Father Snort

Brad Sullivan 3 Advent, Year A December 11, 2016 Emmanuel, Houston James 5:7-10 Matthew 11:2-11 Avoiding Suffering and Death: The Great Lie of Life We hear in our story from the Gospel according to Matthew today a story about John the Baptist, sitting in prison and wondering if all he had done had been worth it. Was God’s kingdom truly coming? Was salvation actually at hand? Or, had he thrown his life away, been miserable out in the wilderness, eaten locusts for God’s sake (literally for God’s sake), and ended up in prison, soon to be killed, all for a lie, a misguided zealot’s farce? Was Jesus truly the messiah, the anointed one? So he asked, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” Jesus could never give a simple “yes” or “no”, could he? When John’s disciples asked the very direct question, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to w