Luke 7:18-28 One of the things that I find most
comforting when I read the Bible is that the great heroes of the faith are so
very human. When I read their stories I
find myself.
I feel the
temptation of Adam and Eve to reach for the one thing forbidden. I can identify with David and the danger of
what gets our eyes’ attention and turns our head. I know the sinful, self-assurance of Peter.
The bible stories
of the great heroes of the faith are comforting because their story is our
story and the Good News for them and us is that life with God is not found in our
deeds-- but in the graciousness of our God.
I also find their
stories convincing of the truth of the
Bible—that it really is God’s Word. The
Bible tells the unvarnished truth about us and God. It hasn’t been “neatened up”. The mysteries have not all been solved or the
paradoxes fixed.
That is a powerful
proof that the Bible is God’s story—that he is the only One confident enough to
tell his story this way—in the lives of these people-- and powerful enough to
bring about faith in its words—through its words.
Today we have one
of these of stories where a great hero of the faith has a great faith struggle—and
because of it, he has a great deal to teach us about where and how to find
confidence and assurance that our faith in Jesus is not misplaced. Luke writes that:
The disciples of John
reported all these things to him. And John, calling two of his disciples to
him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall
we look for another?” And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the
Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall
we look for another?’”
When
John asked this question, he was in prison and facing the executioner’s sword
and he wanted to know: Was Jesus really
the promised Messiah who would do all that was prophesied of him—or should they
look for another?
But wasn’t John
the Baptist the same one who had pointed to Jesus and declared him to be the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world? Wasn’t he the one who saw the Holy Spirit
descend upon him and heard the voice of the Father proclaiming Jesus to be his
Son? Why then this question?
Bible commentators
have tried to fix what they see as John’s sinful doubts or his cowardice in the
face of death by saying that John’s real concern was for his disciples and so
he sent them to Jesus for their benefit.
But when Jesus answers the question he says: “Tell John...” Jesus knew who asked the question. Jesus knew who needed the answer.
And so why does
John ask the question he does-- given all that he knew to be true? To answer that question we need to think back
over what we have been hearing during the last Sundays of the church year and
the first Sundays of Advent: strong messages of God’s judgment and the
necessity of repentance. That was John’s
message too: Repent and be baptized for
the forgiveness sins! The King is coming! Prepare his way! The harvest of redemption and judgment is at
hand!
But John didn’t
see that taking place in Jesus’ ministry and he wondered why. His question did not spring from doubt about
the identity of Jesus but came FROM
his faith in Jesus because he didn’t see everything in that moment that Jesus
had promised.
We can identify
with that, can’t we? We believe that
Jesus is the resurrection and the life—but we see our loved ones die. We believe that Jesus rules the world for our
sake—but we see much that is opposed to Christ like the shooting this week. These are not sinful doubts—but faith
struggles-- and only believers have them.
John the Baptist
not only points the way to Christ but he also shows us the way to deal with
these challenges to our faith: take them
to Jesus. Luke writes that:
In that hour [that
John’s disciples came to him] Jesus healed many people of diseases and plagues
and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. And he answered
them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their
sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are
raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who
is not offended by me.”
To
John’s questions and to ours, Jesus answers this way: consider the evidence and search the
Scriptures. That is the way that faith challenges
are met.
The evidence that
Jesus listed was plain for all to see—there was no denying it-- even if people
couldn’t make sense of it. The blind
regained their sight and the deaf could hear and the lame could walk and the
dead were raised—miraculous works that only God could do. But there was even more.
These miracles were
the exact works that had been promised by the prophets that the Messiah would
do. And so Jesus tells John not only to
look to him—but also to consider him in light of Sacred Scripture-- and then
come to the only possible conclusion:
that Jesus WAS exactly who he claimed to be—exactly who John proclaimed him to be: the Messiah.
There was no need to look for another Messiah—for he had arrived.
John’s example,
and the words of Luke that record his story, are meant for us too. When it comes to our faith struggles, Jesus
says: read the Bible—look at my
life—listen to the words of the eyewitnesses—and consider the evidence. When we do that, our faith struggles come to
an end: Jesus is who he says he is—the
Savior of the world.
Jesus is the One
who brings about the Kingdom
of God and makes a place
for us in it. He is the One who restores
what is broken in our lives. He is the
Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And even if we cannot see everything that we
want to see—even if there are still things that Jesus simply wants us to trust
him for—we can be confident that our faith in him is not misplaced.
That is what Jesus
meant when he said: Blessed is the one who is not offended because of me. That word “offended” means “scandalized” and
it describes a trap that would kill an animal.
The point that Jesus is making is this:
when we are considering his identity, he wants us to look to him, to
read the Bible, to consider the evidence-- and not let some doubt or question
keep us from believing or destroy our faith.
There will always
be challenges to our faith but we must not let them keep us from Christ—for
that would be fatal. Neither should we
delay—for the question of his identity is one that every person on earth must
answer for themselves. Luke writes:
When John's
messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John:
“What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?
What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those
who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in kings' courts.
What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a
prophet. This is he of whom it is written,
“‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your
way before you.’ I tell you, among those
born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
The
prophet Malachi prophesied that before the Messiah came, a forerunner would
come before him—a messenger who would prepare the people spiritually to receive
their Savior. Wherever you found this
forerunner—you would find the Messiah.
And so who was John
the Baptist? When these same people went
to see him what were they expecting—someone who said whatever the people wanted
to hear? No! He was a prophet who spoke the Word of God unashamed
and unafraid.
Were they
expecting a preacher who benefited from his association with the rich and
famous? No! In fact, at that moment, not only was he not in
a king’s palace, he was in a king’s dungeon for speaking the Word of God.
So what had they
gone out into the wilderness to see? A
prophet? Yes, and the first one in 400
years. But more than a just prophet—the
forerunner of the Messiah sent to prepare his way. This is who John claimed to be and it is who
the people believed John to be. And who
did he point to as the Savior of the world?
Looking at Jesus of Nazareth he said:
Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world!
John the Baptist
was not just the messenger—he was the message—the sign from God that the
Messiah had arrived and because of his unique mission Jesus said of John that
he was the greatest man who ever lived.
But he also said that the least in the Kingdom of Heaven
was still greater than John. So what did
Jesus mean by this?
John’s work, like
all of the prophets who came before him was anticipatory—they had faith in what
was to come-- but they never got to see it come to pass. John was executed shortly after these events recorded
by Luke.
He never got to
see how Jesus would take away the sin of the world and reconcile God and
man. He never saw Jesus go to the cross
under the burden of our sins. He never
saw the resurrected Lord who had conquered death. He never saw his ascension and the certainty
it provides that Jesus truly is the King who rules the world for our sake.
All of these
events that testify to the identity of Jesus and his Messianic work were still
in the future for him when John died.
But even the youngest child among us know these stories and the One of
whom they tell. Even the youngest among
us know how Jesus has made a place for us in God’s family by his death and
resurrection.
John looked
forward to this in faith like all those who came before him—but we know it as
the accomplished fact of history that our sins are forgiven and we have a life
with God through faith in Jesus—who is the answer to our questions and the cure
for our doubts. Amen.
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