How Long Will You Keep Us In Suspense?                                          

When I read the scriptures I often come across a passage that expresses a profound personal sentiment or feeling.  As I encountered this morning’s gospel passage, I had just such an experience.  Jesus was walking in the temple and a crowd pressed in around him and suddenly someone asked, "How long will you keep us in suspense?  If you are the messiah tell us plainly." 

There is a lot of heavy baggage and deep feeling packed into that question.  Those who gathered around Jesus in the temple were not the first to ask that question, nor would they be the last.  It’s question that had been asked countless times before down through the centuries in a variety of circumstances in various ways.  It’s a question that comes from a place deep within the human soul.  It’s a question that has rolled off the tongue of millions, including yours and mine. 

The Israelites, back in Moses’ time, waited at the foot of Mt. Sinai when Moses went up the mountain to ultimately receive the Ten Commandments.  He didn’t come back right away, and the people got anxious, fearful and insecure, and they asked with angry impatience, “How much longer?”   They wanted a sign that would assure them that Moses and God didn’t skip town and disappear into a cloud, never to return. So they took matters into their own hands and made an answer for themselves.  They gathered up golden rings and bracelets, anything golden, melted it down and molded it into a golden calf and worshipped a pagan God.  They were so desperate to provide an end to their suspense and doubt so they sought a tangible answer that satisfied them.  But it did not.

A few centuries later, the people of Jerusalem asked again, “How long, 0 Lord, must we wait for deliverance?  We are surrounded by enemies, threatened by an army much bigger and more powerful than ourselves.”  Isaiah the prophet answered by urging and imploring them to wait and trust in their God who had led them out of slavery in Egypt.  Isaiah assured them God would deliver them again if they waited.  They would not wait. They were anxious, fearful and insecure so they took matters into their own hands.  They created their own answer: a treaty with a nation that Isaiah was against.  It was a tangible agreement they thought would end the suspense.  But they were wrong!

Even John the Baptist got into the act.  From prison he sent his disciples to Jesus to ask almost the same question: “Are you the one who is to come or must we wait for another?”  That question followed Jesus to the very end, into the courtroom before Pontus Pilate: “Are you the king of the Jews?”  Pilate did not like to be left in suspense. He wanted a clear unequivocal answer: yes or no.

Even the resurrection did not silence the question.  For the eyewitnesses, those who saw the risen Christ, it seemed like a clear answer that ended their suspense.  But they were relatively few, and it did not take long for this question of uncertainty to be whispered once more.   

The whispers grew louder and louder and soon brought division in the young churches. The believers in Corinth, for example, could not stand the suspense. Some among them insisted on signs: tangible evidence of a living God, like speaking in tongues or some other ecstatic gift which would silence the doubt and speculation. They so much wanted an end to their suspense and doubt. They wanted an answer they could hear, see and experience.  

And we who gather in this place this morning, we want no less.  We too know the question all too well in our lives. "How long, O lord,  will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, show us plainly in way that ends all the doubt.  Show us, O Lord, show us.” 

It’s a question we ask that rises up from the deep well of the trials and struggles of our lives: chronic and acute illnesses, praying your heart out for a sick loved one, job dissatisfaction, unemployment, marriage problems, financial problems, kid problems, profound losses, and a thousand other things – and out of the anxiety, fear and insecurity of it all you may have found yourself praying a prayer that sounds a lot like the question of those gathered around Jesus in the temple so long ago, “How long, O Lord, will I be kept in suspense?” 

Let’s face it, suspense is unnerving. We long for something else. We can’t stand it!  Many years ago there were seminars all over the country called “Basic Youth Conflicts.”  I attended one along with thousands of others. They weren't really for youth, but for adults who had been in suspense since they were young. One of the features of the seminars was a notebook filled with answers to every conceivable question. You could read Question A (usually a complicated life problem) on one page, then turn the page over to match it with Answer A. There was only one answer for each question; one right answer for every complexity; every problem of life boiled down to one answer. Differences among people were not recognized. The notebook was given (for a considerable fee) to every participant. We all went home carrying the answers under our arms like tablets of stone. Did it provide an end to the suspense?  No!   For my money it turned out to be just another generic golden calf!

I held the hand of a dying woman, and she said, “I just wish it were over. Pastor, how long?”  It’s a question that rises out of our pathos.

I had a discussion with a person who has several loved ones in her family struggling with a myriad of troubles including terminal illness.  She expressed her deep pathos about praying and praying and seeing no results, no change, no improvement, and no miracles.  In so many words she talked about how a miracle would bring an end to the suspense.  A miracle would provide the plain answer she so desperately desires.  We started talking about miracles, and I shared with her the greatest miracle I have ever seen.  In fact, it is a miracle I have seen many times, even in some of you.  The greatest miracle I have ever seen is not a miraculous healing or some spectacular deliverance.  The greatest miracle I have ever seen is continued faith in face of trouble; determined faith in the face of hardship and suffering; persistent faith when there is no miracle; steadfast faith when there is no good reason to even have faith, but faith lives in a human soul nevertheless.  That’s the greatest miracle I have ever seen.   

"How long will you keep us in suspense?" they asked Jesus.  “I have told you, and you do not believe.  The works I do in my father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe…”

There you have it. There will be no clearer answer. Yet we still feel so much suspense because we want an answer or a miracle that will erase every doubt.  We hate living in suspense. We hate it as much as the Israelites waited for Moses at the foot of the mountain or the crowd gathered around Jesus in the temple on Solomon’s porch so long ago. .

A year or two ago I got a call from a woman in my congregation.  She was eager to tell me about a new Bible study program she was excited about. She wanted me to know about this program that had NO DENOMINATIONS.  A video came with it, and the man who spoke on the video claimed to be beyond denomination; beyond doctrine; beyond doubt; beyond everything!  He claimed to speak the pure truth.  As I listened it became clear that this man was even more certain about most things than Jesus. In this Bible study there were no questions, only answers. There was no doubt, only certainty. There was no possibility of failure or losing, only success and winning.  The book that came with the bible study was entitled Christians Can Be Prosperous.  It provided an appealing end to all the suspense. But for my money the promise of prosperity, in God’s name, is just another generic golden calf.

When the crowd in the temple asked their question Jesus gave no easy answers; no concise formulas; no spectacular miracles even though, according to John, he had already done a few including changing water to wine, feeding the 5000, and healing a crippled man.  But evidently for that crowd that wasn’t good enough.  Jesus knew that wouldn’t really make any final difference.  They would only become hungry for more spectacular miracles and never be satisfied.  What Jesus finally gave them and what Jesus gives us is simply himself:  “My sheep hear my voice.  I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life... no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

The greatest miracle is relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ through faith.  It’s a relationship that no circumstance of life can ever sever or destroy.  It’s a relationship that makes all the difference in every circumstance of life. You want a miracle?  How about God’s only Son going to a cross to die for your sins so that nothing in life or death will ever be able to snatch you out of God’s loving hand?