Rejoice! What is good is real; Matthew 11:2-10; December 14, 2025
Scripture Reading Matthew 11:2-10
When John heard in prison what the Messiah[a] was doing, he sent word by his[b] disciples 3 and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” 4 Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 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. 6 And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”
7 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? 8 What, then, did you go out to see? Someone[c] dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. 9 What, then, did you go out to see? A prophet?[d] Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is the one about whom it is written,
‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.’
“Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist, yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Sermon “Rejoice! What is good is real.” Pastor Anne Nelson
We’re in the season of advent, which is a season of waiting, and of expectation, and so we’ve been talking about the tensions that exists within in each theme each Sunday - being hopeful while waiting, bringing peace and expecting peace, and today, our theme is joy.
Our Scripture passage this morning finds John the Baptist, Jesus’s cousin, languishing in prison. In the meantime, Jesus and his disciples are in the full swing of ministry. People who have been suffering are experiencing relief and liberation. Conditions which would have been debilitating and even deadly are being healed by Jesus and his band of miracle workers. In fact death itself has been rebuked, and the poor are gaining hope through Jesus’s words and work.
And here we find John asking a question about waiting. John asks — “Are you really the one sent from God? Or must we keep waiting?”
What I hear within John’s question is a human, vulnerable cry. The heart within John’s question — is all this joy and goodness just a trick? And I do not think it’s simply - checking in on the facts. Like - are these events actually happening. I think John is asking – is this goodness from God? Jesus, are you the Divinely Anointed one? Are you sure this is what God is like?
This is an important and common question. Is God actually good? The probing nature of John’s question does not phase Jesus, which means that our probing questions don’t phase God either.
Perhaps you, or someone you know, has this same heartfelt wariness, the same probing questions these days. Is God actually good? Is joy a trick, a bait and switch, a lofty set up to a plummeting fall of disappointment? But I would argue that joy is not a trick, and that it is in fact a gift from God, a revelation of who God is, and a means by which we persevere, even when we are waiting for our circumstances to change.
In recent weeks I’ve reflected on the role and the gift of joy in my own life. Sometimes we seek out joy as a means of gaining encouragement and trying to shake off despair. I’ve been involved in a couple of efforts to be in solidarity with our Somali neighbors, and in solidarity with those experiencing increasing financial strain, and let me tell you – not only was it meaningful to find ways to encourage and support Somali Minnesotans, and to find ways to increase my activity in activism and understanding, but it was so joyful to be standing shoulder to shoulder with like-minded, open-hearted people. It’s like multiplying the encouragement and joy of being with you all at church. I sought out joy, used it to push back against my despair, I found pockets of joy and strength, which multiplied in the space of community and co-laboring.
I’ve also prioritized things like music, the proximity of my family, and the community of my friends, long habits for me, but important ones, which is again reminding me that joy is both a bubbling up, as well as deep grounding. It can be sought, and when it agrees to settle in, it brings life and ease to the places in our lives where we need strength and endurance to keep going.
True joy is an act of resistance. It says - yes, circumstances are bleak, but I’m not beaten. Yes, I am grieving, but I am not going to give up. When we allow joy to break in upon us, we don’t pretend that bad circumstances are good, we don’t even stop grieving over losses, but we do tap into a wellspring of life which enables us to resist despair and enliven hope.
Joy comes from God; it is not a bait and switch, not a trick, it is not a set up for punishment or disappointment.
One of my favorite theologians, is a Brazilian man named Rubem Alves. Alves once wrote a meditation about giving gifts to God that I have never forgotten. He says - you know, many people will tell you that God is a God of love, but then the gifts that they give God tell a different story. He asks, “If you give a loved one a gift, what do you try to do? You try to give them a gift that tells them - I know you. I know who you are, and what delights you, what you enjoy.” Then Alves says - what does it say about our belief in God that Christians so often bring God the gifts of their self-induced suffering and self-denial? What God would get excited about gifts of self-flagellation, dour piety and miserly scarcity?
No, says Alves, I believe that God is good and loving, and so I will bring God the gifts of my great joy. He says, I resolve to give God long walks, and not for exercise. I resolve to listen to more music - Gregorian chant, and Bach - and appreciate it more fully. I resolve to play with my friends and family. I resolve to give the birds the seed they love to eat, I will give God the gift of a Zen garden and I will water its happy plants faithfully. He says, “ When I cultivate joy, God draws near, and God delights also.”
So often Christians have associated God with wrath and judgement. This makes joy and pleasure distractions at best, disobedience at worst. But Jesus says, “Look at what defines my work in the world - liberation. Healing from ruinous suffering, resurrection from death, alleviation of poverty.” The signs of God’s presence are goodness, not punishment, and we can celebrate that goodness, knowing God does not change.
We participate in joy as a way of believing and taking seriously the reality of goodness, and we participate in joy as a way of feeding ourselves and one other in the midst of hardship. And we participate in joy as a way of declaring who God is.
As Christmas nears, we do not force ourselves or others to call bad circumstances good, or to stop grieving loss. John the Baptist did not live much longer after this exchange with Jesus. We don’t know if he felt encouraged by the news that was reported back to him. But Jesus honored John - his faith and his work, by comparing him to one of the greatest prophets in the Jewish tradition - Elijah. To and about John Jesus says — you are essential to my joy, your labor has produced the kingdom, your faithfulness matters.
Allow joy to enter in and strengthen you. Choose it, you need it! Look for beauty, look for what is pleasant and good. Relish it. Rejoice. Let us give God the gifts of our sincere, open-hearted delight.
