John the Baptist was a "Van Gogh" among the prophets.  He was the one who lived out in the harshness of the wilderness and was said to have survived on a diet of locust, beans, and honey.  He was the one who came with an urgent message, "Get ready, Turn around, The Kingdom is coming, The time to repent is now!"  He was the one who took the people aside and said, "If you're serious about the Kingdom, prove it.  Let me put you down under the waters as a public declaration of your faith.  It's all or nothing."

It wasn't long before he found himself in trouble.  He hit out at Herod because he was offended by the rulers lack of morals.  It landed him in jail.  And somehow that experience knocked the stuffing out of John.  He started to have doubts.  Had he done the right thing proclaiming Jesus as the promised One?  Was He the Messiah?  Some of John's disciples are sent to Jesus with a probing question.  "John wants to know, are you the One?  Or should we expect some other?"

Here we are in the midst of our preparations for Christmas.  The decorated trees are up.  We're singing carols.  We're trying to say to everybody, "Good News, The Savior is born.”   We celebrate Christmas Day and declare, "Joy to the World."

Yet sometimes we have our doubts about this season, about our faith and a whole heavenly host of other things.  Events come along in our lives that cause us to ask questions.  Why has this happened?  Haven't I tried to live a good life, and now this?  We can appear to be in a similar position to John and feel like asking Jesus, "Well, are you the One?  Or should I go off in a different direction to find fulfillment in my life?"

John came to his moment of questioning in the darkness of a prison.  That's not the best perspective from which to be speaking.  In life there are prisons of our own making:  habits that we can't seem to break free from, attitudes that we know aren't glorifying to God, and situations that are dragging us down.  We do not see a way out.  They change our perspective and cause us to doubt.

To prepare the way for a meaningful celebration of Christmas we need to work through those doubts.  For how can we welcome a Savior if we're not sure He is the One who can save us?  How can we speak of light in the darkness unless we allow Him to lighten the dark places of our own lives?

From our passage for today, one thing comes though crystal clear.  While John had his questions about Jesus, Jesus had no doubts about John.  Jesus questions the crowd: "When you went out to see John the Baptizer you didn't expect to see someone weak and pliable, like a blade of grass blowing in the wind.  You didn't go out to see a prince all dressed up in his fine clothes.  You went to see a prophet!"  Verse 9 concludes, "Yes, indeed, but you saw much more than a prophet."

Jesus spoke in the highest terms about John.  John was the promised Elijah who had to come before the New Kingdom could come.  John was the intersection between the religion of ritual and law of the Old Testament and the new order of Grace and Love in the New Testament.  The religion of Moses, David, the Jewish Kings, and the prophets was about to explode with color like one of Van Gogh's paintings and become a universal force that would embrace all people and all nations.

Sometimes people have a hard time believing in God because they are not sure that God really believes in them.  I'm using the word 'believe' here in the fullest sense of the word.  I'm not questioning the reality of God or suggesting that God questions your reality.  Rather I'm saying that we need to recognize that God is on our side, that God believes in us, that God sees us as His children - full of tremendous potential and promise.

How did John discover that God still believed in him?  Jesus sends John this message:

"The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.

 Blessed are those who have no doubts about me."

For John, those words were all the confirmation he needed for his faith to be reborn. John would have immediately recognized Isaiah's words:  Say to those who are of a fearful heart, "Be strong, and do not fear! Here is your God... He will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped;  then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert." (Isaiah 35:4-6)

John knew his scriptures.  One way of lifting our expectations at Christmas time is to focus upon God's Word.  We are not always as conversant with God's Word as John had become.  The words of Scripture are so easily accessible that we no longer treasure them and store them in our hearts. Yet if we make a conscious effort to apply God’s Word to our lives, God has a habit of encouraging us. 

When we go through a dark time it is hard to believe that light will ever come.  Mary and Joseph made the journey to Bethlehem only to find there was no room at the inn and their son had to be born in a stable.  Jesus, as He hung on the cross, made a cry of abandonment, "My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?"

John was not abandoned in his prison.  He felt it.  But then God spoke and though outwardly nothing changed his heart leapt for joy.  God did not forsake Mary and Joseph when there was no room at the Inn. God was working out God’s purposes.  God had not abandoned Christ on the Cross; rather, through that desperate cry of Jesus, God was showing to the world that there is no God-forsaken place in the whole of creation that God’s love is not capable of transforming.

We can prepare ourselves to truly celebrate the Christmas message by looking beyond the confines of imprisoning situations and catching a glimpse of the larger picture.  We can rejoice that the message that began in the obscurity of a lonely stable is now spread throughout the world and continues to be a transforming influence for good.

We can prepare ourselves to truly celebrate the Christmas message by realizing that although we often let ourselves down and let each other down, God still believes in us.  He believes in us enough to come to us in Jesus Christ, to take upon Himself all the limitations of human life and death, to come as a Savior, as a light in the darkness, as a bearer of compassion and love to a hurting and sometimes hateful world.

The artist, Vincent Van Gogh, had a vision, had a way of looking at things that enabled him to make a particular contribution to art.   Whereas one artist just saw a field of corn under a cloudy sky, he sought to record more than just the scene.  Through color and the way the paint was fashioned on the canvas he communicated how the situation moved him.  He endeavored to give us a glimpse of what was going on in his soul.

Our calling as Christians is to model the Christian life for others.  That in itself is an art.  If we earnestly and prayerfully seek to glorify God in our Christmas celebrations, then others will take note.  We will offer them a vision that goes beyond the commercialism and sentimentality of the season and reveals the tremendous cosmic drama that lies behind.

There are many in our world, who like John, are imprisoned by the things that life has brought their way.  They are questioning, “Well, is Jesus the One? Or should we be looking for something else?”  Here is the challenge before us:  To proclaim to the world, through word and through deed, the same message that lifted John’s spirits in prison.

"The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.

 Blessed are those who have no doubts about me."

May God help us

Through our preparations

(And celebrations)

To lift others expectations

As to what God can do

In their situations!

AMEN