December 14, 2025 "Are We There Yet?"

3rd Sunday in Advent

Isaiah 35:1-10

Psalm 146:5-10

James 5:7-10

Matthew 11:2-11

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,

grace and peace to you from the one who is to come. Amen

Are we there yet?

Growing up we took several long family road trips

and my parents always packed a large bag of mixed candy

- something only seen around our house in such quantities at Halloween,

 and when we were on the road

as the day stretched on

 and my brother and I were done being in the car,

 we got to pick out a piece, or two, or three out of the bag of candy,

 a much needed pick me up

 that carried us through to our destination-

or at least kept us quiet for as long as it took us to eat the candy. 

Sometimes, even when a destination is exciting,

we need a little pick me up in the middle to keep us going.

 Today we are at the midpoint of our Advent journey

 and as with any trip of some length

the novelty of starting something new has worn off,

 the excited anticipation has been tempered by time

 and we are starting to wonder if we’ll ever arrive

so today we get a foretaste of the feast to come,

 a glimpse of our destination

and along with the glimpse comes joy,

 joy that will carry us to the end.

“Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”

 John asks Jesus through his disciples.

 Yes that John,

John the Baptist

who only last week was gathering crowds in the desert

yelling repent

and dunking people in the river as a sign of their willingness

 to turn their lives around in preparation

 for the even greater one who is coming.

  Since we saw him last

John has even baptized Jesus,

 but his habit of calling out powerful people

 has caught up to him

 and John has to ask his question of Jesus through his disciples

because he is currently sitting in prison,

placed there by Herod

 who got tired of John telling him it wasn’t lawful for him to marry his sister-in-law.

 John was correct

 but power doesn’t like being confronted with the truth

when it gets in the way of what it wants to do.

 So even though John is well, John, no one greater,

sitting in prison, his life very different

 than the way he imagined it would be with the messiah among them,

and he starts to wonder, are we there yet?

“Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” 

And Jesus doesn’t say

‘yes of course I’m the messiah, don’t you believe?’

rather he sends John’s disciples to tell him what they’ve seen,

 the in-breaking of the kingdom of God

as foretold by the prophets

“He will come and save you.” says Isaiah

 “ Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be opened; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.”

“Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help”

 cries the psalmist

 “who gives justice to those who are oppressed, and food to those who hunger. The Lord sets the captive free. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down”

Jesus tells John’s disciples:

 “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with a skin disease are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.” 

It’s as if Jesus is telling him,

‘see, the process is underway,

 even if you in your own life are having a hard time,

look God is at work!’

 offering John the joy of the Lord

even while imprisoned.

That’s the thing about joy,

we can be unhappy and still joyful,

because even if the world is falling apart around us,

we can still see God at work,

we can still rejoice in God.

Joy is the pick me up we need in the middle of the journey

when the reality of the less than perfect

 less than peaceful world is starting to wear us down.

Now much like hope is distinct from optimism,

joy is distinct from happiness,

 “Henri Nouwen puts it this way: while happiness usually depends on circumstances, joy runs deeper. “Joy," he writes, "is the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved and that nothing — sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even death — can take that love away.” https://www.saltproject.org/progressive-christian-blog/2019/12/10/visible-joy-salts-lectionary-commentary-for-advent-week-three 

Much like hope acknowledges the brokenness of reality and still persists,

so too does joy

 but where hope persists in spite of the evidence to the contrary

 joy persists because of the evidence

the moments of good,

 that show without a doubt God is at work

 there is reason for celebration,

 for continuing on the way.

As most of you know our oldest daughter is named Joy.

 Anticipating her arrival

we had a few options for names among them Joy,

but we were waiting to meet her before naming her,

now Joy ended up making her entrance late on Thanksgiving day,

 which meant that there was just one doctor on call at the hospital that day

 and the doctor had had a rough day by the time she got to us,

 I don’t remember exactly but the nurse told us

 she’d delivered one or two sets of twins early and in distress,

 and there were a couple of other emergencies in there as well

and she was worn down

 and then she got to deliver Joy

 no complications, no emergencies,

just a healthy baby arriving as she should

and the sense of relief

and yes joy among the staff was palpable,

pointing us toward her name.

 In the midst of so many things going wrong

 a reminder of how good it is when it goes right.

That’s joy.

As Christians we perpetually live in the middle,

 the already and not yet of God’s kingdom,

Jesus has already come,

 the kingdom of God has come near,

Jesus has even died and risen,

and still the world is not yet whole,

not yet restored to full shalom,

 and so we wait.

The season of Advent teaches us about waiting,

waiting with hope for peace,

 starting to live out the hope right now

living the way of peace,

 and yet we know that that level of excitement and energy is hard to sustain,

that we get tired and wonder are we there yet?

Because it sure seems a long way off,

 and into the middle of our waiting

 Advent points us to the pick me up that we need,

joy,

joy in what God is currently doing,

the glimpses that God is here

even in the midst of so much brokenness, so much suffering

reminders of how good things are when all goes right.

Are we there yet?

We ask Jesus,

and instead of saying

‘no, hang on I’m still working on it’

Jesus instead points us to what we have witnessed,

 a relationship restored,

encouragement arriving at just the right time,

 those without food being fed,

communities surrounding the vulnerable to protect them,

and we rejoice,

these small flickers of light in the darkness

energize us to keep going.

We know we need these moments,

we come to worship in search of these moments of joy,

 in the music, or preaching,

 at the table and in fellowship,

reminders of how good things are when all goes right,

 and Jesus comes to us,

proclaiming the good news that the kingdom of God has come near

gathering us around a table where all are welcome

and there is enough for all

a meal of mercy and forgiveness

strengthening us to then leave this place

 and do for the world what he has just done for us,

 be signs of Gods presence,

so that the whole world may rejoice. Amen