Sermon for Sunday, December 14, 2025 || Advent 3A || Matthew 11:2-11

Imagine with me the imprisoned John the Baptist in the days before his execution. He has sent his disciples to ask Jesus the question from today’s Gospel reading, and they have just returned with Jesus’ answer.

My days are numbered, my friends. Herod is weak. He’s a petty ruler susceptible to the whims and flattery of those around him. One of these days I fear someone I have angered with my words will sway Herod to kill me and that will be that. But until that day comes, I will do everything I can to help you live into the new reality that is happening all around us. You will not be left orphaned when I am gone. I have only ever been a caretaker, a herald for the one who is coming after me. Because of what you just told me, I am convinced more than ever that Jesus is that one.

I’ve known Jesus for a long time. Our mothers are cousins. We saw each other once or twice a year growing up. I’m only a few months older, so we got along well. We played together as kids. We peppered my dad with questions about the temple and religion and God. As we got older, we dreamed together about what the world could look like if we lived in a different reality than the one broken by humanity’s collective sin.

Where I was blunt and abrasive, Jesus was blunt and charismatic. We could say basically the same thing, but people would listen to him, hang on his every word. That’s when I started to discern my role in all of this. I wasn’t going to be the guy. I was going to be the one pointing to the guy, the one who got people’s hearts and minds ready to accept the new reality Jesus would bring.

Ever since baptizing him in the Jordan, I’ve kept my eye on Jesus. I’ve worried that one of these days he would go the way of all the other would-be Messiahs that crop up every few years. But he hasn’t. And I think I now know why.

You asked him what I told you to ask him: “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”

He didn’t say, “Yes.” Any other person claiming to be the Messiah would have said “Yes.” But not the true Messiah. The true Messiah doesn’t care about personal accolades or fleeting fame. The true Messiah cares about ushering people into a new reality. So it’s no wonder that he told you what he told you – and that he quoted the Prophet in the same breath. The words you brought are still ringing in my ears, ringing with the perfect chime of truth. “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”

Jesus didn’t just tell you to tell me this. He beckoned you to witness these miracles with your own eyes. He doesn’t want followers who are mere spectators. He wants followers who are willing to go where he goes, to meet the people he meets, to heal what’s broken in our world. And the only way to do any of these things is to embrace the new reality that Jesus beholds. 

He’s out there, living this new reality. He’s inviting you to listen to the stories of the people he has touched and who have touched him; to see the world again for the first time with those who receive their sight; to walk the way with people whose legs can now carry them; to experience renewal with those whose skin is renewed, to hear the good news with those whose ears can now distinguish sounds; to embrace life-giving ways in the midst of death; and to understand how Jesus’ solidarity with those who are poor shows that dignity and respect have nothing to do with monetary worth.

I’m not going to live long enough to participate in this new reality in this life. That’s why I want you to listen to Jesus. Follow him like you’ve been following me. I have no ego in this. I must decrease so he can increase. My friends, the truth is, I’ve been preparing my whole life to point others towards Jesus’ Way.

This Way is the new reality that Isaiah prophesied. This Way is the new reality where people are treated with dignity no matter who they are, where power is shared rather than exploited, where deep relationships of trust and compassion are the norm not the exception. I can’t tell you how excited I am for you to continue your journey on this lifegiving Way. I wish I could walk it with you, but I take solace in knowing you are in good hands with Jesus as your guide.

Just remember this: the old reality of sin and brokenness and corrupted power will not give up easily. The struggle to live into the new reality happens alongside the continued existence of the old one. There’s no way to create the new if you wait for the old to die. You have to start living in the new reality to show the lifegiving alternative to all the brokenness people have gotten used to. That’s what Jesus is doing. And that’s why I’m afraid Jesus is going to end up in the same predicament that I find myself in. But even if he does so, even if the powers of this world kill us both, his vision of a new reality will go on if you take it to heart, if you keep living it out whatever obstacles you find in your way.

It would so easy for you to slip back into the old reality. All you would need do is stop making the daily decision to choose something different, something better, more just, more loving, more lifegiving. I pray with all my heart that you keep making the choice, that you don’t fall into slumber and sleepwalk your way back to the old reality. Keep awake! Live into the new reality that Jesus proclaims. Live the kind of life that truly is life. That is my prayer for you for as many days as I have left to me.

None of us will live to see the full consummation of the new reality that Jesus is ushering in. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t live in that reality for as much of our lives as we can. So go, my friends. Join Jesus’ Way. See with new eyes. Hear with new ears. Walk on refreshed feet towards the people Jesus meets. Proclaim the good news of God’s new reality and rejoice!

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Photo by Mark Brennan on Unsplash.