“Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” Sounds like a simple question, the kind that could be answered with a simple “yes” or a simple “no,” or with just a polite smile and a nod of the head in the appropriate direction – an up-and-down affirmation or a side-to-side denial.

In the text from Matthew that is the Gospel reading for the Third Sunday of Advent, the answer isn’t simple because of who is doing the answering, and even the question isn’t so simple because of who is doing the asking.

Jesus hardly ever offers a simple answer, and, as often as not, he answers one question with another question. When someone approached him and asked, “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?” Jesus responded, “Why do you ask me about the good? There is only One who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 9:16-17).

Even when His own life is on the line, simple answers to simple questions are not to be found on Jesus’ lips. Pontius Pilate asks, “Are you the king of the Jews?” A simple question? Not for Jesus, who turns the question around and answers the Roman governor, “You say so.”

The yes-or-no question in this Sunday’s Gospel reading comes from John the Baptist. Imprisoned himself, he sends his disciples to bring his question to Jesus, and I wonder what they made of Jesus’ not-so-simple answer: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.”

For their teacher John, this was better than a “yes.” For John, who explained his own part in God’s unfolding plan of salvation with words taken from the book of the prophet Isaiah – “A voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths’” (Matthew 3:3) – the answer was crystal clear. The answer Jesus offers to John’s disciples is taken from the very same prophetic book, words that are proclaimed as the first reading of this Sunday’s Eucharistic Liturgy: “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing.” Though it might have been easier for Jesus to respond with an uncharacteristically simple “yes,” John the Baptist probably wouldn’t have found that answer nearly as convincing.

It’s one thing to talk the talk, but words are cheap. Mere words don’t cost much, but they aren’t worth much either, and Jesus knows that better than any of us. “Walking the talk” is what really matters, and that is the essence of what Jesus tells the disciples of John. While the historical record makes it clear that there were many messiahs trying to make names for themselves, precious few are even remembered by name and none of them outlasted his 15 minutes of fame. None but one was the real deal, and the unlikeliest one at that, the one who humbled Himself – in the words of the ancient hymn quoted by St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians – to become obedient unto death, even death on a cross. If seeing is believing, then how blessed must have been the eyes that saw the wonders performed by Jesus and the ears that heard the good news from his lips!

All these many centuries later, we wonder how much easier it might have been to believe in Jesus if only we had been eyewitnesses to his earthly ministry. And yet Jesus’ parting words to the disciples of John tell a much different story: “Blessed is the one who takes no offense at me,” says Jesus.

Seeing isn’t always believing! Many of Jesus’ contemporaries didn’t pay much attention to Him, thinking perhaps that Jesus wasn’t much different from the other wandering magicians and wonder-workers of his time, people who made a living by peddling cheap grace and easy but inadequate answers to life’s troubles.

Some opposed Him: His challenging words made them uneasy and His miracles frightened them. This Sunday’s Gospel reading makes it clear that even John the Baptist himself wasn’t 100% sure of what to make of Jesus: that’s why he dispatched his disciples to get what he hoped would be a clear answer from Jesus Himself.

As for what Jesus thought of John, He tells the crowds that John is “more than a prophet,” exclaiming, “Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist.”

But then He takes a puzzling turn from these words of high praise and tells them: “yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” Who might that be?

In John’s Gospel, the risen Jesus tells doubting Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed” (John 20:29). That’s a blessing pronounced on us, for our faith in Christ is founded on the testimony of the apostles and is nourished by the witness of holy women and men of every age.

That makes us even more blessed than John the Baptist, but that privilege has its price! It is up to us to hand on to others the good news that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The prophet Isaiah calls to us: “Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak, say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you.”

May our words and deeds make others strong in faith and firm in hope!

  Sunday Scriptures for Dec. 16, Third Sunday of Advent
  Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10
  Psalm 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10
  James 5:7-10
  Matthew 11:2-11