An Unexpected Answer to a Question of Doubt....

This week we are looking at an encounter that an individual had with Jesus that is recorded for us in an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Luke. Yesterday we looked on as Jesus, while traveling through a city in Northern Israel named Nain, had interrupted a funeral procession to miraculously bring back to life the person that they were having the funeral for. 

And as a result of Jesus doing the miraculous word about Jesus and His miraculous activity spread throughout the Jewish nation. The word about Jesus and His miraculous activity spread all the way to John the Baptizer. We looked on as John the Baptizer sent two of his closest followers to Jesus with a question: "Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?” In other words, John the Baptizer is asking Jesus “Are you the Messiah, the promised one from God, or did I make a mistake”?

We talked about the reality that John the Baptizer doubted because this was not how the story was supposed to go. John doubted because he had been born and raised believing that when the Messiah came, the Messiah and the kingdom of heaven would bring in peace and prosperity for those who were in the kingdom. But John wasn’t experiencing peace. Instead John was in prison for doing what he was supposed to do.

We looked on as John the Baptizer’s close followers approached Jesus; as John the Baptizer’s closest followers ask Jesus if He is the Messiah, Jesus cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits; and He gave sight to many who were blind. John's closest followers waited for Jesus to answer their question as He continued to do the unexplainable, the miraculous, in front of their eyes. Today, we see Luke record for us Jesus answer in Luke 7:22. Let’s look at that answer together:

 And He answered and said to them, "Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM. "Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me."

Now imagine yourself as one of John the Baptizer’s close followers. You have been sent by John to ask Jesus if He was the Messiah or if they had made a mistake. And you ask Jesus the question that you were supposed to ask. Then you wait and watch as Jesus does the miraculous. Then Jesus turns to you and says “Go and report what you have seen and heard”.

If you were one of John the Baptizer’s closest followers, is that the answer you would have expected? I mean the question seems to be a simple “yes” or “no” question doesn’t it? Either Jesus is the Messiah or He isn’t the Messiah? So why did Jesus answer John the Baptizer the way that He did. I mean, why doesn’t Jesus simply come out and say, “John, don’t worry, I am the Messiah and your life will get better soon”.

Instead, Jesus points John the Baptizer back to a section of a letter written 600 years earlier by the prophet Isaiah. In this section of the letter, Isaiah foretells of the events surrounding the person who would be the Messiah. The same events which John the baptizer saw and participated in his life and ministry; the same events that John the Baptizer’s closest followers witnessed before Jesus spoke to them.

Jesus pointed John the Baptizer back to the truth of the message and teachings of the Bible. And Jesus pointed John the Baptizer to the truth of the activity of Jesus in the world. And if that was not enough, Jesus then tells John the Baptizer’s closest followers "Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me", Now this phrase, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “And God’s Divine favor is on the one who does not refuse to believe in Me or reject Me as the Messiah”.

Jesus point to John the Baptizer’s closest followers was that God’s grace is upon those who place their confident trust in the truth of who Jesus is based on His activity in the world and His fulfillment of the message and teachings of His word in the Bible. And with that, Luke tells us that John the Baptizers close followers left Jesus and returned to deliver Jesus answer to him as he sat in prison.

However, Jesus was not finished. While Jesus had provided an answer to their question, Jesus had something else to say about John the Baptizer to the crowds who had witnessed this encounter with Jesus. We see what Jesus had to say to those crowds in verse 24:

 When the messengers of John had left, He began to speak to the crowds about John, "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? "But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who are splendidly clothed and live in luxury are found in royal palaces!

Here we see Jesus engage the crowds that were following Him with two rhetorical and metaphorical questions. First, Jesus asks the crowds "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?” Now if you have ever seen the reeds that grow on the edge of the Colorado River down in the Topock Marsh, one of the things that you quickly discover is that reeds are easily blown about by the wind. Reeds are blown in whatever direction the wind happens to be blowing that day.

 So Jesus is basically asking “What did you go out into the middle of nowhere to see? Did you spend your time traveling to the middle of nowhere to hear some spineless guy that would tell you whatever you wanted to hear? Now the reason why this question was rhetorical was because the answer was so obvious that is did not require an answer. Anyone who had heard John the Baptizer knew that he was not a spineless people pleaser who was uncertain about either who he was or his message.

Second, Jesus asks the crowds “But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? When Jesus refers to soft clothing here, he is referring to John the Baptizer’s clothes and appearance. So Jesus is basically asking “What did you go out into the middle of nowhere to see? Did you go out in the middle of nowhere to see some wealthy and well dressed guy?”

Again, the reason why this question was rhetorical was because the answer was so obvious that is did not require an answer. Anyone who heard John the Baptizer quickly recognized that he was a rough and tough dude. John lived out in the wilderness and wore an outfit made of camel’s hair with a belt that probably had one of those huge belt buckles on it. He lived off the land, eating locusts and honey. Can you imagine what John looked like? This was probably a pretty intimidating guy.

And because of that reality Jesus explained that those who are splendidly clothed and live in luxury are found in royal palaces!” In other words, Jesus is pointing out that people were not drawn to John because of his location or his clothing, but because of his message. Jesus then turns to John the Baptizer’s message in verse 26:

 "But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and one who is more than a prophet. "This is the one about whom it is written, 'BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER AHEAD OF YOU, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY BEFORE YOU.' "I say to you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he."

Luke tells us that Jesus, after asking two rhetorical and metaphorical questions, engaged the crowd with a third question that was straightforward and to the point: "But what did you go out to see? A prophet?” In other words Jesus asked the crowds, “Did you go out in the middle of nowhere to hear a spokesperson from God who had a message from God?”

Jesus then answered His own question to the crowd by quoting from a section of a letter written by the prophet Malachi some 400 years earlier to explain to the crowds listening that John the baptizer was the fulfillment of the promise that the Lord had made to the Jewish people at that time to send a messenger who would prepare the way and announce the arrival of the Messiah who would bring the Jewish people back to God and back to prominence in the world.

Then, after revealing the prominent role that John the Baptizer played in the story of God, Jesus made an amazing statement: "I say to you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he." In this statement we see Jesus reveal two timeless realities to us.

First, Jesus reveals for us the reality that John the Baptizer was the greatest human being who ever lived. Of those who came into being as a result of the activity of two human beings, there was no one greater than John the Baptizer. However, Jesus follows up that reality with a second reality in that he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than John the Baptizer.

But what does that mean? Jesus point here is that while John the Baptist pointed people to the coming of the kingdom of heaven in the future, those who are least in the kingdom are greater than John the Baptizer because they point to the reality that the kingdom of heaven is here now as a result of the arrival of Jesus as the Messiah. Luke then reveals for us how the crowds responded to Jesus statement, which we will look at Friday...