How many times do I have to tell you?

Abby just will not stop picking up Audrey. She is constantly finding a reason to bother her. “I am reading her a book, Daddy,” or “She is so sad, Daddy” Abby tells me. It is hard to keep calm when I watch in horror as my 9-month-old is drug across the floor by her four-year-old sister. I can’t get Abby to understand the concept of death! I tell her she is going to kill her sister. I know she is watching her big brother and us, and she wants to do what we do, but she needs lessons of caution and care first. That is what I am trying to teach her. I am just guessing, but I am pretty sure she doesn’t want to drag her future kids around by their necks. Every parent out there can understand this stress. It is never-ending, and annoying. If it isn’t Abby, it’s the boys wondering why they can’t jump on each other’s heads. When one of them gets hurt, they find out why. I wonder if John the Baptist ever felt like a dad?

Advent is funny because we get all these readings with John the Baptist as an adult, when really he was just a baby as we wait for Jesus to arrive. A big complaint about this season is that we often focus on Christmas every week instead of preparation, expectation, and coming.  It is hard to stay focused on Jesus’ coming when many of our Bible readings take place after Jesus is already here. Our dilemma is that we don’t have many readings about His coming. The stories leading up to the birth of Jesus are few and far between. This week that happens again. We have a reading from Matthew 11, when John the Baptist is in prison and some people wrestling with why Jesus came.

Our text has John the Baptist sending his disciples to Jesus to ask if He is the one or if they should expect another. Why would John the Baptist, who leapt in his mother’s womb when he heard Jesus was to be born, question if Jesus was the Messiah? That doesn’t make any sense. Did John the Baptist backslide because he was in prison? A few verses later, Jesus commends John the Baptist saying there is no one greater born of a woman. Certainly, this clarifies John’s unwavering faithfulness to Jesus and the Gospel. So why send these disciples to ask Jesus these questions?

Perhaps John was acting like a parent who had had enough of his disciples not listening or understanding. Perhaps he thought those same words so many parents think, “How many times do I have to tell you?” John finally just sent them to the source, to Jesus, to ask for themselves. And being good disciples, they went. John, doing what many parents do, sent his disciples to hear the truth, the same truth that had been confirmed in him since he was a baby.

Speaking personally now, I have been a Christian since I was in the womb, and probably many of you have also. I have had people praying for me even before I was born. I have celebrated Advent every year since I was a baby. I have watched and learned this season inside and out. I am spoiled because I have known Jesus my whole life. I never had to experience a world without a Savior. I have had an answer for sin, pain, and suffering. Sometimes I want the same for others so badly that I get frustrated when they don’t listen. Could that be what John the Baptist felt too?

I know Abby doesn’t understand that she can hurt her sister. Abby has no true intentions of trying to hurt Audrey. She is trying to be helpful and doesn’t have the knowledge I have as a parent. I want to help guide her to the place where she is able to show love to her sister, but in a caring and safe way. Could that guidance and teaching be what John the Baptist was doing for his disciples too?

John the Baptist’ story reminds us, as we prepare this Advent season, to treasure what we know is coming, but also to prepare for those who don’t know. They don’t understand.  They haven’t been prepared. At times we might feel like they are so close to knowing about their Savior, but then they take a step back. It can be frustrating. Every time we relive this season, we are preparing our hearts to know the richness of this journey, but also preparing how to help someone else understand this journey that we have known for a long time. Regardless if you are an Advent veteran or a newbie, it is amazing to see what the coming of this little baby means for you and me. Get ready! Jesus is coming!