Advent: When Will Enough Be Enough? (Luke 11:29-32; Psalm 90; Isaiah 1:24-31)
I woke up this morning wishing for a magic pill of some sort. I do this from time to time when I’m tired of getting out of bed. When varying degrees of chronic pain and fatigue cloud up a seemingly good morning, I want something that solves it ALL right now, once and for all. I’ve thought the same thing for some of the stuff Jax goes through. Why won’t God just make a way to make it right so we can move on with our lives?
In Luke 11, Jesus seems exasperated while speaking with the crowds, realizing the seeming denseness of the people who surrounded Him. He fed five thousand “plus” people with a few fish and a little bread (Luke 9:10ff) for goodness’ sake. He raised a little girl back to life and healed a woman, all while walking down the street. What more do they need to see and hear to believe?
Jesus taught them how to ask for what they need (Luke 11:1-13) and cast out demons (Luke 11:14ff) right there in front of them. Not once. Not just one. But again and again. And these people, they’d been there, seen it all. It was a magnificent display of God Being With Them and yet… here they are, once again, asking for yet another sign.
When will enough be enough?
Jesus uses the story of Jonah to let them know they’ve SEEN what they need to see to believe. What He wants them to do is realize what they have… God With Them walking the streets, teaching, healing, being present in their daily lives, even if their daily lives aren’t perfect.
Jonah didn’t have to perform any signs for the People of Nineveh to have a change of heart. He just had to show up in their city. And here’s Jesus, someone Greater than Jonah (or anyone!) giving them all sorts of magnificent signs and miracles and still , it wasn’t enough for them to believe He was who He said He was?
When will enough be enough?
Funny that this passage popped up on a day I was wishing for #themagicpill. (Not funny haha, but funny coincidence if I believed in coincidence) Because it’s not every day I have trouble believing that God Is With Us in the hard and the good. Most days, He strengthens me to carry out my responsibilities as wife, mother, friend, daughter, sister, pastor in ways I can’t even wrap my head around. Some days I lay my head on my pillow and am so thankful that God almost literally held me upright, got me through. And most days, as I ask Him to wrap Himself around my kiddos, that they’ll have peace and joy in their day, not anxiety and stress and frustration. And many days He does just that, and I marvel that He has blessed them with His Presence even in the ordinary day to day of right now. And when they are anxious or frustrated, God shows up in the middle of it all, and helps me and them navigate through.
When will enough be enough?
No, so far, in spite of desperate prayers, God hasn’t provided the magic pill to solve all our problems. But He does show up, God With Us, in each and every moment, even when our lives feel desperate, maybe like that young couple walking around Bethlehem, seeking a place to rest and give birth.
God showed up in this world as a baby when He didn’t have to. But what a sign to us that God (INDEED!) wanted to be with us in our day to day. What a way for God to show us that He’s Here, and He’s with us even when there’s tough things, even in the waiting and wondering, even when we’re tired of getting out of bed.
We don’t need another sign. We have a God Who Is With Us.