Merredin Uniting Church

Isaiah 35:1-10

Matthew 11:2-11

We started the season of Advent by reminding ourselves that it is a season of preparation – specifically we found that it is “a waiting place” as we await the coming of the Messiah;

He who came that first Christmas,

He who comes to us now in our need,

and He who will come again to gather us unto Him.

Last week we saw that “everything is going to different ” because Jesus has come, is coming and will come into our lives.

Today, in our windup of this season, as we prepare to celebrate the season of the Christ we will see just how different life really can be, because Christ has entered in.

Isaiah paints a picture of a desert which blooms; of strength which comes to the weak and of courage which comes to the fearful.

In his vision of the Messianic Kingdom He says that the blind will see, the deaf will hear, the lame will leap with joy and the mute tongue will shout for joy.

There will be streams in the desert and the burning sand will bubble with springs.

He describes the Highway of Holiness upon which the ransomed of the Lord will come with singing into Zion.

It is a dramatically changed landscape ….

It is a picture of restoration – of hope springing forth, right at the point of hopelessness.

Deserts harbour rivers,

Blind, deaf, lame and mute people have their senses restored.

A path going nowhere becomes a Highway to heaven.

It is a metamorphosis …

The dictionary describes metamorphosis as “a profound change in form from one stage to the next in the life history of an organism”.

Metamorphosis seldom comes without a struggle – when the Kingdom comes amongst us, it does not begin with the singing, or with gladness and joy.

It begins with sorrow and sighing … but once the Kingdom comes … when we enter Zion, according to the prophet, then everlasting joy will be upon our heads and the gladness and joy will overtake us …. and finally the sorrow and sighing will flee away.

We want to resist the struggle. We don’t want to repent, we are reluctant to confess our weakness and failure – but these things are necessary if we are to discover the fullness of the life in the Kingdom of God – where Christ reigns in our hearts

Let me tell you a story …

A man found a cocoon for a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through the little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and could go no farther. Then the man decided to help the butterfly.

He took a pair of scissors and snipped the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. Something was strange. The butterfly had a swollen body and shrivelled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened. In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and deformed wings. It was never able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand, was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the small opening of the cocoon are God`s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon. Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life.

If God allowed us to go through all our life without any obstacles, that would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. Not only that, we could never fly.

The promise of Advent – the coming of the Messiah – is about the complete change which Jesus brings into our life.

Deserts which bloom, blind people who see, lame people who walk, deaf people who hear and so on …

That’s the promise of Advent … but there is also the journey of Advent. And sometimes that can be quite painful.

Did you notice that John was in prison when he sent his disciples to Jesus with the question, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”

He had previously known the answer to that question. Just last week we reflected on John’s comments about the Messiah and the baptism of Jesus – He had heard the voice from heaven – “This is my Son. in whom I am well pleased”, he had seen the Spirit descend upon the Lord.

But now he is suffering in jail and he needs reassurance – “Are you the One?”

This happens in the midst of our own struggles … we begin to question what we had previously held to be true and firm. Our faith does get shaken in the struggle, we do begin to wonder.

But this is the time to hold fast. Here is the push forward – like the butterfly. This is maturity, when we look beyond the present moment into the hope of God’s promise.

Jesus does not respond to John’s question with a simple “yes”. That would be grim comfort for a man in prison.

Instead our Lord points beyond the present, into the promise which is already being realised. He points to the restoration, the metamorphosis, the hope fulfilled.

The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the outcast are invited in, the deaf are hearing, the dead are being raised and the poor are discovering good news – This is the promise of Kingdom come.

I believe that John would have been greatly comforted by Jesus’ response. He would have seen beyond the walls of the prison, beyond his imminent death, into the realised promise of God which had been revealed in Christ Jesus.

John was no weakling – no reed swayed by the wind. This was not a man who sought the comforts and graces of life – fine clothes and king’s palaces.

No, John was the messenger of the Kingdom. And he, perhaps more than we realise, knew about the struggle which was needed for this message to be realised. He knew that it required repentance; he knew that it required the chopping down of fruitless trees and the burning of chaff.

In a sense, John would have known in Jesus’ response that his own end had come. The message he had come to deliver was now realised – now he had nothing more to offer, he was chaff in the wind.

Has the Kingdom come upon you this Advent? Are you ready for the coming of the Lord?

Not just for another celebration of Christmas, with all its joyful singing and sharing … Are you ready for Christ to enter your heart and life? Are you ready for Jesus to return? Will he find you expectant and ready to burst forth from the cocoon?

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