Advent 3 A

Friday, December 10, 2010

Matthew 11:2-11

High profile preachers like John the Baptist commanding the ears of thousands don't just go throwing out their endorsements willy nilly. They vet their endorsements with the eye of – what? A faithful preacher? A marketer protecting the “brand”? A politician hedging bets? The field of motivations is where it all gets messy. A bad endorsement can break your brand and put you on the “has been” list in a hurry. A good one not only furthers the ministry – it makes your public image shine even brighter.

Both Jesus and John preach the kingdom of heaven. Jesus' concern is nothing but that kingdom – and to do the will of his Father. That is a given. In the end he throws away any semblance of honor – any obvious public credibility (the brand) – to do that will. John? Well, he, too, lost his life as a prisoner. He certainly had courage to speak the truth in the face of power. But his calling was modeled on Elijah. He wore the gear. Followed the geographical script of that prophet-type – in and out of the wilderness. Sometimes in his element. Oftentimes on the run. It's his stamp. Like Elijah and Elisha, he is a kind of guerrilla-prophet. But John doesn't know quite what to make of Jesus. 

We would like to think that John really is longing for Jesus to be the messiah. But we can be pretty sure that John's understanding of “messiah” was not prepared for the deconstruction of that concept the cross was about to perform. We cannot really fault John – and Israel – for getting it wrong with the classical understanding of messiah. But Jesus does not go with the messiah question. He simply asks John: “What do you see?” 

"What do you see?" That's the question that cuts through the institutional branding – John's or ours. Motives are ambiguous critters. We would like to think we are people who acknowledge what we see truthfully and candidly. But we are distracted by interests that have nothing to do with what Jesus is doing in the world. The capacity of corproate ideologies to filter our vision is uncanny. We may or may not see outside the box. Either way, we cannot make good choices unless we see what Jesus is doing right in front of our faces. And probably in spite of our affiliations. John may belong to Jesus. Or he may, even in his prison cell, be a servant to his own dynasty. We don't know. We can only speak for ourselves.

It's more than enough of an answer.

© 2010 Andy Gay