Third Monday in Advent

Zech. 1:7-17; Rev. 3:7-13; Matthew 24:15-31

“If anyone says to you, ‘Look! Here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There he is!’ - do not believe it.”  

At first glance it seems to me that we do not have this problem.  If anything, most of the people I know would not believe it if they were told Jesus was standing in front of them - unless they could understand it metaphorically, a gesture to the Christ in each of us.  But the idea that a singular person might be the Messiah, the Holy One of God, is so foreign even to church people (or especially to us?) that this saying seems unnecessary.

And yet, how often do we look for Messiahs?  In an election year, there are plenty of people who would like to be our Messiah.  They employ people to convince us that they are in fact the answer to our prayers.  But it’s not just politics.  We look for wise ones whose books we can read (rather than following their path).  We look for people whose achievements make us feel good, even as our own lives disintegrate.  We look for friends or spouses who will save us from loneliness or insecurity.  And some people will always volunteer for the part.

But Jesus’ story reminds us that this Messiah business is tricky.  It’s so tempting - so human - to look for the Messiah among the strong or pseudo-strong.  Just as Jesus’ followers kept waiting for him to sound the battle call, we can think we know what the Messiah will look like and do.  We’re usually wrong.

God is the surprise business.  God is not in the wish-fulfillment business, delivering us what we think we need.  God is in the business of doing more than we can ask or imagine, and asking us to do the same.  It is only when we accept the limitations of our humanity, with their accompanying fears, that we can wait with open hearts and minds.  Then we just might sneak a glimpse of the Holy One walking down our street.

Where have you looked for a Messiah?  How did that work out for you?

How will you prepare to wait today?