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One of the most important questions in ancient Judea. The time of Jesus was a time of Messianic expectations. I don’t think we can say there is any one way to understand who the Messiah was to be and what was going to happen when the Messiah comes in the Jewish expectation. But, there were certainly some or those who assumed, hoped that the coming Messiah would be one who would overturn the powerful and give the people of Judea back there land and Kingdom.

And it kind of makes sense that they might hope for or expect some kind of Kingdom. In 330 BCE, Alexander the Great of Greece took over the area and expanded his empire to include Judea and then there’s a lot of history and a lot of back and forth, and it ended with the Maccabean revolt and the Hasmonean dynasty. Some of the Jewish community rose up against their Greek occupiers led by a family known as the Maccabeans and in 140 BCE there became a king in Judea who was from the land. And that Kingdom and dynasty lasted officially until 37 BCE. It was displaced by the Herodian dynasty of Herod the Great. He married a Hasmonean princess to maintain that kind of lineage and authority and right to be called King. Course Herod was going to work with Rome and we end up in the first century with Jesus and Rome and Herod the Great’s descendants all occupied.

But you can see how there would be this expectation. This story, this remembrance of this uprising of when they were in control of their own destiny and you can see how that would become the template for how they moved to the world with hope.

No, we don’t know a whole lot about John but there is a whole book about him that I haven’t gotten to read yet. What we do know is that he was born of a faithful Jewish elite leader in the temple, a priest. It is highly likely that John grew up on the stories of the Maccabees and the Hasmoneans and of a time when they weren’t living under occupation. It’s likely that these stories did absolutely what they were supposed to do and they radicalized John.

When we met John down by the river, as an adult, not in the womb, he was fiery. He spoke of the one who was to come, the messiah was one who would come to divide, that the ax was at the tree, there would be fire–these were violent images. He baptized people, even Jesus, in preparation for the new world that was coming.

And since then, he has been in prison, arrested for the disruption that he made. He probably wasn’t in some palace dungeon, but in a prison that sat just below street level, allowing him to hear what is happening in the world but making it very difficult for him to communicate with the world outside.

Maybe he sat in this dungeon, with little light, listening to the sounds coming from his little window, listening to the news, and not hearing anything of the messiah rising up, no army gathering, no marching to reclaim Jerusalem. It seems he had heard about Jesus, maybe he knew what he knew about Jesus, and yet…. no stories of the messiah rising up.

He must have been confused. Maybe disappointed.

His whole life was that little window. He was able to share a little with those he knew and trust, those who had been his disciples, if they laid down on the street and pressed their faces against the bars. “Is it him?” he asked. “Was he the one we have been waiting for? Is he the one that I was called to proclaim?” It’s almost as if he was wondering if he had done what he was supposed to do. He must have known he was never going to be free again, he was looking toward his death, and he needed to know if he had done what he was called to or if he had failed.

And when his disciples showed up and word for word asked the questions that John wanted them to ask. Jesus didn’t just answer their questions. He didn’t get into a debate about who the Messiah was. What the expectations of the Messiah should be.

And the second half of our story continues discussing with the group that was around him even after John’s disciples had left. He was with those who knew? John who’d been baptized by John who had been John’s adversaries. They too were looking for the Messiah. They’re looking for the one that would set this world right in their minds and their understanding. But it seems they would never be satisfied. Why was John so grieving and weeping when we wanted him to dance? And why is Jesus always hanging out? Eating and drinking with sinners when it’s time to be lamenting.

And it’s like that. There have been multiple times while I’m reading a book and I wish the author would have done something absolutely different than they did. One of the times was Orange is the New Black. It was the woman’s memoir and her story of time in prison and I wish she had used that opportunity to expose more of the systemic issues for women incarcerated. Here’s the thing. I also had to realize that I couldn’t rate a book on a scale of 1 to 5 Stars , I couldn’t give it one star based on what I would have done. I’m sorry I had to evaluate the book based on its own merit and not my expectations. But that same can be said for events, dinners, vacations. I’ve been to some funerals that weren’t bad, just… perplexing. We do that to people. We learn a little about them and think we know everything… and we’re absolute surprised at how wrong we can be.

They were judging Jesus on their own expectations. They decided Jesus as Messiah? one star.

And Jesus wasn’t willing to get into the debate with them. When they showed up, he didn’t answer their question and he didn’t debate and he didn’t give them a lesson on who the Messiah was demonstrated. Jesus demonstrated the breath of healing life and the restoration of life and good news to the poor. Wasn’t about the games. Wasn’t about winning. Or being right. Or all the expectations. Or doing it correctly.

Jesus ends he talk about John with this benediction: Blessed are who are take no offense, who are not scandalized by Jesus, who do not stumble because of Jesus. How many of those gathered that day were scandalized by the image of the messiah that he presented? Stumbled in their mind by what they had imagined?

How often are we scandalized by the upending of the world that Jesus had spoken of, that he was creating? When we really think about the first being last and the last being first, about not centering ourselves in our world but to care for the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the oppressed. Of the overturning of powers and systems that we have benefited from… can we really say, if we imagine what it would be like, we wouldn’t be scandalized by it? And we certainly can name times in our histories where individuals and institutions have stumbled in their call to love by what the world looks like when the healing is expansive, life restored, and good news was given to the poor. So much so that many have re-written what Jesus was like, what he stood for, what he meant, to fit their narrative. And then have made it a statement of faith, of belief, of creed.

It doesn’t seem to be what Jesus is about. He wasn’t about the questions that might trip us up. And I don’t want us to think that we shouldn’t ask questions. We as a whole, are a heady, intellectual Christian community. We ask questions, wonder about the history and this historical accuracy and context.

He invited the disciples of John to look deeply at the pain, the struggling, the grief, the hurt, the suffering around them. See it, really see it. See there are lives there, stories, people connected, hopes and dreams. And see the transformation.

In the end, whatever the questions or the answers, it’s about lives changed. Is there healing in whatever way we might find it and are you bringing healing in whatever way you can? Is life being restored and are you part of that restoration? Is there good news being brought to the poor and can you bring it? Have the captive been set free and are you holding the bolt cutters? Have the least powerful been raised up and have you offered your hand in assistance, given them a platform to tell their stories on their terms? These are the marks of the communities of Christ followers. This is what he announced at the beginning, what he is doing in the middle, what he will call the disciples to in the end. This is it.

I don’t know Jesus is to you. I don’t know what you personally believe today or if it will change tomorrow. I don’t know if you have a hundred questions or if you are certain. You can have every one of them. Ask all your questions. But… can you lean into the call, into love, into the world turned upside down? Can you see, even through your questions, lives changed, healing of spirits and hopes, lives brought to restoration, goodness-good news-to the poor, the oppressed, the captive? Can you see it in yourself, in the world around you? Can you see the work of Jesus in the lives around you and how can you be part of it? That is what this is all about–to see Christ as is, in the breath of healing and good news, as it and not always as we expect.

Jesus, the unexpected messiah?

5 stars.