Virtually every family can tell the story - when the children asked for a dog.
Mom and Dad say, “Well, ya’ know, you’ll have to feed it. Take it for a walk. Clean up after it.”
And, of course, we all know how the script goes.
“Yes,” say the children, “we’ll take care of the dog. We’ll do everything. Don’t worry!”
So, off the family goes, to get a dog.
A cute little thing, for sure.
And before ya’ know it, everyone loves the dog.
But in a month, a reality check.
How many times did the children feed the dog?
Take it for a walk?
Clean up after it?
It seems that Mom and Dad end up taking care of the dog.
Oh well … a bit a shadow between the promise and the payoff …
Between what was offered and what was delivered.
Lots of shadows between hope and reality … between the interview and the job.
Which reminds me,
One day a highly successful woman stood by the Pearly Gates.
"Welcome to Heaven," said St.Peter. "Before you get settled in though, it seems we have a problem. Because of some accounting issues, we’re not really sure what to do with you."
"No problem, just let me in," said the woman.
"Well, I'd like to, but I have higher orders. What we're going to do is let you have a day in Hell and a day in Heaven and then you can choose whichever one you want.
"Actually, I think I've made up my mind...I prefer to stay in Heaven,” said the woman.
"Sorry, we have rules..."
And with that St. Peter put the woman in an elevator and down it went to hell. The doors opened and she found herself stepping out onto the putting green of a beautiful golf course. In the distance, a country club and standing in front of her were all her friends - folks that she had worked with, all dressed in formal evening wear and cheering for her.
They talked about old times … played an excellent round of golf, and at night went to the country club where she enjoyed an excellent surf and turf dinner.
She met the Devil who was actually a really nice guy (kinda cute) and she had a great time telling jokes and dancing. She was having such a good time that before she knew it, it was time to leave. Everybody shook her hand and waved goodbye as she got on the elevator.
The elevator went up to heaven and opened back up at the Pearly Gates and St. Peter waiting for her. "Now it's time to spend a day in heaven," he said.
So she spent the next 24 hours lounging around on clouds and playing the harp and singing. She had a great time and before she knew it her 24 hours were up and St. Peter came and got her.
"So, you've spent a day in hell and you've spent a day in heaven. Now you must choose your eternity," he said.
The woman paused for a second and then replied, "Well, I never thought I'd say this, I mean, Heaven has been really great and all, but I think I had a better time in Hell."
So, St. Peter escorted her to the elevator and down she went to Hell. When the doors of the elevator opened she found herself standing in a desolate wasteland covered in garbage. She saw her friends dressed in rags and picking up the garbage and putting it in sacks.
The Devil came up to her and put his arm around her.
"I don't understand," she stammered; "Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and a country club and we ate lobster and steak, and we danced and had a great time. Now all there is a wasteland of garbage and all my friends look miserable."
The Devil looked at her and smiled. "Yesterday we were recruiting you; today you're staff."
The shadow between the promise and the payoff.
Between expectations and reality.
Between what we wanted and what we get.
John had hoped for better days, but now he sits in Herod’s jail.
From the fresh air of the Jordan to a dark dungeon.
From crowds to confinement.
From high hopes to bitter disappointments.
The shadow … between the promise and the payoff.
So we ask, “Is this the job I’m supposed to have?”
“Is this the life I really wanted?”
“Mom never told me it would be like this>”
After grading 32 test papers and dealing with three irate mothers, the teacher asks, “Is this what I went to school for?”
The shadow between the promise and the payoff.
Perhaps we should give some thought to why John is imprisoned.
It’s a rather complicated story – but in a nutshell, John couldn’t keep his mouth shout – he spoke out about sexual shenanigans in Herod’s family – a little incest and some adultery.
Maybe John should have kept his mouth shut.
But he didn’t.
And it didn’t take long for King Herod to do what kings do.
John is arrested and imprisoned.
When John hears what Jesus is doing, he sends a few disciples to ask Jesus, Are you the one? Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?
The shadow between the promise and the payoff.
John had hoped for something more.
Clear the threshing floor, John says.
Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees.
What did John expect?
Fire and storm?
Jesus sends word back to John:
The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.
I can hear John say, But what about me? What have I done to deserve this? Is this how my life is to end? In Herod’s jail with the bite of a sword on my neck? What about me?
The shadow between the promise and the payoff.
Between what we want and what we get.
Who hasn’t been disappointed in Jesus?
Not the blind who receive their sight.
Nor the lepers who are healed.
Or the deaf who can hear again.
Or the dead who are raised.
And the poor who hear the good news of God’s love.
They’re not disappointed.
But when the disciples see Jesus rebuffed in a Samaritan town, they ask Jesus, Do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them? [Luke 9.54].
Who hasn’t felt that way a time or two?
Fire and storm.
Come on God, hammer the bad guys!
A rude driver cuts us off, and for a fleeting moment, we’d be okay if his car spun out of control.
Susie gets the promotion, and for a fleeting moment, we can wish the worst for Susie.
We’ve all had dark thoughts about those who get in the way, or cause us ill.
“In our hearts there is a ruthless dictator,” writes Graham Greene, a ruthless dictator, “ready to contemplate the misery of a thousand strangers if it will ensure the happiness of the few we love” – The Heart of Darkness.
The disciples wanted fire and storm … Jesus rebukes them … I suppose they were a disappointed.
The crowd that caught a woman in adultery and brings her to Jesus with stones in their hands, is disappointed … when Jesus bends low and doodles something in the dust and sends the crowd packing.
The powerful are disappointed when Jesus disregards their advice and continues to preach.
Judas is disappointed, and sells him out.
Pilate is disappointed when Jesus refuses to defend himself.
The thief on the cross is disappointed when Jesus does nothing but suffer and die.
In the end, the disciples are all disappointed … as they quietly slip into the night and return home.
A pastor goes off to the Philippines for a few weeks of mission work, comes home and falls ill with a liver parasite, and there’s no cure, and within six weeks, the pastor dies, leaving behind his children and wife and his congregation … in spite of all their prayers and hopes.
For all kinds of reasons, we echo John’s words:
Are you the one?
Are you really worth my time and my love?
Or am I to wait for another?
But if not Jesus, then who?
If not him, then where?
When Jesus was preaching some difficult things, folks began to take leave of him.
The Bible says painfully: Many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him [John 8:66].
Jesus asks those closest to him, Do you also wish to go away?”
Peter replies, LORD, to whom can we go. You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.
If not Jesus, then who?
If not him, then where?
Jesus isn’t always what we want.
And what we want is rarely what he gives.
We want a crown … he gives us a cross.
We want wealth … he gives us only our daily bread.
We want healing … he gives us hope in the face of suffering and death.
We want some fire on our enemies … he invites us to love our enemies instead.
We want ease … he gives us great responsibilities.
We peace and quite … he gives us the world and the cries of the children.
Are you the one, Jesus?
Or shall we wait for another.
We’re not told anything more about John, other than his death in Chapter 14.
We’re not told how John responded.
Because it’s up to us … to finish the story in our own way.
Here and now, at Covenant on the Corner.
How do WE respond to Jesus?
Is he the one in whom we put our faith, hope and love?
In the worst of times, in the best of times?
At the Jordan River or in Herod’s prison?
Are you the one?
Or shall we wait for another?
We all ask, don’t we?
And it’s okay.
Amen and Amen!
My thanks to Fred Craddock for both the inspiration and some of the ideas expressed herein.
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