Looking Ahead to May 8, 2022 --4th Sunday of Easter

This Sunday is Mother's Day, also known as Christian Family Sunday. We will take time to talk about what makes up a family during the Time for the Young at Heart.

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Acts 2:22-24 
• Deuteronomy 18:15-22
• Luke 7:18-23

The Sermon title is The One Foretold?

Early Thoughts: " The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet" "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" A promise shared by Moses, a question asked several centuries later by the followers of John the Baptist.

Is Jesus the one who was expected?  Is he the prophet, the judge (Moses was both of these), the one who will lead the people back to The Way? OR is there to be another?

John wasn't sure. John's followers were unsure. Probably many people around Jesus were asking themselves the same question. There was a promise. There was a hope. But things were not quite happening to match expectations. Is it the time?

Jesus' response puts it back on the questioners.  "What do you see? Go tell John what you see." He does not say if he is the one or not, he leaves it up to interpretation. Jesus lets the evidence tell the story.

For the Christian community the answer to John's question is yes. Jesus is the one for whom we have been waiting. Jesus is the one who will lead us back to The Way. For those outside the Christian community the answer may be no, or maybe, or even who care.

I think that in some ways we are still waiting. We are still waiting for the full hope, the full promise to come to fruition. The Kingdom of God is still not fully real among us.

Does that mean Jesus was not in fact the one? Does that mean Jesus spoke presumptuously (to use the language from the Deuteronomy reading)? OR is just a way to remind ourselves that the story is not yet complete?

I think we go back to the answer Jesus gave. We continue to watch and listen and tell each other what we have seen and heard and experienced. We let the evidence tell the story. A story of life and love and hope over against despair and fear and death. A story of transformation, heart by heart and step by step. A story where promises are fulfilled in pieces, not all at once.

What do you think? What answer should John's disciples have taken back to him?
--Gord