Not Waiting for Change — Being the Change

John the Baptist's Worry

Matthew takes us back to John the Baptist in our gospel reading, and John is really quite worried. It's interesting why he's concerned — and even more interesting how Jesus answers him.

John had introduced Jesus by saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is about to come. Big changes are about to happen, and this man is going to be the agent who brings about the change." Then John talked about Jesus coming with a whip and an ax. The picture is really quite severe. The change John seemed to be envisaging was: we're going to smash things up and start all over again.

But then we hear the reading from Matthew's gospel where John the Baptist is in prison, and he's worried. He sends his disciples to Jesus to ask, "Are you the one? Did we get it wrong? Because you're not doing all the smashing up. What's going on? What are you doing?"

Jesus kindly responds: "Go and tell John what's happening. The people are being healed. People are being restored. The poor are having good news preached to them. Things are beginning to change."

Jesus Didn't Stay in the Waiting Room

What had happened was that Jesus actually shared the message of John the Baptist about turning to God — but Jesus didn't stay in the waiting room. John the Baptist and many others waited on the other side of the Jordan River for the big change to happen, and then they'd enter the land. Jesus entered the land. And by entering the land and doing things, he was saying, "Big change is happening. It's happening now. It's not just coming."

"Your kingdom come" was what he taught his disciples to pray. But "your kingdom come" also means it can come now — it can come as people are renewed.

Jesus didn't go out with an ax or cut people down or smash things up. Jesus reached out to people who were isolated — who had marginalized themselves or been marginalized by others. People with disabilities. People with illness. People who were rogues, like Zacchaeus climbing up the tree. Women, older people, children — Jesus reached out to them all.

He was saying to John the Baptist, "Don't be offended at what I'm doing. I just see it a little bit differently. We're actually engaged in bringing about the kingdom of God already, to some extent, now."

Come and Follow — Or Stay and Be a Partner

Jesus went out and recruited people. He said, "Come and follow me." For some of them, he actually meant that literally — come and join my group, we're going to wander around Galilee and do these things, and you can be part of it. You can share in this work for other people.

But to others he said, "Follow me" — and what he meant was: stay where you are, at home, and be a person who's a partner with God in God's kingdom. Let God's empire, God's way of doing things, let change happen in your life and bring it to the lives of other people.

Partners in God's Kingdom — Now

This is a really important difference between Jesus and John the Baptist. They share the fundamental message: turn to God and get ready for change. But Jesus said, "You and I can be involved in this already." And that's still true for us today.

Some people think the gospel is only about forgiveness of sins. That's not to get past first base. Jesus started with that and continued with it, but then he went on to say the change we're talking about is something we can be involved in now. God calls us to be partners. God calls us to share that kindness, that change, with people now.

That's the invitation for you and me too. We can be partners of God, partners of God's love, partners of change where we are. That's what it means to be a follower of Jesus. That's also what it means to be church.

O God, we give you thanks for your invitation — that we can be your partners, that you call us to be good news: good news for the poor in our community, in our families, in our world. Help us, we pray, to be your partners. Strengthen us that we may be effective bearers of good news to all, for we come in the name of Jesus. Amen.