Sermon Advent III, 14 December 2025
Readings: Isaiah 35.1-10; James 5.7-10; Matthew 11.2-11
Theme: Which Messiah?
We Christians sometimes have a quite false image of Judaism at the time of Jesus. We can tend to see it as if it were simply a ‘religion’, in the sense of what people do on holy days by going to a synagogue. In truth, the Judaism at the time of Jesus was a whole way of life. It governed everything from what you eat, to who you eat it with, and how you went about your daily business and leisure. Judaism, in this sense was not simply a ‘religion’ it was a lifestyle.
Moreover, there was not one homogeneous ‘Judaism’, but rather many different ‘Judaisms’, each with their own styles, patterns of belief and worldviews. Judaism was pluralistic because there were different interpretations as to what was expected of a faithful Jew. These expectations grew out of different readings of the Torah; of what it meant to follow the law and the observances laid down in it. God had given this law to Moses so that the Israelites could follow God’s ways and by so doing, live happily and in peace in the land that God would provide for them as a blessing for countless generations to come.
For this reason, there were heated debates about what living faithfully in this promised land entailed, about which was the true or pure strand of Judaism to follow in this promised land, and about who had the correct views about important religious beliefs such as the place of kingship in Judaism and whether following death there will be a resurrection, for example. Consequently, a constant feature of Judaism at the time was the ongoing consideration of how it needed to be reformed so as to return to its true identity. Such preoccupations with reformation happen in most religious traditions and consequently, Judaism is no exception in this. And, because, at the time of Jesus, there were many different interpretations as to what Judaism was really meant to be about, there were also very different conceptions as to whom they should await in the advent of the mysterious messianic figure long foretold in the holy scriptures. So, the question of John the Baptist, conveyed by his disciples to Jesus in the gospel for this third Sunday of Advent, is truly apposite: “Are you the one who is to come or are we to await another?”
So, which types of Messiah were the Jews waiting for? This enquiry into which of the possible types of Messiah is the background to understanding the true import of the question of John the Baptist, because he knew full well that within the pluralism of the Judaism of his day, there were different possible contenders. The type of Messiah expected obviously depended upon the type of Judaism in question. For some, this would be a military leader who would galvanize the divided forces of Judaism against the Roman occupation. For others, it would be an apocalyptic figure who would inaugurate the end of days, and so on.
So, when, as part of his reply to John’s disciples, Jesus answers that his messenger, John, was not someone dressed in fine robes and living in a royal palace, but rather the prophetic figure who is dressed in camel hair and living off wild locusts in the desert, he is affirming a certain type of Judaism that was more in harmony with the prophets Malachi and Isaiah, as we hear in our first reading for this Sunday. The true Messiah is the one who is sent to restore sight to the blind and to make the deaf hear. He is the one sent to bring the good news to the poor and to liberate the captives, not the projected fantasy of those who were looking for a political Messiah to crush the Roman occupation with royal force.
Crush the occupation Jesus will, and announce the end of days in the coming of the kingdom he shall, but not in the way envisaged by those who were awaiting a different kind of Messiah. The one whom John recognizes as the true Messiah is the one who will indeed bring liberation and announce the kingdom, but not as a powerful military leader, as some had hoped for at the time. His liberation will restore Judaism to its roots in true fidelity to the covenant made by God with Abraham and later renewed with Noah. It is through this reformed Judaism that the message of the Christ will be proclaimed for all the world to hear. A message which is truly good news because finally it has become clear which Messiah we were to await: Jesus, the Lord.
This is why as Christians, we do well to recognize the importance of our own Jewish roots. We have been grafted onto the tree of Jesse and share the same heritage as our Jewish sisters and brothers. The patriarchs, Abraham, Moses, Isaac and Jacob, the prophets of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the kings Saul, David and Solomon are also a central part of our own religious patrimony. This is why we have such a veneration for the Old Testament and we read it each week at our services, because in it, we see the unfolding story of the revelation of God that will be brought to fullness in the coming of the Messiah (Christ) and the sending of the Holy Spirit.
It is in and through the advent of this Messiah and the sending of the Holy Spirit that the good news has been announced, that even the gentiles, like you and me, are to be included in God’s family through the faith freely given to us that enables us to be adopted into God’s own Son (John 1.12). This adoption means that, just like our Jewish sisters and brothers, we belong to God’s family. A family that has been brought together precisely because the Messiah who has come wills that all should be saved. So, if the message came first through the Jews and their religious heritage, it has now spread to the whole world through the Gentiles. May this message of true justice, lasting peace and divine love continue to spread, so that all may come to know and love the Messiah, Jesus our Lord.