Jesus Tells John
Luke 7:18-28
Third Sunday in
Advent, 2012 C
Zion Lutheran
Church
Mount Pleasant, Michigan
Pastor Jonathon
Bakker
Grace to
you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. The Holy Scripture for our consideration this
day is the Gospel reading from St. Luke.
Then the disciples of John reported
to him concerning all these things. And
John, calling two of his disciples to him,
sent them to Jesus, saying,
‘Are you the Coming One, or do we look for another?’ When the men had come to him, they said,
‘John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the Coming One, or do we
look for another?’’ And that very hour
he cured many of infirmities, afflictions, and evil spirits; and to many blind
he gave sight. Jesus answered and said
to them, ‘Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to
them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of
me.’ When the messengers of John had
departed, he began to speak to the multitudes concerning 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 clothed in soft
garments? Indeed those who are
gorgeously appareled and live in luxury are in kings’ courts. But what did you go out to see? A prophet?
Yes, I say to 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.’ For I say to you, among
those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but
he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.’
Dear
brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus is gifted at preaching. Now, that may sound odd to our ears, because
Jesus is much more than just a preacher, but in this Gospel that is exactly
what he does. ‘Tell us,’ John the
Baptist’s disciples implored; ‘we were sent by John the Baptist!’ they
said. ‘Are you the Coming One? Or do we look for another?’
It is
incredible, when you think about it.
John the Baptist, born to Zechariah and Elizabeth when they were long
past the age of childbearing, was brought up in the knowledge that he was the
forerunner to the Messiah. He was not
the true Light, but he was to bear witness of that Light. He was not the Christ, but pointed to Jesus
and told those following, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of
the world.’ The same John the Baptist now
wonders if Jesus truly is this Messiah.
Or should he look to someone else?
It was John
of whom the prophets spoke when they foretold a voice, crying in the
wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord.’
John was the new Elijah, the new Isaiah, and the new Malachi, preaching
a baptism of repentance for the remission of sin. Many flocked to him for baptism. When Jesus was baptized in the Jordan to
fulfill all righteousness, John saw the Holy Spirit come down as a dove upon
Jesus; he heard the voice of God the Father, calling Jesus his beloved Son, in
whom he is well pleased. And still John
wondered, is Jesus truly the one whose sandals he was unworthy to untie? Or is there another?
It is mind
boggling. If anyone had reason to trust,
without question, whether Jesus was truly the coming one – the Savior of the
world – it was John. Yet here you see
him not simply harboring doubts about Jesus; he is deeply troubled. Troubled enough to send his disciples to
Jesus to ask whether he is the coming one, or should he look for another?
The first
part of this 7th chapter of Luke consists of Jesus performing some
of his most spectacular miracles. He
raised the son of the Roman Centurion, who believed that Jesus had the
authority to speak the command and the miracle would happen; and he raised the
son of the widow from Nain who was in the midst of a funeral procession as the
Lord approached that city. In both
cases, Jesus spoke the command, and the dead were raised. With these miracles, news about Jesus was
travelling quickly, and this was the report given to John the Baptist.
You would
expect that someone like John, who was predisposed by his life’s circumstances
to believe that Jesus was the Christ, would believe it. But his new circumstances made it
difficult. John the Baptist at this
point in his life was in prison, held there by King Herod at the wish of his
wife. John’s preaching of repentance
knew no bounds, and when Herod committed adultery by taking his brother’s wife
as his own, John condemned it and proclaimed repentance, even for the royal
family. King Herod knew he had done
wrong, and didn’t hold it against John, but his wife was livid. John had to be imprisoned, and once he was
imprisoned, he had to die. Scripture
shows that she eventually got her way.
So John was
not sitting well. The one who had lived
on locusts and wild honey, who clad himself in camels’ hair, who proclaimed the
coming Christ in the wilderness, had real concerns. His days were numbered, and his situation had
changed. No more preaching, no more
baptizing, no more pointing out Jesus to others; he was sitting in a prison
while the world went on without him. He
had time to think, and the second thoughts, the questions, and the doubts
came.
Was all of
this really going the way it was supposed to go? How could his being in prison possibly
further the proclamation of the Messiah that he was – he had believed – born to
do? Had he been wrong about Jesus, all
along?
Those are
tough questions. Tough questions
naturally arise when things don’t go according to plan, when people have to try
to put things together and try to make sense of what has happened. This whole country and many around the world
are struggling with the same sense of bewilderment in the aftermath of the
shootings that took place in Connecticut
on Friday. The fact that most of the
victims were defenseless children only intensifies the injustice and horror. People everywhere mourn with the families of
all of those children and of their fallen teachers and school staff as well. One of those children was a member of Christ
The King Lutheran Church, LCMS, of Newtown. Her family had recently joined the
congregation and she had been involved in the Sunday School.
At such
times, people learn the news and go through a range of responses. Anger, sorrow, grief, helplessness,
confusion…even anger at God. No doubt,
there will be those who see this event as just one more reason to disavow
Christianity or doubt God’s love. They
will point to this as a sure sign that your faith is misplaced, that the God
who watched this happen and did not stop it cannot possibly be as good as you
say he is. These, too, are certainly
tough questions, and like John, those who find themselves heartbroken,
confused, or even angry at God will not find peace on their own.
Man’s
explorations of God’s will in search of an explanation – a justification for
why something took place – usually end up in the realm of speculation, and
often go far beyond the boundaries of Holy Scripture. Much of the time this happens because there
are things about God that you and I like to believe, and at the same time,
there are things about God that terrify you and me. When he forgives sin, gives life, and
promises salvation, he is a good God working for those he loves; but when there
is a violent killing, when there is a war, or when there is an earthquake, and
lives are lost, then God is barely involved.
Theologians have tried to soften God’s tricky edges by making
distinctions between the active will of God and the passive will of God. The problem is that when you take away those
words, ‘active’ and ‘passive’, you are still talking about the will of God.
I don’t
tell you this to alarm you or shake your faith; but rather to clear away every
excuse for God that immediately comes to mind when bad things happen, when
things don’t go according to plan. If
God is there and with you for all of the good things, when you are at your
best, then he is most certainly also there and with you for all of the bad
things, when you are at your worst, when the world itself appears to be turned
upside down by evil. God is not the
author of death or wickedness; he doesn’t even take pleasure in the death of
evil or wicked people. His desire is
that sinners would turn from their evil way and live. But apart from a solid word from God
otherwise pertaining to any situation or circumstances, He gives no further
explanation.
The Lord
does not do it to frustrate you or confuse you, but to give you no where else
to turn for help but back to him. In
every trouble, in every sorrow, in every loss, God alone is your refuge and
your strength. Your health, your wealth,
your friends, and even your family all fall short in the end. God is your only help in the face of every
need. This is what Martin Luther called
the theology of the cross – the distinctly Lutheran perspective that God does
not reveal himself primarily to you in glory, but in humility, in weakness, and
in suffering. He did not come as a
vengeful king to lead his people out of Roman occupation and conquer the world;
he came as a little baby to sacrifice himself for the life of the world.
When awful
things happen in this world, you and I are just as perplexed as John the
Baptist was when injustice was being visited upon him. In the midst of all the wickedness of the
world, your question to Jesus could very well be the same as John’s, ‘are you
the coming one, or do we look for another?’
And Jesus’ answer is far from simple, but it is the answer John needed
and it is the answer you need.
‘The blind
see. The lame walk. The lepers are cleansed. The deaf hear. The dead are raised.’ And last, but certainly not least, ‘the poor have
the Gospel preached to them.’ There is
no miracle from Jesus to stave off John’s execution and there is no clever turn
of phrase to make what happened in Connecticut okay, but in Jesus’ preaching,
John is sprung from the prison of unbelief, and you receive the peace that only
comes from faith.
Jesus
speaks of miraculous cures and resurrections, but the most important thing is
that the poor have the Gospel preached to them.
Those other miracles were for others, but for you, John the Baptist, and
for you, Zion Lutheran Church,
you must instead be content that in Christ your sins are forgiven. You must take refuge in the promise of
everlasting life in heaven. This is what
it means to have the Gospel preached to you.
Faith does not feed on the super-intelligent explanations of theologians
or on the miraculous; faith feeds on Jesus and Jesus alone, and his word, and
his flesh and blood, are your comfort and your food to help you in every time
and every need.
To
Christ alone be all the glory, forever and ever, amen.
The peace
of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ
Jesus, our Lord, amen.
