December 16, 2007 — 5:14 PM
You want me to do what?
Scripture: Matthew 11:2-11
When you hear the word "missionary" what do you think? Do positive images spring to mind? How about about negative images? Is there a person or people whom you know that are missionaries? What do you know about the work they do?
Think about those questions for a bit while we watch a clip of one understanding of missionaries and the work they do. This clip is taken from the Simpsons episode called "Missionary:Impossible." Leading up to the scene we are about to watch, Homer is being chased by an angry mob and he runs into the church yelling, "Sanctuary! Sanctuary!" Rev. Lovejoy takes pity on him and helps him escape by hiding him in a bag of children's letters to God. After sneaking him past the mob, Rev. Lovejoy puts Homer on a plane that is taking supplies to missionaries working in "Microasia." Let's watch what happens when the plane lands.
[clip - 8:20-10:49]
What does that clip tell us about popular understandings of missionary work? [get feedback from congregation]
- can't wait to get out of there
- squelching any beliefs natives might hold
- re-teaching them what they really should believe
- digging wells
- building a chapel
Do those understandings overlap with your own? Do they differ? How would you describe the work of missionaries? What is your reaction to that word? [get feedback from congregation]
When I was a kid, the church I attended sponsored a woman who worked as a missionary in Bangladesh. She came back to the U.S. every couple of years to do fund-raising and educational events. At these events she would share with us about the work that she was doing with the people in that country.
I really liked this woman. She was very friendly and she told very interesting stories. My family had a card with her picture on it and a short description of her mission field that we kept on our refrigerator so that we could pray for her. I received nothing but positive images of the work of missionaries from my interactions with this strong woman of faith.
As I grew older, I read about the history of how Europeans came to the Americas. In my studies I learned about the good things that the missionaries did but I also learned about the many bad things that they had done as well - killing off many of the natives, taking the resources from the land and claiming them as their own, requiring the natives to deny their cultural heritage, and much more.
By the time I finished earning my Spanish degree in college, most of the positive images of missionaries I had received as a child had been replaced by negative ones. The negative practice of making people give up any beliefs about the Divine so that the missionaries could teach them the correct way to understand God seemed to overwhelmed the good work that these people did.
Obviously, there have been many negative acts done in the name of our God. And these acts need to be acknowledge and offered up to God so that we do not do them again. But is it right to discount the good things done by missionaries - things like helping villages dig wells, building schools, teaching local children so that they can get ahead, helping people understand that they have the right to have their basic needs met? Historically, have these good acts been undermined by the harmful acts of telling people that their own understandings of the Divine are incorrect? For some people, the obvious answer is "Yes." But these are questions I continue to struggle with today.
I continue to struggle because of texts like our passage from Matthew for today. This passage highlights the good, miraculous acts that Jesus did for the people who came to him. But it also highlights the prophetic voice of John the Baptist who Jesus identifies as the messenger sent to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah.
John the Baptist preached repentance and baptism. He had a strong opinion about what faith in God should consist of and he wasn't shy about sharing it with all who would listen. He was so opinionated, in fact, that he ended up in prison and eventually was beheaded for offending the queen.
People were drawn to John's message. So much so that they were willing to follow him out into the wilderness to hear what he had to say. Those who chose to be his followers accepted his message that their ways were not God's ways and that they needed to repent and live as changed people. John was a prophetic missionary - bringing to the people the message of God's love that disciplines the wayward.
John and his followers believed that God would send God's anointed one to lead the Jewish people back into favor with God. The prophets from the times of their ancestors had preached this same message. John and his followers suspected that Jesus was this one but they weren't completely sure so they went to Jesus to inquire of him directly. Our text tells us that John sent his followers to Jesus to ask him if he was in fact "the one who was to come." They felt they needed to ask Jesus this question because he wasn't acting in the way that they expected.
When Jesus heard their question he answered, "Duh."
Okay, he didn't really say that. Instead, he lifted up his own actions as proof: he had given sight to the blind, made the lame walk, cured those with leprosy, made the deaf hear, and proclaimed the good news to the poor. Shouldn't those actions have convinced John and his followers that Jesus was the long-expected Messiah?
Well, not exactly. The message of repentance that John preached led him and his followers to believe that the anointed one of God would be a strong military type who would re-establish the earthly kingdom that King David and his line of descendants had ruled over for more than 500 years. And this group of people was not alone in thinking that the Messiah would be such a type. There were many prophets in and around Jerusalem at that time predicting that such a one would come and save them from the tyranny of Roman rule.
Can we really blame these folks for being a little confused when instead of coming with a band of fighting men to wrest control of the land from the Romans Jesus came and healed people and shared with them the good news? I'm guessing that Jesus' actions were more like an anticlimax for them than proof positive that he was indeed the Messiah.
But that was precisely Jesus' point: God's love turns this world on its head. God's love takes the least of these and makes them great. God's love tells a different story.
To those who had been told that they were worthless in society because they were blind or deaf or lame, Jesus said, "You are children of God. You have great worth. Be healed and know that you are a valuable member of this society"
To those who had conditions that rendered them "unclean" in the eyes of the religious authorities, and therefore unable to interact with those deemed "clean," Jesus said, "You are children of God and God's love makes you clean. Go and regain your place among the living."
To those who struggled to provide for even the very basic needs for themselves and their families, Jesus said, "You are children of God. God in God's love wants you to have life and have it abundantly. God wants to provide for your every need. Live without fear for tomorrow."
But even as Jesus offered proof of God's love as shown in Jesus' own miraculous acts, he also affirmed the importance of what John had been doing and praised John's efforts of preparing the way for the Messiah. Indeed, he gave John very high praise when he said, "Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist...."
John's strident calls for repentance had cleared the way for Jesus to come and have an effective ministry. His words had prepared the people to receive the healing that Jesus brought.
The seemingly double message leads me back to my struggle with the idea of missionary work. What is the right way to prepare people's hearts so that Jesus can come and bring healing to those whom society has shunned? How are we to act to tell our broken world a different story - a story where God's love provides for all so that each person can experience the wholeness and safety that God's shalom alone can give?
God wants us to be missionaries in our everyday lives. God wants us to work to meet people's needs so that they can hear the healing message that they are God's beloved children and God wants them to experience true peace. But are we also called to be opinionated about what faith in God means?
I believe the answer is "Yes." God wants us to know that we are beloved children of God and that we are to share the good news of the gospel with all who will listen. God wants our faith to be strong and sure. But God does not call us to be arrogant in this endeavor. The key to this passage is the final line: "yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he [John the Baptist]."
Being children of God means having humility. We are to be strong in our faith in who God is and how God acts to save our broken world. God wants us to have faith like John the Baptist. But God wants us always to remember that God is God, and we are not. We cannot say who or how God will save. We can only witness to the power of God's saving love in our own lives.
The seasons of Advent and Christmas urge us to remember God's ultimate act of humility shown in Christ's incarnation as the baby Jesus lying in the manger. God's love for creation is so great that God gave of God's own self to right the relationship that had gone wrong.
The message of that amazing love is what we are called to share during this Advent season - as well as all year long. That message of love promises to bring peace to a wounded and hurting world. Are we bold enough to share it?
Let us pray: God of grace, give us faith like John the Baptist but give us also the humility of Christ. Help us to be faithful witnesses to your love and the peace that you want all to experience. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
