For People with Bishop Rob Wright
For People with Bishop Rob Wright
Deserving
What if hope isn’t tidy or instant, but slow and stubborn—something that holds you when outcomes don’t? In Matthew 11, John the Baptist asks a big question about Jesus. "Are you the one, or should we wait for another?" John's question is really our question. Is Jesus deserving of our faith, hope, and following?
In this episode, Melissa and Bishop Wright have a conversation about the ache for a savior who will make it all better, especially amid Christian nationalism and culture-war politics. It’s human to want a rescuer, but it’s risky to confuse charisma with character. The kingdom’s pattern is quieter: reversal at the edges, healing without spectacle, and justice in motion. Advent brings the hard edge of timing. God is not a magician, and the “already and not yet” of the kingdom asks us to live with tension—trusting that change has begun while admitting it is not complete. This is mature faith: patient, honest, and, grounded in the long arc of God’s work. Listen in for the full conversation.
Read For Faith, the companion devotional.
The hope of the Bible is a messy hope. It costs something to have Bible hope. One of the prophets will later describe it as being a prisoner of hope. It is this thing I can't shake, even though when I open my door in the morning, I see that the world is broken in many ways, and yet the Bible asks me to see God even in the midst of that. Some people get to intersections in life and really wonder about that.
Melissa:Welcome to For People with Bishop Rob Wright. I'm your host Melissa Rau. This week, Bishop has prepared a devotion that he named Deserving. Bishop?
Bishop Wright:I'm thinking about the 11th chapter of Matthew's Gospel, beginning at the second verse. When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another? Jesus answered them, Go and tell John what you hear and see, the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is any one who takes no offense at me. So John's question in that gospel is our question really. And the question is this is Jesus deserving of our faith, hope, and following?
Melissa:Okay, so Bishop, you talk about Jesus the Messiah, and that's what his disciples and the people, the Hebrew people especially, are waiting for. And Messiah is kind of a big fancy word. And so, how would you summarize what Messiah actually means? Like what were people waiting for? What are we waiting for or hoping for?
Bishop Wright:Yeah, I mean, in short, Messiah was that notion, is that idea that uh there is one coming from God, there is one uh who is sent from God who is going to overturn, you know, the uh political order, the economic order, the military order. Um uh it is the is the promise that God will do redemption and reversal and revolt against the status quo order. Uh and so uh it's it's it's who the people of faith wait for. Um it's the one who comes to set the captives free. Um it's it's the one we will know by their works. Um they will come with unusual and unique power. Um uh they will come to embody uh God's uh not only God's grace and will, but God's retribution and God's judgment. So yeah, I I think that's uh that's a rendering of Messiah.
Melissa:Yeah, so we can have our personal messiahs or we can have the messiah. Can you unpack the nuance between those?
Bishop Wright:Well, you know, I don't know what you mean by personal messiah. I I think that in many ways that's part of the the question here. So so John uh is just trying to, you know, John's in prison. Let's talk about that for a second, right? So so in some ways, this is you know John's question, you know, from the from the Galilean jail, right? So John John wants to know um, you know, a couple of things, I think. I think you know, John may be in jail and uh and his hope may be flagging. I think John may be in jail and wondering uh was it all worth it? I think John may be in jail and wondering if he wasn't too zealous for the wrong thing in the wrong person. Um, you know, I think John may be just in need of a little encouragement. I mean, so so John is us in this story, really, in many ways. Uh John may look out at the world and see that uh uh earthly power is running amok, uh, that the poor are being crushed and extorted, that their labor is being stolen, their dignity is being stolen, and uh he thought he was on to something, and then uh and now he's incarcerated, and uh, you know, and uh he's on death row. And um, you know, I think that uh John's uh queries are our queries. Um, you know, what's the what's been the point of this? Uh some of us get to uh you know our third chapter in life and uh and we wonder what was it worth it? Um and so what this is why I like this exchange between these two cousins, John the big cousin, and Jesus the little cup, the little cousin. And then Jesus does this amazing thing, you know, uh he answers indirectly. Um in other words, he's sort of suggesting I'm going to be Messiah the way I'm gonna be Messiah. And he gives this classic answer about reversal in people's lives. Uh lepers are cleansed, the deaf can hear, and so on. Uh, and uh, and so he's basically saying, uh, yes, uh uh Messiah is here in this way, um, which may have given John some comfort as as well as some angst uh going forward.
Melissa:Yeah, so in in today's time of uh Christian nationalism, I think there are a number of political figures that some people might raise up or lift up and and kind of put on the same parallel, if you will, as Messiah.
Bishop Wright:Sure. Sure. Yeah, I think I think um it's it's uh as much as some of us may not like it uh or or you know want to castigate others for it, I think it's altogether human history proves that it's altogether a human sort of longing that somebody would come and make things right. Um I think that all of us have probably voted uh if we are voters for someone who would come and get things together. Um I think that uh, you know, whether that's a uh a corporate uh you know officer, uh maybe a bishop, uh, you know, a new priest or pastor, um, you know, some uh you know, a spouse. Um that someone would come and would make it all better. And uh and and and and that their concerns would be your concerns and they would prioritize, you know, alleviating you from your burdens and fears. Uh so I mean it's altogether human to think that help is coming over the mountain. The Calvary's on the way. Um, we will be vindicated, um uh and all of our worries, concerns uh be legitimized. And not only that, um, but uh, you know, some a dose of uh those who did it to us now are going to get it done to them, right? So so I think all of that is infinitely human, and I think all of that plays out whether we're talking about society or whether we're talking about you know, this historic longing throughout scripture, uh Old and New Testament, uh, for God coming to set things right.
Melissa:Yeah. And so when we talk about, you know, Jesus was and is and is to come, yeah, you know, it's Advent. And so what are we waiting for if Jesus has already come?
Bishop Wright:Yeah. Well, uh one step before we get there, I think one of the things we have to we have to acknowledge is that um uh the hope that Jesus seems to uh always live out. Um, you know, whether it's coming as a baby, uh, you know, in the midst of a politically oppressive government, um, or uh his resurrection uh that changes things but doesn't seem to change everything, at least immediately. Um we've we've got to acknowledge that that somehow the way that God is in Scripture is to not wave a magic wand. So God is not the God of magic. Uh somehow uh God is the God, and this is what frustrates us about God, if we're honest. Uh God seems to have God's own ideas about time. Uh, I mean, we remember that the Hebrew people were in bondage for 400 years. So for 399 years and 11 months, people wondered. Uh, people died, generations died, uh, thinking that their hope was in vain, right? Uh, before a little boy named Moses was ever, you know, a glimmer in his mom and daddy's eyes. And so, so while we're having this conversation about hope and all that, uh, you know, I think it's really critical to ground our hope in the hope of the Bible, because the hope of the Bible is a messy hope. Um, it is it is not a black and white hope. Um, it it costs something uh to have Bible hope. Um, one of the prophets will later describe it as being a prisoner of hope. It is this thing I can't shake, even though when I open my door in the morning, I see that the world is broken in many ways. And yet the Bible uh asks me to see God even in the midst of that. The kingdom is in the midst of that, that God is present in the midst of that, that Jesus has already come. We believe uh and uh and uh you know, inaugurated the kingdom, and yet at the same time the kingdom is here, but not yet in its fullness. And so we await the second coming of Jesus. So it's it's it's it's a terrible uh elevator uh speech to try to make to somebody about the already and not yetness of uh of God. And so it's no wonder that John's question is our question, right? So then uh, you know, is this just some sort of weird spiritual yoga move uh or should we be waiting for you know a Messiah uh who's a less messy and who can get the job done more effectively than Jesus? I mean, I think that's it's some people, some people get to intersections in life and really wonder about that.
Melissa:Yeah. So John's question is Is Jesus deserving of our hope, our love, our adoration, our faith, and our following?
Bishop Wright:Sure. Sure, of course. Of course, because you know what, you know, it's it's easy to read the New Testament and and uh and the healing stories and the water and the wine and the feeding of the 5,000 and the raising of Lazarus from the dead and uh the virgin birth, etc., and want to bring that rightfully want to bring that over into modern life exactly, and then you wonder where the magic is. And then the magic is not the magic, it's a slog. It's uh it's day-to-day faith, it's broken people, um uh uh loving each other as best we can, in large part stumbling, um uh trying to love a God uh who uh sometimes is hard to love if we're honest, um, because we wonder if our prayers sometimes go uh anywhere above our head, actually. Um and then you get these moments um which uh confound uh our tendency to despair, that somehow we know um, you know, beyond our intellect, in our intellect, but beyond our intellect, that God is real, able, good, and generous, and we take the next step. But uh but it is a slow process. So, you know, I think that John's question uh for our advent uh brings us down into what I would call a mature faith. And a mature faith and a mature hope uh acknowledges that we are in relationship with a God um who is not microwave popcorn, uh, and that what we're really talking about is can we trust God stretched out over our real life with all its ups and downs?
Melissa:So some people have uh proposed that perhaps the second coming of Christ is actually the indwelling of us and the incarnation of the way we move and have our being in the world as Jesus followers. Um I I just one final question, Bishop, and I'm gonna turn John's upside down a little bit. I think Jesus does deserve all of that. My question is, how might we better deserve Jesus?
Bishop Wright:Well, I I uh I'll let Jesus answer that question, right? And Jesus says uh again and again to people, come and follow me, right? And so I I think how we how we better partner with Jesus, you know. I mean, if if grace is is that uh is that free and undeserved, unmerited gift, uh a grace, um uh I think uh maybe deserving is not the right way to sort of configure that, because if if it is what Jesus says it is and what we believe it is, there's no deserving because there's no earning, right? And so we're in a perpetual state of undeserving, which should positively accrue to gratitude, right? So if I know I've been given an extraordinary gift, which I didn't earn, I couldn't have ever earned, and I realize that that gift is of exceeding value, then what that should generate in me is a gratitude, right? That's my response. And out of a deep well of gratitude, then that's how I make my journey, which is, you know, that's the buoyancy uh for my life, is that um despite all the hardship of life, uh, this gratitude animates me uh in a way that is really kind of hard to explain, but you know, it's it's an experience. I mean, how do we really adequately convey love and all these other sort of things that penetrate us and motivate us? Um, words fail. That's why we're thank God for the poets and the songwriters, right? Because the average person, you know, just can't manage the words. But nevertheless, it animates us, right? It animates us to action. So I think how we partner with Jesus uh or how we respond to Jesus for all of Jesus' the gifts that Jesus has given us in our in our life, companionship, consolation, an example of courage, um to know that we're not alone, even in our darkest day. Uh, you know, I mean, I think this is one of the things that Calvary gives us. I mean, I know we're heading to Christmas, but uh, whenever we uh head to Christmas, uh, Calvary is not far off in the distance. And so, you know, we know that we can go through uh the worst and the unfair and the betrayal and all of it because we have a companion in Jesus. Um, and so Jesus' companionship is an incredible gift when you get right down to it. Uh so I think that's how we um, for want of a better word, deserve uh deserve this gift, and that is to live a life worthy of the calling.
Melissa:May that be so. Bishop, thank you, and listeners, thank you for tuning in to For People. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook at Bishop Rob Wright or by visiting www.forpeople.digital. Please subscribe, leave a review, and we'll be back with you next week.