Matthew 11:2-15
December 14, 2025
At Virginia Military Institute, where I attended college, there is a “big brother/little brother” program where every senior is assigned a freshman, to serve as their big brother. The senior’s responsibility is to help the freshman student with their studies and all of the military rules. One of my roommates had a “little brother” named Dan Caine, and Dan wanted to be a pilot in the Air Force when he graduated just like his father. However, after his first semester his grades were not very good and we told him as we made him do pushups on several occasions for having the lowest GPA of the little brothers in our room, that he needed to be serious about his academics if he wanted to be a pilot. As my roommates and I were graduating we sat down with Dan again, knowing that his grades were still rather average, and told him that the academics were not going to get any easier and if he did not work hard he would never make it as a pilot. Earlier this year General Dan Caine was appointed as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and when the announcement was made my roommates and I contacted each other and said, “Can you believe it? Dan Caine is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, that is something I never expected.”
If there was ever a man who knew what he was going to do ever since he was a child it was John the Baptist. From his childhood he knew that he would go before the Lord to prepare His way. He would begin to lead people out of the darkness of their sin by bringing them to Christ. John was not just another child, but the one whom the prophet Isaiah called, “the voice crying in the wilderness.” Even though John made it clear that he was not the Christ, he was the last prophet that God would send, the one who would identify Jesus as the Christ.
Initially you could say that John was a very successful prophet as large groups of people came to hear him preach and I would guess that his family was very proud. We love to see our children succeed, but at the same time we know that sometimes they may experience failure and disappointments, just as we do. Maybe you were not chosen for the high school band or a sports team, or perhaps you did not get the job you wanted. I have several college classmates who were not selected to be fighter pilots in the military and that was hard on them. Setbacks can be devastating, especially for those who have often been successful. This might have been true for John the Baptist in our Gospel lesson for today. In this text, John finds himself in prison, not because he had done anything wrong, but because he had done everything right.
“Why do I feel depressed right now, when I’m supposed to feel happy?” “Why do I feel frustrated right now, when I’m supposed to feel joyful?” “This isn’t the way it was supposed to be. This isn’t what I was expecting.” Those are words that might describe someone who is having a difficult time as they go through the Christmas season, but they also may describe John the Baptist as he sat in prison. While he knew he hadn’t done anything wrong, he may have thought, “I won’t be in prison very long. After all, I am the one who has come to prepare the way for the Messiah. I still have people I need to tell about Jesus, so I’m sure God will get me out of here very quickly.” Or, maybe he thought, “Now that Jesus is out preaching, I’m sure he’ll put everyone in their place – like King Herod and those Pharisees & Sadducees – they’ll all be silenced and justice will finally be served. I’ll be out of here in no time.”
Perhaps those were some of John’s expectations, but as he sat there in that prison cell, it became clear to him that those things he expected were not happening. Some of John’s friends came to the prison and reported to him that Jesus was not going from town to town carrying out justice and putting everyone in their place. Instead, He was preaching about peace, loving your neighbor, and that the kingdom of heaven has come. “This is not what I was expecting,” John may have said to himself, “I did everything I was supposed to do and now I’m in prison? This doesn’t make sense.” So John sent some of his friends to see Jesus to ask, “Are you the one who is to come (meaning, are you the promised Messiah) or shall we look for another?”
I wonder if people sometimes feel this way during the weeks leading up to Christmas. “I have all these expectations of being filled with joy, but instead, I feel depressed and frustrated. God, I’m doing everything I’m supposed to do for Christmas, but it seems like nothing is working out.” There’s a lot of pressure on us at Christmas, pressure to get the decorations up, to get all the right gifts, and to get everything ready for the family gathering. On top of all this you have your job, your family, Christmas carols are playing on the radio, people around you look happy, but maybe you’re just not feeling it this year and you’re kind of down. “Is this Christmas” you wonder, “or am I supposed to expect something else?”
John the Baptist had the same struggle as he sat in prison. He had all these expectations of what Jesus was going to do, but nothing was happening like He thought. So when John instructed his friends to ask Jesus, “Are you the One?” notice how Jesus responded in verse 5. He basically told John, “Throw all of your expectations out the window and just look at what I am doing: 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.” In other words, Jesus is saying, “I’m doing all those things that had been prophesied by Isaiah (that we heard in our Old Testament reading for today), so recognize all these miracles that I am doing, focus on me, and forget your expectations.”
Unfortunately, many people do not focus on Jesus during the month of December. For some people they are very busy trying to avoid the real point of the season. You can go shopping for presents, attend parties, eat cookies, listen to special music, but without Christ, what’s the point of it all? Why are we doing all this?
The point of Christmas is that there was sin in the world. Mary & Joseph, shepherds and wise men were all sinners in need of a Savior. So at just the right time God sent His Son who had been with Him since He created the world, down from heaven to this earth to be born as a human baby in order to be our Savior. Isn’t that an amazing miracle?
Sometimes in the midst of our busy lives we see parents holding babies and we think, “Wouldn’t it be nice to be an infant again – people care for you, play with you, not a worry in the world.” While it may look nice when we are busy, just imagine giving up your ability to speak, your muscle coordination, the ability to feed yourself, and control of your bladder. Well, on Christmas, that’s exactly what God did for you. God became an infant, totally dependent on sinful people to live, in order to be our Savior.
When you recognize those miracles of Jesus and focus on them, suddenly all of the craziness of Christmas is easier to take and enjoy. The birth of Jesus, God becoming one of us – that’s worth decorating for and getting together with others and turning our lives upside down for a few weeks. When you stop focusing on all those expectations that our society feeds you and focus on Jesus and what He does, then Christmas starts to make sense and becomes more enjoyable.
I wonder how John the Baptist responded to the answer he got from Jesus? “Yes, John, I am the One. Just look at the miracles.” I wonder if that Good News wiped away some of his doubts and feelings of disappointment? The Bible doesn’t tell us, but while John did have some questions, let us remember that even in the midst of his doubts, he never turned away from Jesus, even when Jesus did not meet His expectations.
During these weeks leading up to Christmas, if you’re struggling or if you find yourself wondering, “This is not what I expected,” remember these words of Jesus in which He says, “Forget your expectations, focus on me, and I’ll give you joy and contentment.” Take some time during these next few weeks and ponder all the miracles Jesus has done for you. Focus on that, Jesus says, and there you will find your real joy.
