Rev’d Caroline - [email protected], 01285 712467
Rev’d Vicky Falvey - [email protected]
Advent 3 Reflection on Matthew 11:2–11:
John the Baptist and the Hope That Waits
The Gospel for the Third Sunday of Advent offers a striking and tender scene. John the Baptist—bold prophet, fearless preacher, forerunner of the Messiah—sits in prison and sends Jesus a question that is almost painful in its vulnerability: “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” (Matthew 11:3).
This is not the John we expect. We are used to the confident wilderness preacher, the man who baptized Jesus, who saw the heavens open, and who declared without hesitation, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” Yet in today’s reading, the firebrand prophet becomes a prisoner, and the certainty of proclamation becomes the uncertainty of waiting. In this moment, John becomes surprisingly relatable. His question echoes the questions of every believer who has ever waited for God’s promises to unfold.
Advent is, at its heart, a season shaped by this kind of waiting. It is a time when the Church acknowledges that we do not yet see the fullness of God’s kingdom. We live with longing, with unfulfilled hopes, with prayers that are still forming in the dark. Like John, we can find ourselves asking: Lord, are You truly at work in this world? Are You present in my life? Are You the One?
Jesus responds to John’s question, but not with a simple yes or no. Instead, He points to the signs of the kingdom breaking in: “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.” Jesus invites John—and us—to see God’s presence not in abstract assurances but in concrete acts of mercy. God’s work may not look like what we expected, yet it is unmistakably happening. Healing is taking root. Lives are being restored. Grace is spreading quietly but powerfully through the world.
What is equally striking is that Jesus affirms John even in his uncertainty. He tells the crowds that John is the greatest among those born of women. Jesus does not criticize John for questioning; He honours him. Faith, it seems, is not the absence of questions but the persistence of trust even when questions arise. John remains faithful to his calling even as he seeks reassurance, and in this Jesus sees greatness.
As we stand at the threshold of Gaudete Sunday—Rejoice Sunday—John’s honesty offers a gift. Our joy in Advent is not a forced cheerfulness or a denial of hardship. It is a deep and resilient joy rooted in the nearness of Christ. We rejoice not because we have full clarity, but because God is drawing near in ways seen and unseen. We rejoice because the One who healed the blind and raised the dead is still at work restoring the world. We rejoice because even in our uncertainties, Christ meets us with compassion.
This Advent, may John’s courage inspire our honesty. May Jesus’ response open our eyes to signs of hope around us. And may the promise of Christ’s coming fill us with a joy that carries us through every season of waiting.
Vicky Falvey
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