are you the one?

The gospel text for this Sunday strikes me as strange.

Jesus has been healing the blind, deaf, sick, and paralyzed. He has cured leprosy. He has cast out demons. He has been preaching good news to the poor, teaching, and collecting followers. He has raised a girl from death.

Aside from that weirdness, here’s what I find even stranger:

While in prison, John the Baptist hears rumors all of this activity, so he asks his disciples to go to Jesus and conduct a little interview: “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”

What?!

The Gospel of Matthew featured John in chapter 3, preaching his heart out in the wilderness of Judea. He had been proclaiming with confidence that the kingdom of heaven had drawn near. He was baptizing people in the Jordan and pointing to a more powerful one who would come and baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit. He himself had baptized Jesus.

I find it strange that John didn’t know if Jesus was “the one” or not! I’d like to think that the prophet who did all that bold proclaiming, prophesying, and baptizing in the middle of nowhere knew what he was talking about…but apparently not. Apparently, when Jesus appeared on the scene and started doing what he was doing, John was just as surprised as everybody else.

In other words, he had been paving the way for one he didn’t recognize.

I find it strange….and exciting. 

Each Advent, we prepare for one whom we do not know. We prepare for one who is peace, might, justice, and love, but when that one comes, we find ourselves surprised by the majesty and magnitude of God’s grace. We discover love more compassionate than we thought, peace more profound, might gentler, and justice less violent.

Each Advent, we prepare to receive one bigger than our imagination, more merciful than our wildest dream, more benevolent than our hope. We prepare to receive one who draws near yet remains shrouded in mystery. We attempt the impossible: to prepare for awe.

If John the Baptist wasn’t prepared, how will we ever be? Want more? Click here to read Matthew 11:2-11. 

what comes in and what goes out

Even after years of coaching, training, scripture reading, teaching, leading, parenting, partnering, and practice, I’m still betrayed by my mouth.

I still drop little slip-ups, slurs, and an occasional foul word from time to time. I often stay silent, neglecting to say the right thing, even when I know it will make a difference. Sometimes I find myself babbling on and on. I’ll listen to myself and think, “What are you talking about?!”

I say I’m for peace, then I yell at my kids. I declare myself to be a gossip-free zone, then find myself talking about the latest thing that didn’t go my way, careful to assess blame in the “proper place.” And let’s just say I don’t always speak well of the people with whom I share the road.

I’m ashamed; I should know better. Sometimes I apologize, but mostly I hope no one notices. But I notice.

And I notice that I’m betrayed not only but what comes out of my mouth, but also by what goes in.

My taste buds seem to operate with a force and desire completely uncontrollable. I know what to eat and what not to eat; what promotes good health and what doesn’t. And I start off each day with determination to eat and drink the “right things.” But usually by 3 or 4 in the afternoon, my determination is worn down and my taste buds win. I find myself eating something unhealthy as if my hands and mouth belong to an alien that’s taken over.

I don’t think I’m alone.

James writes that the tongue (I’ll say the mouth) is the most powerful force in the human body. With it we can build up or tear down. We can promote health, or hasten disease. We can strengthen community or destroy it.

But the mouth is not really the problem. Strength and weakness are attributes of the heart, mind, and soul; the mouth is just a portal to what lies within.

If there is a fresh spring welling up inside of me, my mouth will be a fount of life.

If I am depressed, my mouth will reveal it in its speaking and eating.

In other words, healthy speaking, eating, and living are symptoms of a personal will aligned with the will of God.

That’s why James also says, “The prayers of one right with God are a powerful thing to be reckoned with.”  Those prayers heal, give life, and build up because they spring from God’s own desire. And for the one right with God, the body itself is a hollow temple housing God’s very spirit. For the one right with God, the mouth is no problem.

I think my speech and my eating habits are indicators of the relative strength/weakness of my interior life. They point me back to relationship with God and neighbor, like warning signals alerting me that something needs attention.

And I find that a heart right with God is far more powerful than any diet.  Want more? Click here to read James 3.