Waiting
Text: Matt. 11:2-15, James 5:7-11
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
It’s become a fairly common point of conversation to talk about how early holiday things show up now. Homes and stores sport decorations for holidays over a month in advance. Radio stations switch to Christmas music before Thanksgiving has even happened. Even within the sacred walls of the Church, the pressure to skip Advent and dive fully into Christmas right away—with carols and decorations and all—becomes greater as the culture capsizes that direction. And while we might try to blame things like the commercialization of the holidays or the need of corporations to make more and more money off consumers, there’s another reason. But this reason forces us to look in the mirror with a strong dose of honesty. The issue is that we are not patient.
We live in a world where we can get whatever we want faster than any other humans have been able to obtain their whims and wishes. Overnight shipping, search engines filled with data, AI generators, anything and everything delivered—it all makes us think that this is the way that everything should be. We want problems—from a slight growl in our stomach to complete societal overhaul—to be taken care of and taken care of now. Any delay is unacceptable, or worse, waiting is even somehow wrong or evil. Patience is in short supply; and if you don’t believe me, see how many people make a left turn long after their light has changed, simply because they can’t be bothered to wait for the next signal.
But this is not how the entirety of creation is—not really. It’s not how we were intended to be. Our lives are much longer than two-minute waits for turn signals or four-year election cycles. We humans take a long time to grow and develop, to mature, to learn. And the world moves even slower than we do. Earth does not change its speed of rotation because we want something faster. Its orbit around the sun is not subject to the accelerated sense of false urgency that we impose on everything. Rivers take their time carving out the soil to settle in their course. Seasons move at a pace all their own.
Our Lord knows this. He created it all and arranged it to be so, after all. The Church knows this. So St. James tells us, “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient.” And so, to cultivate a sense of patience, the Church has the season of Advent. We have this designated time of waiting. It’s not Christmas, not yet—although we can see it on the horizon. But we won’t sprint there. We’ll walk. We’ll take in the scenery on the way. We’ll learn what we need to as we wait for the good things—the great and beautiful things—that Christmas has in store for us. “Be patient,” James tells us, “Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”
That’s not to say it’s always easy though. Yes, we know to wait. We hold off on our full celebrations. We will sing all those carols and hymns we love here, but not quite yet. Our eyes will be delighted with all the things that represent the goodness of Christ’s birth, but soon. We’ll hear from the Scriptures first about what to expect when the Messiah comes at Christmas and when He returns. We’ll hear from the man of the season, St. John the Baptist, the preacher of Advent.
But what is it we hear the Baptizer saying today? “Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of Christ, he sent word by his disciplesand said to him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’” Could it be that the forerunner of the Christ, who pointed to Jesus and proclaimed Him to be the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, is now growing impatient? “Are you the One who is to come? Are you the Messiah?” John asks through his messengers, “Or have I been barking up the wrong tree?” After all, John the Baptist knew the Scriptures. He knew the prophecies of what would happen when the Promised One arrived. Isaiah had foretold it: “The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus…Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.’ Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy…And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”
And yet, here is John the Baptizer, in prison, sighing and anxious and sorrowful. No one was ransoming him from Herod. No one was bringing the recompense of God with vengeance to save him from this miserable place. What was taking his cousin Jesus so long? Why wasn’t He making His move? John had heard that Jesus was performing healings and miracles, so why wasn’t He jumping in with both feet and getting to the best parts yet?
We can see ourselves in John the Baptizer in this moment of impatience. We’ve also wondered what’s taking God so long to answer our prayers. We’ve also limped along through challenging times, sick and hurt, heartbroken, anxious and stressed, worried, terrorized, asking God “How long? Why can’t we get to when this won’t a problem? Why can’t we fast forward through the hard parts? Why can’t we have the things we want—healing, peace, joy, satisfaction, freedom, whatever it is—now?
Be patient, dear Christian. Your Lord knows you need these things. Establish your heart, fix it on His promises. As an example of suffering and patience, take the prophets—Moses, Isaiah, Job, John the Baptist—who spoke in the name of the Lord.Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have seen the purpose of the Lord, how He is compassionate and merciful. Or, as Jesus said to the messengers He sent back to His beloved cousin John, “Go and tell John what you hear and see:the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
Blessed indeed. For the world will take offense at having to wait for anything, but you will not. You know your Lord better than that. You know that He’s already started to turn everything around in this old fallen creation. He’s healed the blind and deaf and paralyzed, cured the sick and unclean. He’s even raised the dead, turning back our last and greatest enemy. He’s preached the good news that this is yours, you who have nothing to offer Him, for it is His joy to give you all of this without cost, without demand.
But you may have to wait for it. You may have to wait weeks, or months, or years. You may have to wait until He returns. But that’s OK. You know He’s going to return and then you’ll get to the very best stuff—all those beautiful things promised by the prophets, by the Lord Himself. Life will overcome death. Wholeness will restore what has been broken. Peace will fill the places in your soul worn away by worry and conflict. It is coming, I assure you. Jesus is coming again. You know this because He’s already come to this world before. In the meantime, He’ll give you signs of this promise, bits of fulfillment to keep your faith burning and your love for one another glowing. He’ll come to you in His body and blood. He’ll help you remember the prayers He answered for His saints of old, and for you. So wait: Advent—this Advent season in the Church year and the long season of Advent that the entire Church has been in since Jesus’ ascension—it’s coming to a close. Be patient, see all that He has done and is still doing, and rejoice. Your Lord is at hand. In the name of Jesus, who is coming soon. Amen.
