Matthew 11:2-11
December 14, 2025
Sermon preached by Donald Ng at Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church, Oakland, CA.
Today is 11 days before Christmas. I remember when I was a child in Boston and wrapped gifts from an uncle who lived in New York City would come in the mail. They were the ones my brothers and I waited for because they were always new toys rather than new socks or pajamasthat our parents would buy for us. In those days, toys were made out of tin to wind up and spin on a hard floor; a time before the government rated toy safety. These were real toys!
At my home church’s Christmas program in Boston, we read the Christmas story, sang the carols, gave out those hard candies in these paper boxes before chocolates became favorites. In the end of the evening, this Baptist church also had Santa Claus coming down from the young adult Sunday school room with a bag of simple toys to give to us little kids!
If you are like me, I have been doing Christmas like this for the past 76 years. Jesus and Santa Claus. Church and Macy’s (now Amazon). Rudolph, the Red Nose Reindeer and the three wise men. And even filling grocery bags for the needy like we did 3 weeks ago and our holiday dinners with way too much food to eat. We’ve been doing Christmas pretty much the same way as far as we can remember.
Who is Jesus?
Our lesson for today from Matthew has John the Baptist imprisoned, arrested and jailed as a political enemy of King Herod. John sent word to his disciples to ask Jesus this question: “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” 11 days before Christmas, we too are asking this same question.
What John saw or heard Jesus was doing didn’t add up to him. Jesus did not fit John’s idea of a Messiah. He was not acting the way John thought a Savior would act. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world was not taking Herod’s sinful actions away. Because John wondered, perhaps we might wonder too.
In this Advent season, the question that John asked is also our question: “Is Jesus the real thing?” When we merely participate in the scheduled events of 4 Advent Sundays or hanging the greens or singing Silent Night or putting out cookies out for Santa on Christmas Eve, we may need to ask ourselves after many years of not asking, “Are you, Jesus for real?”
Jesus answered these disciples from John by saying, “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 said, “And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”
Jesus’ response echoed the words from the prophet Isaiah that forecast a new age is coming to heal the wounds of Israel.
The basis of John’s question is the change of identity that has occurred in him. Initially, it was John who preached that a Messiah is coming. John was the predecessor, the preparer, the messenger who goes before Christ.
But now in prison, Christ himself prepares the witness that John must receive. John must hear for himself that in Christ, the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news. John must become a disciple. John is the one who needs a change.
In verse 6, Jesus blesses those who questions, “And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” Jesus knows that when we ask tough questions about our discipleship, we are blessed. Both John and Jesus were willing to enter the public arenas of life against well-prepared opponents, even when speaking truth to power, that lands a prophet in prison or a prophet on the cross.
So, when we begin to question who Jesus is for us at Christmas, in the midst of the hectic holiday season, we are blessed in doing so.
The John in Us
The crowds that had gone into the wilderness to meet John did not understand that John’s identity was wrapped up with that of Jesus. So, Jesus asked them what they had expected to find. Did they find a reed shaken by the wind like an emaciated old man? Or a man dressed in fine, soft robes, like a king? Or a prophet?
Jesus declares that John was indeed a prophet, a new Elijah. That this prophet is one who prepares the way for Christ. John has surpassed the great prophets. In the history of Israel, John has no equals. Truly no one rises above him. But today, this prophet will need to learn that he is to follow Christ. The one who prepared the way for Jesus must now receive him. The first will be last, and the last will be first.
There is a John in each of us. True discipleship is for us to follow Jesus. Are we willing to follow too?
Sometimes, we are enamored by a person who has abandoned civilization to practice a solitary, ascetic discipline in a wilderness. Other times, some Christian king or ruler claims to be a true disciple through worldly power and riches that allegedly brings him closer to God.
There are well-known religious leaders who declares God’s will, preaches God’s word, and warns the world that judgment is coming. Let me not forget that even ministers and pastors succumb to the temptation of believing that they are moving closer to the front of the line in the kingdom of heaven because they have proclaimed prophetic words in service of God and the church.
Ouch!
All of these claims fall short of the real answer. Just like what the crowds had expected to see in the wilderness. True discipleship is never first a question of our efforts to make Christ known to ourselves or others. The focus never falls first on our ascetic achievements, worldly ambitions, or prophetic announcements. A true disciple knows how easily we can substitute the imaginations of our hearts in place of the living Christ.
A true disciple knows that he or she is still learning to follow Jesus.
Our Christmas Jails
Just like John’s disciples asked on behalf of John in prison, “Are you for real, Jesus?” we ask this question for ourselves. In a way, we too are imprisoned by the contemporary ways we have come to celebrate Christmas. While it may be invigorating to ask critical questions like the virgin birth or who the Magi were or the presence of angels, we have become accustomed to the traditions of Christmas so much that we no longer ask the tough questions. We are locked up in our rituals and traditions.
We celebrate Jesus with Santa Claus.
Each one of us need to decide for ourselves on the evidence we see. What evidence is there that Jesus is for real.
Christmas in the Trenches
For me, Christmas storytelling wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t tell this one that you have heard before.
On Christmas Eve in 1914, the first year of WWI, a strange quiet had settled on the western front. It was a welcome respite for a group of lonely English soldiers who had become all too familiar with the roar of the cannons and the whine of the rifles.
As they reclined in their trenches each man began to speculate about the activities of loved ones back home. “My parents are just finishing a toast to my health,” a lad from Liverpool said slowly.
“I can almost hear the church bells,” a stout man from Ely said wistfully. “My whole family will soon be walking out the door to hear the concert of the choir at the cathedral.”
The men sat silent for several minutes before a thin soldier from Kent looked up with tears in his eyes. “This is eerie,” he said, “but I can almost hear the choir singing.”
“So can I,” shouted another puzzled voice. “I think there is music coming from the other side.”
All the men scrambled to the edge of the trench and cocked their ears. What they heard was a few sturdy German voices singing Martin Luther’s Christmas song, “From heav’n above to earth I come, to bear good news to everyone. Glad tidings of great joy I bring to all the world, and gladly sing.”
When the hymn was finished, the English soldiers sat frozen in silence. Then a large man with a powerful voice broke into the chorus of “God rest ye merry gentlemen.” Before he had sung three bars a dozen voices joined with him. By the time he finished the entire regiment was singing.
Once again there was an interlude of silence until a German tenor began to sing “Silent Night.” This time the song was sung in two different languages, a chorus of nearly a hundred voices echoing back and forth between the trenches, “Silent night, holy night! All is calm, all is bright…”
“Someone is approaching!” a sentry shouted, and attention was focused on a single German soldier who walked slowly, waving a white cloth with one hand and holding several bars of chocolate in the other. Slowly, men from both sides eased out into the neutral zone and began to greet one another. In the next golden moments, each soldier shared what he had with the others, candy, cigarettes, and even a bit of Christmas brandy. Most importantly, the soldiers showed the battered, but treasured pictures they carried of loved ones.
No one knows whose idea it was to start the football match, but with the help of flares the field was lit and the British and German soldiers played until they and the lights were exhausted. Then, quietly as they came together, the men returned to their own trenches.
On Christmas Day, men from both sides again joined together, even visiting each other’s trenches. The German soldiers, wishing to avenge the previous night’s torch-lit football loss, organized another game of what Americans call soccer.
In a few days the cannons once again boomed across “No man’s land” and the whines of rifles was again heard in the trenches. For some, however, it was never the same. The enemy was no longer faceless. Now he was an acquaintance who shared a candy bar or played soccer. When men looked down the barrels of their guns at the opposition, they also saw the smiling faces of those whose pictures were shared in silent, holy night when the birth of the Christ child drew hostile forces together as brothers and, for a few moments, gave weary soldiers a taste of peace and goodwill.
Jesus said, “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.”
Soldiers who were enemies to each other became friends and all children of God because Christ Jesus was in the midst of them. Go and tell the world what you have heard and seen: there is Christmas peace and love in the trenches.
Christ, the Prince of Peace was real that night.
Christ is Real
We all know of some best minds in science have known to believe in Jesus. Solid minds have looked away from him, but minds just as clear have believed in him strongly even after putting the matter to the strictest tests. It’s possible some of these people were mistaken, but it is very unlikely all of them were.
In Advent, we are welcome to come closer to Jesus, to be nearer in time, space, and heart to confess that as people who may still have many questions to come and to believe. Those with eyes to see and ears to hear will find that Christ is present in word and song and fellowship and in the quietness of the heart as we at Lakeshore Avenue sit in our pews and ponder.
Is Jesus the real thing? I believe he is.
Let us pray.
Lord God, we rejoice that you strengthen our weak hands and make firm our feeble knees. Open our eyes and unstop our ears to believe 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. When we focus on you and not on ourselves, we would sense your mighty presence to bring healing and peace throughout the world. Forgive us, Lord, and may we seek the joy to your promises and go out to share good news in this world. We pray that there will be more “Christmases in the trenches” in the world. In the name of Christ, the Prince of Peace, we pray. Amen.