December 12, 2010 3rd Sunday of Advent James 5:7-10 Matthew

11:2-11
“Offending the World” Dr. Ted H. Sandberg

In October of 1962, in the midst of what we know as the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the United States
and the Soviet Union were perhaps as close to nuclear war as we’ve ever come, Noel Regney and
Gloria Shayne Baker wrote the song, “Do You Hear What I Hear”. “Regney was inspired to write the
lyrics ‘Said the night wind to the little lamb, 'Do you see what I see?'’; [‘A Child, a Child shivers in
the cold,’] and ‘Pray for peace, people everywhere,’ after watching babies being pushed in strollers on
the sidewalks of New York City.”1
Do you see what I see? Do you hear what I hear? Do you know what I know? These are questions
Christians ask the world throughout the year, but especially during the Christmas season. Do you see
what I see? Do you see in the face of the infant child of whom we sing the face of God: the creator,
sustainor, and redeemer, the all holy, all powerful, all loving God? Do you see this miracle that God
has come to us as a human being, become like God’s creation so that you and I can understand how
much God loves us? Do you see Christmas as God’s special gift to the world?
Christians ask the world, do you hear, in the sounds of the season, the special words of peace that
come only from God, words of forgiveness, words of grace, words of love, words of hope. Do you
hear in the songs of this season, the melody of joy that comes from knowing God’s presence with us?
Do you hear in the stillness of the night the voice of God calling you to Him?
Christians ask the world, do you know that the one whose birth we celebrate grew to manhood and
became not a worldly king, but the heavenly king who even now sits at the right hand of God the
Father? Do you know that the infant whose birth we celebrate at Christmas came not to condemn the
world as so many humans condemn the world, but came to save the world, save it from our sin? Do
you know that what makes this season special isn’t the gifts we give each other, but the gift God gave
to us in the person of Jesus Christ, and the gift God continues to give us through the Holy Spirit? Do
you know these things?
Unfortunately, the world answers back, “No, we don’t know anything about God. We only know
what we can measure, what we can analyze, what we can prove.” “No, we don’t hear anything in the
night other than the sirens that occasionally wake us from our sleep as the cops rush down the
highway to the next altercation, or the noise of the helicopter rotors as some desperately ill or injured
person is life-flighted to the hospital. We don’t hear any voices, and if we did, we’d seek quality
psychiatric care.” “And no, we don’t see anything special in this season either, other than an
opportunity to make money. We see people crowding the stores, losing their tempers in long lines.
And we see some people with lots, and lots of people with some, and too many with nothing. Is this
what we should see? Is this what we’re to hear? Is this what we’re to know?”
The world doesn’t see what we who believe in Jesus Christ see. The world doesn’t hear what we
Christians hear. The world doesn’t know what we know, and oftentimes, doesn’t even want to know

1 1. Noland, Claire (2008-03-15). "Gloria Shayne Baker, 84; helped write 'Do
You Hear What I Hear?'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on
2008-03-27.
http://web.archive.org/web/20080327191938/http://www.latimes.com/news/printe
dition/california/la-me-baker15mar15,1,5183413.story. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
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what we know. The world is off doing it’s own thing – making money, earning a living, even doing
good lots of times, but the world isn’t looking at the Christian church for answers. The world isn’t
listening for the voice of God to speak in the wind or storm or in the still small voice. The world, at
least many in the first world, isn’t seeking to know about God, not anymore.
Instead, the world seems more and more to ignore talk of God and talk of Jesus Christ. I read in the
E-R’s”Tell It to the E-R” section Saturday, a message from a man who said that he loves the
Christmas season, even though he’s a devout atheist. He loves the lights. He loves the glitter. He
loves everything about Christmas. He even loves the religious Christmas music. 2 He just doesn’t
believe that the one whose birth we celebrate was and is the Son of God. He loves the glitter, as he
said, but he’s offended by the message. Which is, perhaps, more common than we’d like to admit.
The world likes the holiday of Christmas, but it’s offended by the person of Jesus Christ.
This is what’s happening, at least in part, in our text this morning from Matthew. John the Baptist
himself has questions about Jesus. John asked, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for
another?” John was no longer sure, wasn’t sure because Jesus wasn’t acting like the Messiah that
John expected. Jesus wasn’t preaching hellfire and brimstone. Jesus wasn’t talking about setting up
an earthly kingdom. Jesus wasn’t acting as one who was going to overthrow Rome, and so John was
confused, no longer sure of who Jesus was. John was like many today who aren’t sure of God because
God doesn’t act the way they believe God should act, doesn’t do the things they want their God to do.
John may well have been offended that Jesus wasn’t acting like he was “supposed” to act.
How did Jesus respond to John the Baptist? He told the ones John sent to him, “Go and tell John what
you hear and see: 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.” Then Jesus adds, “And blessed is
anyone who takes no offense at me.”
Who would be offended by these words from Jesus? Who would be offended if the blind receive their
sight, the lame could suddenly walk again, the lepers were healed, the deaf could hear, the dead were
resurrected, or the poor heard good news? Isn’t that what everyone wants?
Well, no. It’s not. I’ve been following the Bush Tax Cut debate in the Senate for the past couple of
weeks. The question has been, maybe still is, who is going to keep the tax cut that was enacted by the
Bush administration, everyone or only those making under $100,000, or $200,000 or $250,000 – that
figure keeps changing. As you know, President Obama compromised with the Senate Republicans to
keep the tax cut for everyone for 2 more years, and in return, the Republicans agreed to support the
extension of unemployment insurance, a cut in the payroll tax, and businesses being allowed to deduct
the full cost of new equipment during 2011 rather than depreciating it over time. Analysts that I’ve
read suggests that this compromise is good for the poor and middle class, as well as good for the rich.
The Democrats, though, are offended that the rich aren’t having their taxes raised to what they were
before this particular cut took effect. I know the whole debate is more complex than dollars and cents.
I’ve decided though that Obama’s compromise is good because it helps the middle class and poor,
especially the poor. That’s what Jesus tells us to do. Care for the poor. If the rich are helped in the
process, so be it. If the Republicans are willing to increase the deficit in order to extend the tax cut to
the richest of the rich, even though they rail against the deficit, that’s ok – as long as in the future they
don’t try and cut benefits to the poor. The compromise bill helps the poor and that’s what’s important.
2 2. “Tell It to the E-R, Enterprise Record, Saturday, December 11, 2010, p.
2A.
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To help the poor and the unemployed is to do what Jesus teaches us to do even if that is offensive to
some, or most.
Because Jesus himself offended the authorities all the time. “Time and again when Jesus did some
wonderful work [to help the sick and poor], the predominate response was not grateful admiration but
rather a hostile question, ‘By what authority do you do this?’ [The authorities were offended.]
“A professor [once asked William Willimon] in a public discussion, ‘Why do you have to believe in
the miracles of Jesus in order to believe in Jesus?’ [Willimon] responded that [he] wasn’t sure that one
simply had to believe in every single miracle as reported in the Bible in order to believe that Jesus
Christ is Lord.
“But then a student remarked, ‘I wonder why belief in miracles is a problem for us modern people.
Can it be that we’re modern, affluent, educated, North American people who think that maybe we just
may be God? So we’re threatened by the possibility (suggested in the miracles of Jesus) that there
might just be a God who is not us?’”3
It just may be that our calling as Christians is to offend the world in the name of Jesus Christ. Maybe
one of the reasons the Christian church is having so much trouble converting people these days is that
we’re too concerned about offending the world. We don’t want to say to “the mighty king, ‘Do you
know what I know? In your palace warm, mighty king, do you know what I know?’ ‘A child, a child
shivers in the cold, let us bring Him silver and gold, Let us bring Him silver and gold.’”
It just may be that our calling as Christians is not to comfort this world that’s wrapped up in getting
more and more, but to proclaim the peace of Jesus Christ. If that offends the world, so be it. We’re
only following the example of Jesus Christ our Lord.

3 3. Willimon, William H., “Offended by Jesus,” Pulpit Resource, Vol. 38, No. 4;
Year C & A; October, November, December 2010, p. 47. [Bracketed material mine.]
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