Sunday December 12 Sermon

Isaiah 35: 1-6

Romans 8: 37-39

Matthew 11: 2-6

Doubt

Doubts occur when what we expect to happen isn't happening, or what shouldn't be happening is happening—when circumstances are in direct conflict with what we believe they should be. Lord Halifax, a former foreign secretary of Great Britain, once shared a railway compartment with two prim-looking spinsters. A few moments before reaching his destination the train passed through a tunnel. In the utter darkness Halifax kissed the back of his hand noisily several times. When the train drew into the station, he rose, lifted his hat, and in a gentlemanly way said: “May I thank whichever one of you two ladies I am indebted to for the charming incident in the tunnel.” He then beat a hasty retreat, leaving the two ladies in total doubt about each other and glaring at each other.

In the semantics of the church, doubt has been a negative word. It is rarely used in a favorable way. Faith, not doubt, is the great word of the church. As I stand here every Sunday morning and look into your faces, you look so proper, so content, so believing. You seem to be so certain, so full of faith, and so free of doubt.

But, I have a suspicion that the way you look is not the way you are. Beneath the outward appearance of many of you there is planted the seed of honest doubt. Perhaps you do not share these feelings with anyone; but your doubts are there, and they are real. Your worship does not express your doubts, uncertainties, and skepticism. In facing this situation, all of us at times cry out with the disciple Thomas in the Gospel, "Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief." This capacity to doubt can often lead to some of life's most profound questions.

Such was the case with John the Baptizer. His question -"Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?"- grew not out of his uncertainty, but out of his doubt. John the Baptizer had heard about the words and deeds of Jesus, but what he had heard did not square with his expectation of the Messiah.

After all, Jesus was born not to royalty, but to a peasant woman. He functioned not as a military ruler, but as a servant. He came not as a judge, but as a forgiving redeemer. He did not bring heavenly condemnation; he brought divine love. He did not associate with the religious establishment, but he went from village to village associating with the rubbish heap of humanity. He spent his time and energy with the least and the lost. He was most concerned with the powerless: the blind and the lame, the lepers and the deaf, and the poor and the out-cast. And Jesus dared to teach that the weak occupied the most important place in the Kingdom of God.

John the Baptizer became confused about the way in which Jesus acted out his Messiahship. He had doubts about the validity of his contemporary, Jesus of Nazareth. His skepticism caused him to send one of his buddies to Jesus with the question: "Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?" Like others in the New Testament, John the Baptizer was not positive. Even Jesus’ closest disciples were not certain if he was or was not the true Messiah.

That John the Baptizer had doubts about the Messiahship of Jesus is revealed in his question: "Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?" His question is not clear, either in what is being asked or why. But like all good questions, it shoves the reader into deeper regions of thought.

We get this comforting idea that if we follow the Messiah life will somehow be smoother, or at least all fit together in some "good" way. Then we run smack into the reality that the only guarantee Jesus made to us had to do with the activities that come after this life. In fact, Jesus very clearly expected that his followers would have a harder time getting through this life than those who walked away. But we still have these expectations of a "Savior" and when Jesus doesn't meet them we begin to wonder if he is really who we thought he was. There are thousands of empty church pews that used to be full of people who believed in Jesus Christ. But then he didn't live up to their expectations and they went home. Their families still fought, they still had some frightening decisions to make, and they still couldn't make ends meet on a budget. They began to wonder if they had made a mistake with Jesus.

Maybe that's what happened to John. He said that he had come to baptize with water, and that the one following him would baptize with "fire from heaven." So where was the fire? So far there wasn't even smoke. So far, the Pharisees and Sadducees were still in charge of the faith, and Rome was still in charge of the government. In fact, instead of bringing in the kingdom, Jesus had pretty much kept quiet up north while John got himself arrested and thrown into one of Herod's dungeons on a mountaintop down by the Dead Sea. That might make a person ask some questions. Is this any way for a Messiah to behave?

At least I hope that's what happened with John. If John the Baptist, as high up as he ranked, still had some questions, some doubt, maybe there is room for me and mine. There was one thing that John wanted to know before he died. John wanted to know beyond a shadow of a doubt if Jesus was really the Messiah. Can you blame him? He had given everything he had - including, in a matter of days, his very life. He wanted to know, has it all been in vain? Is it all an illusion - a dream? At the Jordan River John had believed Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah, but in the face of certain death he had doubts. He wanted to know for sure. So he sent some of his followers to find Jesus and ask him, "Are you the one who is to come or are we to wait for another?" And, Jesus’ response was, go back and tell him what you have seen and heard for yourselves. Go back and tell him the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled.

You see, John the Baptist found himself in a disappointing and disheartening predicament. Things were not working out like he had expected. Sometimes that happens. Disappointment. And with disappointment doubt is often not far behind.

Particularly at Christmas. This is not an easy time of year. A few years back there was a haunting country song that went like this, "If we make it through December...." Some of you know the meaning of those words. "If we make it through December...." It was December for John the Baptist. He was hurting in Herod's prison. He was hurting physically and he was hurting emotionally. He was gripped with doubt.

Isn’t that true for us sometimes?

God responds to us when we respond to him. God accepts our doubt, but expects our devotion and service even in the face of doubt. If we continue to serve him even in the face of doubt, our faith will be strengthened as we see God’s response. John the Baptist had doubts. Mother Theresa had doubts. The disciples themselves all had doubts, even after they saw the resurrected Jesus. Yet they all continued to serve him. Jesus himself had doubts—as he hung on the cross he cried out, “My God why have you forsaken me?” But God did not forsake him.

Nor will God forsake us, even in our darkest moment, as Paul writes in his letter to the Romans. God knows our darkest moments, our doubts. We have the assurance that he does because he came into the world as a baby, grew and matured, and lived as flesh and blood among us, and endured all the emotions we have, including even fear and doubt as we have. God wants us to know that we are not alone, that he is present with us always, and he shares our every experience with us, even through death itself.

So we can sing “Joy To The World” any time of the year, This is the joy we can find at Christmas: the joy of knowing God so loves us that he came to us as the baby Jesus, lived as we live, and although Jesus died on the cross, Christ lives and gives us the promise of the resurrection and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Amen