Matthew 11:2-11  

²While John was in prison, he heard about the things Christ was doing. He sent two of his disciples ³to ask him, “Are you the Coming One or should we wait for someone else?”

⁴Jesus answered them, “Go, report to John what you hear and see: ⁵The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the gospel is preached to the poor. ⁶Blessed is the one who does not take offense at me.”…

This is a joyous time of year, isn’t it?  There’s a festivity in the air that is unmatched throughout the rest of the year.  People are getting together to celebrate Christmas!  Kids in classrooms are looking forward to that party that last day before Christmas vacation starts.  If you work for someone else, maybe your company has an annual office party.  The scent of Christmas cookies baking in the oven and the sound of Christmas carols—that’s the joy we’re used to seeing at Christmastime! 

But not everybody gets to see that kind of joy.  What about those who are sick?  What about those who have to tend to the needs of a loved one?  What about those who are in prison—both justly and unjustly?  What about those who are poor?  What about all those people who seem to have no reason to celebrate anything at all?  Where is their joy to be found?

In our lesson this morning we see John the Baptist again, only this time he’s not preaching and baptizing in the Judean wilderness.  He’s in a prison cell—for what?  For telling the truth.  Where is his joy to be found?  Today we get to travel with John’s disciples to go see Jesus and find the answer.      

I.      When we see His glory.

For John the Baptist I think it’s safe to say that things were not going the way he expected.  John had preached against the sin of adultery—particularly the sin of adultery that King Herod was committing by marrying the wife of His half-brother.  So now he was in a prison cell, looking at a death sentence.  For John his life was only a matter of time. 

John knew that Jesus was the Christ—he still believed that.  Yet that didn’t stop him from having questions, didn’t stop him from wanting to be reassured of his hope.  So he directs his question to Jesus:  “Are You the Coming One, or should we wait for someone else?” (v. 3)

It turns out that he sent his disciples to the right place!  Jesus said, “Go, report to John what you hear and see:  The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the gospel is preached to the poor. Blessed is the one who does not take offense at me” (v. 4-6).  There were plenty of reasons for John to be joyful—reasons that John and his disciples could see for themselves.  Christ had revealed His glory in some astounding ways!    

You talk to the people that Jesus healed, to the parents of that girl that Jesus raised back from the dead.  You talk to the people who heard Jesus preach.  All those people will tell you that the coming of Jesus Christ is their greatest joy!  They got to see His glory as true God—as He brought healing and hope to their lives!  John’s disciples got to take back word to him of everything they saw that showed that Jesus was, in fact, the Coming One who was promised.  And John could rejoice in what they saw. 

And that joy belongs to us!  The joy that comes from seeing the glory of Christ in our lives! Just think of all the ways that Christ has blessed us.  There’s a neat little video online that depicts one family getting up for Christmas morning—and they’re all gift-wrapped!  The husband is gift-wrapped, the wife is gift-wrapped.  The kids come running into the room wrapped in wrapping paper and ribbons.  The faucet in the bathroom is decorated with a bow and even the light switch in the living room has been covering in wrapping paper. 

The point of the video is that the gifts at Christmas aren’t just the ones under the tree—but really everything we have is a gift!  And I would take it a step further and say this:  everything we have is a gift of God’s grace in Christ!  Everything!    

But the greatest gift of all—the greatest evidence we can see when it comes to the glory of God in Christ, is the gift of His good news.  The good news of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, to the praise of angels and the wonder of shepehrds; the good news of His life and ministry, as He brought healing and hope in the kingdom of God; the good news of His sinless death on the cross and His resurrection on the third day.  This glory of Christ that’s readily visible in to us in Scripture—this is what makes Christ’s coming truly our joy!     

It even makes Christ’s coming our joy--

II.     When we don’t see His glory. 

As John the Baptist’s disciples were heading back with the good news, Jesus took the opportunity to say a few words to the crowd about John.  He said, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?… A man dressed in soft clothing?…  So what did you go out to see?  A prophet?  Yes, I tell you!  And he is much more than a prophet.  This is the one about whom it is written, ‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’  Amen I tell you: Among those born of women there has not appeared anyone greater than John the Baptist. Yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”  John the Baptist was languishing in a prison cell!  If we had seen John the Baptist like that in our time at around this time of year, we would say that John wasn’t having a “good Christmas.”

We encounter all kinds of people who aren’t having a “good Christmas.”  People who are sick; people who have lost loved ones; people who are poor and in need.  People who have problems—money problems, work problems, problems with the family.  Problems with depression or substance abuse.   

Yet in spite of all the problems, you find people in those circumstances—people you’d expect to be having a “bad Christmas”—they’re having the best Christmas of all!  They’re patient and kind to others in the store, even though everyone else is running around like a headless chicken.  They smile when you greet them on the street—not with a superficial fake smile, but with the smile of sincere joy! Because they realize that the joy of Christ’s coming isn’t just about the glory we can see.  That there’s such a thing as a hidden greatness, a hidden glory. 

Yeah, John the Baptist didn’t look like much—but he was the Lord’s prophet!  He was the Second Elijah, the promised Forerunner to the coming Christ, a prophet without equal!  And in spite of being stuck in a prison cell, John knew that there was an eternal victory waiting for him—a victory he would have because Christ had indeed come into the world.  And he could wait for that day with patient joy!         

Jesus didn’t seem like much either during His life on this earth; appearing as the lowly infant son of a young virgin, born in a stable, laid in a manger, growing up to suffer and die on a cross.  But there was a hidden glory behind His suffering:  the glory of suffering that paid for the sins of the whole world. 

Maybe the person having a “bad Christmas” this year isn’t someone else; maybe it’s you.  Parties and family get-togethers help us forget about some of our problems for a while—but when the party’s over, when the vacation’s over, our problems are still there waiting for us.    

Well, Christ’s coming can still be your joy too.  Not the joy of partying, but deeper, eternal joy.  The joy of Christ’s glory—not the glory we can see, but the hidden glory that we can’t see.  The glory of having a life that’s being conformed to Christ—even in the midst of our suffering.  The glory of knowing that our problems aren’t going to be around forever; since Christ came as a baby in all humility, He has ultimately taken care of all those problems and one day He’s going to come again—and take care of all our problems for good. 

It’s that hidden glory that truly makes Christ’s coming our joy.  Joy that shows itself in the patient way we deal with life.  Joy that is expressed in the loving ways we treat one another.  Joy that gives real meaning to the celebrations and get-togethers of the season.   

It’s a joyous time of year.  But not because of the parties or the cookies or the get-togethers.  It’s a joyous time of year because of the glory we get to see—not just the glory of the gifts God has given in our lives, but the hidden glory behind a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger.  The glory of the Gospel.  The glory that brings true joy.  Christ’s coming is our joy—now and forever.  Amen.