Luke 7:18-28
If John the Baptist showed up at your door to ask your daughter out on a date, you would shut the door in his face. John the Baptist looked a lot more like the crazy, homeless people we see in the streets of Rabat than anyone else. Some of you will remember Dan who was with us at RIC. When we announced he was going to begin working with the youth of the church, we had to talk to some of the parents and convince them that despite his appearance, he was a good person. I think he might be pleased to be compared to John the Baptist.
Frederick Buechner begins his description of John the Baptist with this:
John the Baptist didn’t fool around. He lived in the wilderness around the Dead Sea. He subsisted on a starvation diet, and so did his disciples. He wore clothes that even the rummage sale people wouldn’t have handled. When he preached, it was fire and brimstone every time.
Despite his appearance, or perhaps partly because of it, John was viewed as a prophet. There was something about him in his teaching and preaching and in his manner that marked him as a man close to God. The people of Jerusalem flocked to see John in the wilderness. Israel was hungry for a prophet. It had been four hundred years since Israel had a prophet and now John came, preaching and baptizing.
When John was in prison and wondering about Jesus, he sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus if he was the Messiah. After they left, Jesus talked to the crowd about John.
“What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 25 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. 26 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 27 This is he of whom it is written,
“ ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way before you.’
Who did Jesus say John was? A reed shaken by the wind? No, John was anything but that. John was not blown around by what people thought of him or what might happen to him if he proclaimed the truth. People came from kilometers around to see him and hear him. He did not preach so people would like him, he preached what was often uncomfortably true. People were attracted to him and he had disciples who followed him because of his strong character and spiritual insights.
Was John easily shaken? No! He was a man of conviction and it was this that had put him into prison. Herod’s brother Phillip was married to Herodias. She left him and Herod married her. This was in violation of the Mosaic Law which said in Leviticus 20:21
If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is impurity.
John the Baptist did not hide his condemnation of this marriage and Herodias was a woman who did not think some flea-bitten nut in the desert should be telling her what to do. So she complained to her husband who had John arrested and put in prison.
John was not 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.
“If you want to see soft clothing, luxurious living, go to a fashion show. Go to the palace,” Jesus said.
People went to see John, not for the luxury of his life but because he was a prophet.
What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 27 This is he of whom it is written,
“ ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way before you.’
Jesus and John were not strangers. Mary and Elizabeth, their mothers, were cousins. This made John and Jesus second cousins. Mary went to see Elizabeth when she discovered she was pregnant and when Elizabeth was at the end of her pregnancy. There was a bond between the two mothers so it is logical to assume the two families went together to the annual festivals in Jerusalem. It is logical to assume that Jesus and John, being second cousins, born within six months of each other, knew each other well.
There is some speculation that when John was preaching and baptizing in the wilderness, Jesus was one of his disciples. And it makes sense that some of the disciples who followed Jesus were first disciples of John. This helps to give background to the calling of the disciples to follow Jesus. When he came to Peter and John who were fishing and told them to come and follow him, they did not drop their nets and follow him on the basis of a first meeting. They already knew Jesus and had an established relationship with him. They knew about his baptism and what John had said about him, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” On this basis they dropped whatever they were doing and followed Jesus when he called them.
Whether or not Jesus was a disciple of John before he began his ministry, it was at the baptism of Jesus that everything turned around.
John 1:29–34
The next day [John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
Jesus came to John in the wilderness, maybe as a disciple, but certainly not as a stranger. When John said, “I myself did not know him,” he was saying he did not know who it would be that would be marked by the Spirit descending like a dove as the Messiah. Certainly John knew Jesus but he did not know he was the chosen one.
When God revealed to John that the one on whom the Spirit would descend like a dove would be the Messiah, I doubt that John suspected Jesus would be that person. I wonder how surprised John was when he saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove and remain on his cousin Jesus.
How did John react to this? Remember the reaction to Jesus from those who knew him well in his home town.
Mark 6:3-4
Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. 4 And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.”
John’s reaction speaks very highly of him. He resisted the impulse to limit Jesus to the cousin he had known all his life. And if it is true that Jesus was the disciple of John, this speaks even more highly of John and makes his attitude all the more amazing. John said: (John 3:30)
He must increase, but I must decrease.
How many leaders of ministry do you see who are willing to step aside and allow one of their followers to rise to a greater position of leadership?
John was really an impressive man.
Jesus was baptized, heard his Father in heaven say: (Luke 3:22)
“You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
and went off into the wilderness to fast and pray and consider what these words meant.
John continued his ministry, Jesus went off into the wilderness and it seems Jesus held back until John was thrown into prison before he began his own ministry.
At the time of the encounter with Jesus that is today’s text, John was in prison. A man who had spent much of his life in the open spaces of the wilderness was now confined to a small cell where he could see the outside world only by looking out a window, if there was one.
Herod came by to talk with him and had mixed feelings. On the one hand, he liked hearing John but on the other hand he had to deal with his wife, Herodias, who was irate that her husband allowed John to live. Like Jezebel with Ahab, Herodias ran the show and found ways to get her husband to do the things she wanted.
John, sitting in his prison cell, was aware of what was going on. He knew that his time was limited. And at times like this the mind is powerfully concentrated. The things we believe and live for are examined much more closely when we know it is the end. The climax of John’s life was the revelation that his cousin, Jesus, was the Messiah. But now, in his prison cell, he began to examine his belief.
If Jesus was the Messiah, where was the army he was building that would overthrow the Roman occupiers? Where were the indicators that Jesus would be the triumphant king? Had he been mistaken on that day out in the Jordan River? Had he really seen the Spirit descend on Jesus?
So in the midst of his questions and toying with doubt, he sent a couple of his disciples to go to Jesus and ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”
When they arrived, Jesus was, as was most often the case, in the midst of a crowd.
In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight.
Some of us are watching the Matthew film of Jesus in which the script uses only the words of Matthew. But visual details are added in the film to flesh out the words of Matthew’s gospel. It shows Jesus kneeling by someone who is lame, rubbing their feet, and then helped by Jesus, the person stands up and begins to walk. Jesus is laughing with delight as the person begins to walk and then he moves on to the next person. The film catches only a glimpse of what I imagine the joyful chaos of the moment was when Jesus was teaching and healing and casting out demons.
The disciples of John stood there watching Jesus as he worked his miracles. Did what they saw pull them to the Messianic prophecy from Isaiah? (Isaiah 35:5–6)
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
6 then shall the lame man leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
If not, Jesus’ response made it clear.
“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. 23 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
Jesus told the disciples of John to report what they had seen and knew that would give John the encouragement and hope he needed.
I see in this response the love and compassion Jesus had for his cousin.
There are a lot of things Jesus could have said to John. Jesus told the disciples who were afraid of the storm at sea: (Matthew 8:26)
“Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?”
He told Peter who stepped out on the water and began to sink: (Matthew 14:31)
“O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
He told the scribes and Pharisees who told Jesus they wanted to see a sign, proof that he was the Messiah. (Matthew 12:39–40)
But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
He could even have told John’s disciples to tell John what he had said to those in his hometown who doubted him. (Mark 6:4)
“A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.”
But Jesus knew John. He knew his heart. He knew his circumstances. John was in prison, fearing his end, questioning what he believed and Jesus in his compassion for John and out of his love for him gave him words of great encouragement.
“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. 23 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
This is a great story of an encounter with Jesus: Doubt meets Jesus. But you don’t have to be in prison to question what you believe. You don’t have to be facing your death to have doubts.
One year ago my faith took a huge hit when the foster parents at the Village of Hope were deported. With seven hours notice, the parents were put in a bus, taken to the airport and flown out of the country. They have not seen their children since and the children have suffered greatly this year with the abrupt removal of the only parents they ever knew.
How could God allow this to happen? Is he impotent? Doesn’t he care? These are the questions I have asked this past year.
Oti Kingsley, who was a student here in Rabat, died in January at the age of 22. Why would God allow such a young man with so much potential and with a wonderfully developing faith to die? We need men like him in the world. There are many men and women in the world who are destructive to life and the human spirit. Why not have these people die? Is God really in control of our lives?
There are some who circumstances have deteriorated this year and they are struggling to survive.
Jesus taught in the sermon on the mount: (Luke 12:27–31)
Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29 And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. 30 For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
This is a great teaching but it does not explain all the followers of Jesus who don’t have adequate clothing, food or drink. What did Jesus mean when he gave this teaching?
A lot of innocent people died in the earthquake and tsunami in Japan this past Friday. Men and women, boys and girls, infants, all died suddenly when the surge of water and debris hit them and overwhelmed them. What did they do to deserve this?
We live in a world that does not have easy answers to our questions. There is more than sufficient evidence to question and doubt. Like John we ask, “Are you the one or should we look for someone else?”
And I believe Jesus, in his love for us and with his compassion for us, tells us, just as he told the messengers of John, “Look around at what you see.”
Now here it gets a bit difficult. I talked about this last week. We do not see the blind receiving their sight, the lame walking, lepers being cleansed, the deaf hearing and the dead being raised to life. We do see the poor having the good news preached to them, but if that is all John’s disciples reported back to him, I’m not sure how comforting that would have been to him.
We can be encouraged, as was John, but we have to work a bit harder at this. And let me remind you from last week about the reason why it is we have to work harder to believe. The reason it is more difficult for us is because Jesus wants to develop our faith and faith is not developed in the midst of certainty. Faith is not developed when the evidence for belief is obvious.
Miracles like the blind seeing and the lame walking build the quantity of the church but they do not build the quality of the church. Many come to faith when these miracles are seen – and I am praying for God to release his miraculous power in this country so his church can be built. But a steady diet of miracles will not build the faith God wants to see in us.
I know a woman who came to faith with an incredible set of miracles including having the name of Jesus written on her leg. I know this is a true story, not something I heard from someone else. I know the woman. She came to faith and then her skeptical husband as well. But a couple years later they are divorced and she is pursuing the secular world. Despite the miraculous call of God she has walked away from her faith in Jesus.
I wonder if all the people who were healed by Jesus continued to follow him through the rest of their life. Did some turn away from Jesus, distracted by the temptations of the world? Miracles may draw us to Jesus but they do not grow our faith.
C. S. Lewis wrote a book titled The Screwtape Letters in which a senior demon sends letters of instruction to a junior tormentor. At one point (end of chapter 8) he writes:
Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.
We have to work harder to see what John’s disciples saw so easily because it is not the goal of God to impress us with his powers. It is his goal to develop our faith which is the wealth we will carry with us into heaven. When we believe without the obvious miracles and stand and obey despite the hard circumstances of our lives, we grow in faith, Satan is defeated and God’s kingdom is advanced.
So then, without the blind receiving their sight, the lame walking, the lepers cleansed, the deaf hearing and the dead raised to life, what do we see when we look around. What evidence do we see that Jesus is at work as the risen, all-powerful Christ?
This morning you are sitting among some of the most amazing miracles God has ever performed. Think about it. If someone is blind and they receive their sight, that is incredible, but eyes do not have free will. Eyes do not choose to see or not see. They obey the electrical impulses that make them operate. But we do have free will. We can choose to believe or not believe. We can choose to obey or not obey.
When someone hears about Jesus and makes the decision to follow him, that is good news. But what is amazing is when that person continues to follow Jesus even when life circumstances become difficult. I have been with people when they prayed to receive the gift of salvation and that is great. But I have watched and seen some of these people slip back away from Jesus. It is when I see someone continue to follow Jesus despite the pressures of life and despite persecution, that is when I am amazed. That is really miraculous.
It is amazing to me that any of us believe and follow Jesus. We sacrifice for our faith, hold on to our faith even through great hurts and disappointments. That is a great miracle, God’s power at work in us.
Jesus is at work doing far more amazing things than giving sight. He is drawing people to himself to be in his kingdom for eternity. When we have questions and when we entertain doubts, we need to look around and see what Jesus is doing. We need to ask people to tell us their story.
Look at the people sitting next to you. Do you know their story about how they became followers of Jesus? You need to talk to people in church, “Tell me about how you met Jesus. Tell me about how you have grown in your faith over the years since then. How have you encountered Jesus over the years? What has helped you persevere in your faith?” Listen to their stories and be encouraged.
It is for this reason that we are asking people to share their story of an encounter with Jesus each week. Gyula was here for the first time last Sunday and today he shared with us his story of how he encountered Jesus. Who will share with us next Sunday? Sharing your story of encountering Jesus is a gift to the church.
We need that encouragement, just as John did. We need to see what God is doing among us. And we need to encourage others with our own stories.
I hope you took the time to be with Jesus this past week. I hope you found some quiet time to pray and listen. I hope you took time to reflect and then write down on the sheet that was in your bulletin the question you most want to ask Jesus. And then, as you sat and reflected and listened, I hope you were able to write down the question you think God most wants to ask you.
I encourage you to take the time to do that again this week. You may have the same questions or they may change.
And as we move along in this series of sermons, I am hoping someone will be able to share with us a fresh encounter with Jesus that is facilitated by this exercise of writing down the two questions each week.
I hope particularly today, that anyone who is asking questions and toying with doubt will be encouraged to hear the compassion and love of Jesus for you as you wonder if he really is the chosen one. Look around and see what Jesus is doing in our midst. Make sure today that you take the time to hear the story of one of your friends in church. Be encouraged.
Blessed is the one who is not offended by Jesus. Blessed is the one who is not tripped up by Jesus. Blessed is the one who comes to Jesus and trusts in him.
