lamb of God, is suddenly unsure.

His hope flickers low.

And what does he ask?

Not for a miracle, but whether his whole life – his ministry, message, and risk – meant anything.

It’s as if he asks, “Did it matter? Did I get it wrong? Was any of it worth it?”

It’s what hope sounds like when it’s running thin.

But notice Jesus’ response. He doesn’t chastise John. He doesn’t launch into a lecture. He doesn’t say, “John should know better.”

Instead Jesus answers indirectly – with the witness of what is unfolding: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them” (Matthew 11:4-5).

As Rev. Dr. Boyung Lee puts it, “Jesus points not to grand victory, but to quiet signs of transformation.”

She goes on, “He doesn’t hand John certainty – but invites him to perceive God at work. It is a reorientation towards Isaiah’s vision: ‘I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?’ (Isaiah 43:19).”

You see, Jesus doesn’t see John’s crumbling hope as failure. Even in doubt, John is still a prophet. Even in fear, he is still beloved.

And so, perhaps the invitation of Advent is to bring our emptied hope to Jesus, to ask the hard questions, and to listen again for signs of God’s nearness. Because somewhere, even now, something new is springing forth.

Grace and peace, Kimmy