Luke 7:11-7:35
Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and His disciples and a large crowd went along with Him. As He approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, His heart went out to her and He said, "Don't cry." – Luke 7:11-13
As we have seen in the past few weeks, as we have been going through Luke, Jesus has been healing people and drawing quite a large following. Now we see that a large crowd is following Him even as He goes from town to town. Can you picture the situation? You have Jesus and His disciples, but you also have a large group of people so curious about Jesus that they are just going with Him, trying to hear every word He says, watching Him, studying Him… Frankly, I would find this creepy! Wouldn’t you feel uncomfortable? I think we all would because we all know that we are undeserving of such attention. But Jesus was deserving of this attention. And although, as we see in other places in the gospels, the disciples may have felt uncomfortable, Jesus felt at home with this because He loved people.
And so as the crowd with Jesus enters the town of Nain, they come before another crowd – this one, a crowd of mourners. They had come face to face with a funeral procession.
Now, at the time of Jesus, funeral processions were large, public events. Women would lead the processions, and the sound of weeping would be loud, so loud that it would draw others to notice. The custom was to join in when a funeral procession went by, even if you hardly knew the family of the deceased.
From what I have read, the desire for a large funeral procession was eerily similar to the desire in our culture for large, lavish weddings. If the family of the deceased could afford it, they would hire professional mourners! This sounds odd, even funny to us, but that is what they did. They would also hire professional musicians, flutists, who would play sad songs on top of the loud weeping. As a funeral procession would head towards the burial site, it would get larger and larger as people from the town joined in. I picture something like how Saturday morning animated TV shows depict a snowball getting bigger and bigger as it rolls down the mountain.
The body was carried upon a bier, a structure that supported the body and had handles for carrying. It was considered an honor to be a pallbearer, and normally they were male family members and honored friends of the family. If the family didn’t have enough people, the head of the local synagogue might choose people with good reputations (perhaps those who were very generous, or influential) to do this task. Because it could be a long journey to the gravesite, the group of selected pallbearers would take turns along the way. There was no closed casket, like we are used to. The body would be wrapped in a burial cloth, or shroud, with the face exposed.
Whether it was because Jesus had a special revelation from God or because He simply could tell by the attire and places of the mourners in the procession, Jesus apparently discerned that the surviving mother was a widow, and that the deceased was her only son. As these two crowds merged, Jesus got close enough to speak to her, and it says His heart went out to her; in other words, He was absolutely filled with compassion towards her, and then He said, “Don’t cry.”
Try to put yourself in the place of the grieving mother for a minute. I have heard over and over that losing any loved one is terribly traumatic, but to lose your own child brings a depth of grief like no other loss. And for this woman, it was her only son, and her husband had already died. There were now no men left in her family. Her life would be lonely, and difficult, without a man of the house. The son who had died, a “young man” (described as such in the next verse), was likely old enough to take care of working to provide for the household needs. Now she was going to have to do for herself, and rely on the charity of her community, if there was any. Although in the Old Testament God, through the voices of His prophets, often berated His people for failing to provide for widows and orphans, the problem was an unending one.
And so we read that Jesus had great compassion for her, and told her, “Don’t cry.” Now saying “don’t cry” is not a bad thing to do, but usually when we say it, we say it because there is nothing we can really do. Was this the case for Jesus? No…
Then He went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!" The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to His mother. They were all filled with awe and praised God. "A great prophet has appeared among us," they said. "God has come to help his people." This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country. – Luke 7:14-17
Can you picture this? Amidst the wailing, and perhaps the funeral flutes, if they had them, Jesus comes right up to the bier, likely a wicker basket (translated coffin in the NIV), and He touches it. The pallbearers, not sure what is going on, stop, and indeed the whole procession stops. This is not supposed to happen. I can imagine that everything becomes quiet. And then Jesus speaks to the dead man! “Young man, I say to you, get up!” Can you imagine it? The dead man sits up, still up in the air, and begins to talk. Maybe he says, “Where am I? What is going on?” The pallbearers awkwardly lower the bier to the ground, and the man comes out. Everyone goes crazy! He is alive! Praise God! The dead man is alive! But not just praise, but also awe (also translated as fear.) As we have seen again and again in Luke, when you come face to face with the power of God, there is a holy fear that is a natural response.
Notice how it says that Jesus didn’t just raise the man from the dead and leave it at that; He presented him to the man’s mother, the one He had felt compassion for. Jesus’ heart is still focused on her. Jesus loved that woman. Now I can imagine being one of the crowd, but I find it much harder to imagine being someone like that woman, someone who in the midst of deep suffering, in the midst of misery, Jesus touches and loves, someone who Jesus loves so much that He makes things right again.
And yet that is exactly, who we are! We, each of us, are that woman! We all have things that wound us in this world; if you have not been wounded deeply by this world, you will be, and even if you have been wounded deeply by this world, you almost certainly will be wounded again. And Jesus may not do for us in this life what He did for that woman, but He will certainly do it in the life to come, the eternal life we will have with Him, if we believe in Him and have asked Him to lead us. He will make things right. He will right all the wrongs, and heal all the wounds, and restore all that has been lost, and will even “wipe away every tear.” We are that woman! The love He had for her, He has for us. He is filled with compassion for us. He is filled with love for us. Praise God!
It is difficult to boil down a precise statement to walk away with from this first part of today’s passage, but I come up with this:
1. Let us increase our faith in Jesus’ love and compassion.
There is no way to overestimate Jesus’ love and compassion for us. You simply cannot do it! Remember that “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
2. Let us grow in compassion towards others, regardless of the cost.
Would you agree that compassion is a virtue? Of course! Would you agree that compassion is a dangerous virtue? I believe so. What can be the cost of compassion towards others? We become vulnerable. We can be hurt. Sometimes acting in compassion requires us to give up things that are dear to us. Again, out of compassion for us, Jesus gave up His life.
John's disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, he sent them to the Lord to ask, "Are You the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" When the men came to Jesus, they said, "John the Baptist sent us to You to ask, 'Are You the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?'" – Luke 7:18-20
It’s been many weeks since we last talked about John the Baptist. Remember him? Remember the miraculous events surrounding his birth? Remember how he went off to the desert to live, wearing strange clothes from skins and eating strange thinks like locusts? Remember how he called on people to repent from their sins to avoid the coming wrath of God? Remember his response when asked to baptize Jesus? He described Him as one whose thongs of sandals he was not even worthy to untie. And do you remember what happened after John rebuked Herod Antipas for the various evil things he had done? Herod threw him into prison.
According to Josephus, John’s prison was in Herod’s castle in a desert fortress east of the Dead Sea in a place called Machaerus. The images below show what this place looked like. It was extremely isolated, in the middle of nowhere. And stuck here was John the Baptist. What was it like for him? Here he was, cut off from doing any meaningful ministry. He was unable to speak to the crowds as he had in the past. A few of his disciples braved the desert to come out to see him, but that was it.
And he had baptized Jesus! Back then he was sure that Jesus was the one who would usher in a new age, who would become king and make all things right. He was the one whose sandals he was not worthy to untie. But nothing had changed yet. He was stuck in prison, useless. Given his plight, I can understand perfectly well his question: “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”
Maybe you have never asked a question like this, but instead asked one of its cousins. “How could you let this happen, God?” “Aren’t You in control, God?” “God, are You even there? Do You even exist?” We tend to ask questions like this when, like John the Baptist, our lives seem to turn upside down, when things change for the worse, and there seems to be little hope that things will improve. A chronic illness, the loss of a loved one, the loss of a job, any major disappointment can make us ask these questions.
At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. So he replied to the messengers, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of Me." – Luke 7:21-23
On first sight it may seem that Jesus is not directly answering John’s question, but for John the Baptist, a student of the Old Testament scriptures, this response was certain to bring to mind many passages about the coming Messiah.
In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see. Once more the humble will rejoice in the Lord; the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. – Isaiah 28:18-19
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. – Isaiah 35:5-6a
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. – Isaiah 61:1-3a
Jesus knew that John would understand what He meant by His answer: He is the Messiah, the Holy, Promised One of Israel. He is the One. What John would not and could not yet know is that Jesus is the One and the One that is to come! John could not know that the establishment of Jesus’ physical kingdom would not occur until the end of the age, a day that we ourselves eagerly await.
What did mean when He said, “Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of Me”? In the KJV “fall away” is translated “be offended.” In Greek, the word is skandalizo, from which we get the words scandal, scandalize. The Greek word is based on skandalon, which is a trap for catching animals. Jesus is saying, in effect, “Do not let yourself be tripped up, or caught, by what I am teaching or doing.” Many, mostly because of their pride, were allowing exactly this to happen. Some were entrapped by how Jesus seemed to disregard the Pharisees’ rules. Some were tripped up by how Jesus implied He had authority that only God could have. And some were tripped up because Jesus wouldn’t do healings, or miracles – or perhaps, jailbreaks – for them.
This brings me to my third point:
3. Do not allow yourself to be tripped up by what God is (or isn’t) doing.
It could be a disappointment with God for not answering a prayer in the way you would like. It could be sorrow because your life isn’t turning out as you wanted. It could be anger because God allowed someone to get sick or die, or didn’t heal them after you prayed. It could be a theological issue – perhaps a scripture or doctrine that you have asked God to help you understand, but He seems to be silent. It could be frustration because you are still unable to overcome sin areas in your life.
Jesus says to us what He said to John the Baptist: I am the One! Even if I haven’t done what you think I should have done, keep on believing. Blessed are you if you don’t allow yourself to be trapped by your pride, your misunderstandings, your confusion, your disappointment, or even your anger. Some day you will see that it was all for your best, because I love you.
After John's messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John:
"What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury are in palaces. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. – Luke 7:24-26
Jesus goes on to speak to the crowd about John using interesting rhetorical questions. Of course they didn’t go out to see a reed swayed by the wind! You can take this literally – they didn’t go out to observe interesting phenomena of nature – or you can take this figuratively; neither did they go to see a man whose opinions, like those of many modern politicians, seem to adjust to whoever he is talking to so that he can remain popular. John was the opposite of a reed swayed by the wind. He was more like an old grizzled tree, impervious to even the most severe weather.
And John was hardly dressed in fine clothes. He looked more like a caveman than a man who wears fine clothes and indulges in luxury. And figuratively, this was true as well: John seemed to care nothing for the things that the world values. He would no more fit in a palace than a ferocious lion could be trained to be a pet like a housecat.
But those were not the reasons people came to see John. They came because He was a prophet o God. He spoke “God words.” He told people true things about God, and the things he told them convicted them of sin and led them to be baptized as a symbol of a fresh commitment to God and His laws. Jesus praises John highly when he says He is even more than a prophet.
He was predicted in the Bible!
See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the Lord Almighty. – Mal. 3:1
And he was identified by Jesus (Matt. 11:14) as the “second Elijah.”
See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. – Mal. 4:5
Jesus goes on to say:
This is the one about whom it is written: "'I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.' I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he." – Luke 7:27-28
Jesus goes on to give John the Baptist even higher praise. I love how Jesus does not focus on John’s doubts, his weaknesses, but his strengths. Do you believe God does the same for you? Or do you think God focuses on your weaknesses? If the latter, how do you explain this verse:
If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. – Romans 8:31b-34
Do you understand what this verse is saying? Let’s answer the questions. If God is for us, who can be against us? Nobody! Nobody of any importance, that is. He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all – how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Impossible! He will give us all things – that is, the best things. He will not hold back a bit from giving us the best! Who will bring any change against those whom God has chosen? Nobody! Nobody who has any sense, that is! It is God who justifies. Hard to top that! Who is he that condemns? Well, Satan does, but he is but a speck of dirt compared to God! And Jesus is presently at God’s right hand and is interceding against us? No! For us!
4. Believe that God is for you, not against you.
That is true even if you feel like you have been locked away in a prison somewhere – whether it is the prison of work, or the prison of difficult relationships, or of poor health – God is for you, not against you.
But then Jesus says something shocking: Although John the Baptist is not only the greatest of the prophets but the greatest of anyone who has ever been born (except for Jesus Himself, of course), the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than John the Baptist! What in the world did Jesus mean?
One of my favorite children’s books is called “The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles.” It is written by, of all people, Julie Andrews (the singer). She is actually an excellent writer. I have really enjoyed every book I have read that she has written. A whangdoodle is a creature believed to be non-real; the book uses the word “fanciful.” But a professor somehow figures out that there is a real alternative world out there where the whangdoodle lives. He makes friends with some children, who have greater imaginations (I would use the word “faith,” although the book does not) and he teaches them how to go to this world. After many adventures, when they ascend a mountain to at last go to the whangdoodle’s palace, the professor falters. He has difficulty seeing (I would use the word “believing”) the world in front of him, and it looks like he will not be able to join the children when at last they get to meet the whangdoodle. You’ll have to read the book yourself if you want to see how it all turns out.
But when I think about what Jesus might have meant, I think it is like this book. We are like the least in the kingdom of God, and we are like those children in Whangdoodleland. We, with our eyes of faith, can “see” the whangdoodle! We know that Jesus really is the Son of God and is God. We know that He died for our sins and rose again from the grave. We have the Holy Spirit inside of us teaching us and guiding us into the truth. But John the Baptist, as great as he was, was more like the professor. He was the last of the “old covenant prophets,” and it was hard for him to see the fulfillment of the new covenant. He had not seen Jesus die and rise from the grave. Even though Paul says that we look through the glass darkly compared to how it will be when we are with Christ, we had a clear, sunny view compared to the dark shadowy vision that was John’s.
Jesus didn’t say this to put John the Baptist down; He had just praised him with amazing praise! But He was saying that we, even if we are weak helpless babies in God’s kingdom, are greater than him.
5. Be thankful to God for His incomparable gift of faith.
For it is by faith that we are acolytes in His kingdom, and even that faith ultimately comes from Him. He is the one who nurtures our faith and makes it grow.
(All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus' words, acknowledged that God's way was right, because they had been baptized by John. But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God's purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.) – Luke 7:29-30
Does Luke really mean that every single person there except for the Pharisees and experts in the law had been baptized by John? Not necessarily. First of all, exaggeration of this type did not have the negative connotation back then it does now. Also, presumably after John had been imprisoned, his disciples continued to carry on his teachings, his callings to repent, and his symbolizing this through baptism. The implications are that these teaching had become pretty widespread, and most people had heard the call to repent. The Pharisees and experts in the law had heard it too, and rejected it. Those who accepted it were there saying, “Yes, that’s right” to Jesus, but those who rejected it were saying, “No, that’s wrong.” What were they rejecting? Pretty much anything Jesus was saying. They rejected Jesus’ account of the greatness of John the Baptist, and they rejected Jesus’ claim that those, whoever they are, who are “in the kingdom of God” are greater even than he. For whom did they think were the greatest? Themselves, of course!
"To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other: "'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.' For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners."' But wisdom is proved right by all her children." – Luke 7:31-35
If you think about it, John the Baptist was like the one singing the dirge. His call to repentance was not a call to dancing, but to crying. They rejected him, because they did not believe they needed to repent. They rejected him and even accused him of being demon-possessed.
In contrast, Jesus was like the one playing the flute. He offered healing, forgiveness, even resurrection. He spoke words of life and hope to sinners, even the worst sinners. And they rejected Him, because they couldn’t stand how He could break their man-made laws or how He would point out their hypocrisy. They rejected Him and called Him a glutton and a drunkard – basically, a sinner.
“But wisdom is proved right by all her children.” What does that mean? “Proved right” can also be translated “vindicated.” And of course this is true. A day will come when those who have chosen to follow Christ will not be seen as foolish, but as the wisest of the wise.
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. – I Cor. 1:27
Based on this passage, my final points today are these:
6. Take care to keep your heart a heart of repentance.
Do not become like the Pharisees, too proud to admit your sinfulness and depravity before God.
7. Accept that you will be labeled “foolish” and worse, but do not be bothered by it.
The day will come when we are vindicated and the wisdom of not relying on man’s wisdom will shown to be trustworthy and true. God’s ways are right and will be proven right.
As we have seen in the past few weeks, as we have been going through Luke, Jesus has been healing people and drawing quite a large following. Now we see that a large crowd is following Him even as He goes from town to town. Can you picture the situation? You have Jesus and His disciples, but you also have a large group of people so curious about Jesus that they are just going with Him, trying to hear every word He says, watching Him, studying Him… Frankly, I would find this creepy! Wouldn’t you feel uncomfortable? I think we all would because we all know that we are undeserving of such attention. But Jesus was deserving of this attention. And although, as we see in other places in the gospels, the disciples may have felt uncomfortable, Jesus felt at home with this because He loved people.
And so as the crowd with Jesus enters the town of Nain, they come before another crowd – this one, a crowd of mourners. They had come face to face with a funeral procession.
Now, at the time of Jesus, funeral processions were large, public events. Women would lead the processions, and the sound of weeping would be loud, so loud that it would draw others to notice. The custom was to join in when a funeral procession went by, even if you hardly knew the family of the deceased.
From what I have read, the desire for a large funeral procession was eerily similar to the desire in our culture for large, lavish weddings. If the family of the deceased could afford it, they would hire professional mourners! This sounds odd, even funny to us, but that is what they did. They would also hire professional musicians, flutists, who would play sad songs on top of the loud weeping. As a funeral procession would head towards the burial site, it would get larger and larger as people from the town joined in. I picture something like how Saturday morning animated TV shows depict a snowball getting bigger and bigger as it rolls down the mountain.
The body was carried upon a bier, a structure that supported the body and had handles for carrying. It was considered an honor to be a pallbearer, and normally they were male family members and honored friends of the family. If the family didn’t have enough people, the head of the local synagogue might choose people with good reputations (perhaps those who were very generous, or influential) to do this task. Because it could be a long journey to the gravesite, the group of selected pallbearers would take turns along the way. There was no closed casket, like we are used to. The body would be wrapped in a burial cloth, or shroud, with the face exposed.
Whether it was because Jesus had a special revelation from God or because He simply could tell by the attire and places of the mourners in the procession, Jesus apparently discerned that the surviving mother was a widow, and that the deceased was her only son. As these two crowds merged, Jesus got close enough to speak to her, and it says His heart went out to her; in other words, He was absolutely filled with compassion towards her, and then He said, “Don’t cry.”
Try to put yourself in the place of the grieving mother for a minute. I have heard over and over that losing any loved one is terribly traumatic, but to lose your own child brings a depth of grief like no other loss. And for this woman, it was her only son, and her husband had already died. There were now no men left in her family. Her life would be lonely, and difficult, without a man of the house. The son who had died, a “young man” (described as such in the next verse), was likely old enough to take care of working to provide for the household needs. Now she was going to have to do for herself, and rely on the charity of her community, if there was any. Although in the Old Testament God, through the voices of His prophets, often berated His people for failing to provide for widows and orphans, the problem was an unending one.
And so we read that Jesus had great compassion for her, and told her, “Don’t cry.” Now saying “don’t cry” is not a bad thing to do, but usually when we say it, we say it because there is nothing we can really do. Was this the case for Jesus? No…
Then He went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!" The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to His mother. They were all filled with awe and praised God. "A great prophet has appeared among us," they said. "God has come to help his people." This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country. – Luke 7:14-17
Can you picture this? Amidst the wailing, and perhaps the funeral flutes, if they had them, Jesus comes right up to the bier, likely a wicker basket (translated coffin in the NIV), and He touches it. The pallbearers, not sure what is going on, stop, and indeed the whole procession stops. This is not supposed to happen. I can imagine that everything becomes quiet. And then Jesus speaks to the dead man! “Young man, I say to you, get up!” Can you imagine it? The dead man sits up, still up in the air, and begins to talk. Maybe he says, “Where am I? What is going on?” The pallbearers awkwardly lower the bier to the ground, and the man comes out. Everyone goes crazy! He is alive! Praise God! The dead man is alive! But not just praise, but also awe (also translated as fear.) As we have seen again and again in Luke, when you come face to face with the power of God, there is a holy fear that is a natural response.
Notice how it says that Jesus didn’t just raise the man from the dead and leave it at that; He presented him to the man’s mother, the one He had felt compassion for. Jesus’ heart is still focused on her. Jesus loved that woman. Now I can imagine being one of the crowd, but I find it much harder to imagine being someone like that woman, someone who in the midst of deep suffering, in the midst of misery, Jesus touches and loves, someone who Jesus loves so much that He makes things right again.
And yet that is exactly, who we are! We, each of us, are that woman! We all have things that wound us in this world; if you have not been wounded deeply by this world, you will be, and even if you have been wounded deeply by this world, you almost certainly will be wounded again. And Jesus may not do for us in this life what He did for that woman, but He will certainly do it in the life to come, the eternal life we will have with Him, if we believe in Him and have asked Him to lead us. He will make things right. He will right all the wrongs, and heal all the wounds, and restore all that has been lost, and will even “wipe away every tear.” We are that woman! The love He had for her, He has for us. He is filled with compassion for us. He is filled with love for us. Praise God!
It is difficult to boil down a precise statement to walk away with from this first part of today’s passage, but I come up with this:
1. Let us increase our faith in Jesus’ love and compassion.
There is no way to overestimate Jesus’ love and compassion for us. You simply cannot do it! Remember that “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
2. Let us grow in compassion towards others, regardless of the cost.
Would you agree that compassion is a virtue? Of course! Would you agree that compassion is a dangerous virtue? I believe so. What can be the cost of compassion towards others? We become vulnerable. We can be hurt. Sometimes acting in compassion requires us to give up things that are dear to us. Again, out of compassion for us, Jesus gave up His life.
John's disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, he sent them to the Lord to ask, "Are You the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" When the men came to Jesus, they said, "John the Baptist sent us to You to ask, 'Are You the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?'" – Luke 7:18-20
It’s been many weeks since we last talked about John the Baptist. Remember him? Remember the miraculous events surrounding his birth? Remember how he went off to the desert to live, wearing strange clothes from skins and eating strange thinks like locusts? Remember how he called on people to repent from their sins to avoid the coming wrath of God? Remember his response when asked to baptize Jesus? He described Him as one whose thongs of sandals he was not even worthy to untie. And do you remember what happened after John rebuked Herod Antipas for the various evil things he had done? Herod threw him into prison.
According to Josephus, John’s prison was in Herod’s castle in a desert fortress east of the Dead Sea in a place called Machaerus. The images below show what this place looked like. It was extremely isolated, in the middle of nowhere. And stuck here was John the Baptist. What was it like for him? Here he was, cut off from doing any meaningful ministry. He was unable to speak to the crowds as he had in the past. A few of his disciples braved the desert to come out to see him, but that was it.
And he had baptized Jesus! Back then he was sure that Jesus was the one who would usher in a new age, who would become king and make all things right. He was the one whose sandals he was not worthy to untie. But nothing had changed yet. He was stuck in prison, useless. Given his plight, I can understand perfectly well his question: “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”
Maybe you have never asked a question like this, but instead asked one of its cousins. “How could you let this happen, God?” “Aren’t You in control, God?” “God, are You even there? Do You even exist?” We tend to ask questions like this when, like John the Baptist, our lives seem to turn upside down, when things change for the worse, and there seems to be little hope that things will improve. A chronic illness, the loss of a loved one, the loss of a job, any major disappointment can make us ask these questions.
At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. So he replied to the messengers, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of Me." – Luke 7:21-23
On first sight it may seem that Jesus is not directly answering John’s question, but for John the Baptist, a student of the Old Testament scriptures, this response was certain to bring to mind many passages about the coming Messiah.
In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see. Once more the humble will rejoice in the Lord; the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. – Isaiah 28:18-19
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. – Isaiah 35:5-6a
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. – Isaiah 61:1-3a
Jesus knew that John would understand what He meant by His answer: He is the Messiah, the Holy, Promised One of Israel. He is the One. What John would not and could not yet know is that Jesus is the One and the One that is to come! John could not know that the establishment of Jesus’ physical kingdom would not occur until the end of the age, a day that we ourselves eagerly await.
What did mean when He said, “Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of Me”? In the KJV “fall away” is translated “be offended.” In Greek, the word is skandalizo, from which we get the words scandal, scandalize. The Greek word is based on skandalon, which is a trap for catching animals. Jesus is saying, in effect, “Do not let yourself be tripped up, or caught, by what I am teaching or doing.” Many, mostly because of their pride, were allowing exactly this to happen. Some were entrapped by how Jesus seemed to disregard the Pharisees’ rules. Some were tripped up by how Jesus implied He had authority that only God could have. And some were tripped up because Jesus wouldn’t do healings, or miracles – or perhaps, jailbreaks – for them.
This brings me to my third point:
3. Do not allow yourself to be tripped up by what God is (or isn’t) doing.
It could be a disappointment with God for not answering a prayer in the way you would like. It could be sorrow because your life isn’t turning out as you wanted. It could be anger because God allowed someone to get sick or die, or didn’t heal them after you prayed. It could be a theological issue – perhaps a scripture or doctrine that you have asked God to help you understand, but He seems to be silent. It could be frustration because you are still unable to overcome sin areas in your life.
Jesus says to us what He said to John the Baptist: I am the One! Even if I haven’t done what you think I should have done, keep on believing. Blessed are you if you don’t allow yourself to be trapped by your pride, your misunderstandings, your confusion, your disappointment, or even your anger. Some day you will see that it was all for your best, because I love you.
After John's messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John:
"What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury are in palaces. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. – Luke 7:24-26
Jesus goes on to speak to the crowd about John using interesting rhetorical questions. Of course they didn’t go out to see a reed swayed by the wind! You can take this literally – they didn’t go out to observe interesting phenomena of nature – or you can take this figuratively; neither did they go to see a man whose opinions, like those of many modern politicians, seem to adjust to whoever he is talking to so that he can remain popular. John was the opposite of a reed swayed by the wind. He was more like an old grizzled tree, impervious to even the most severe weather.
And John was hardly dressed in fine clothes. He looked more like a caveman than a man who wears fine clothes and indulges in luxury. And figuratively, this was true as well: John seemed to care nothing for the things that the world values. He would no more fit in a palace than a ferocious lion could be trained to be a pet like a housecat.
But those were not the reasons people came to see John. They came because He was a prophet o God. He spoke “God words.” He told people true things about God, and the things he told them convicted them of sin and led them to be baptized as a symbol of a fresh commitment to God and His laws. Jesus praises John highly when he says He is even more than a prophet.
He was predicted in the Bible!
See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the Lord Almighty. – Mal. 3:1
And he was identified by Jesus (Matt. 11:14) as the “second Elijah.”
See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. – Mal. 4:5
Jesus goes on to say:
This is the one about whom it is written: "'I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.' I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he." – Luke 7:27-28
Jesus goes on to give John the Baptist even higher praise. I love how Jesus does not focus on John’s doubts, his weaknesses, but his strengths. Do you believe God does the same for you? Or do you think God focuses on your weaknesses? If the latter, how do you explain this verse:
If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. – Romans 8:31b-34
Do you understand what this verse is saying? Let’s answer the questions. If God is for us, who can be against us? Nobody! Nobody of any importance, that is. He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all – how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Impossible! He will give us all things – that is, the best things. He will not hold back a bit from giving us the best! Who will bring any change against those whom God has chosen? Nobody! Nobody who has any sense, that is! It is God who justifies. Hard to top that! Who is he that condemns? Well, Satan does, but he is but a speck of dirt compared to God! And Jesus is presently at God’s right hand and is interceding against us? No! For us!
4. Believe that God is for you, not against you.
That is true even if you feel like you have been locked away in a prison somewhere – whether it is the prison of work, or the prison of difficult relationships, or of poor health – God is for you, not against you.
But then Jesus says something shocking: Although John the Baptist is not only the greatest of the prophets but the greatest of anyone who has ever been born (except for Jesus Himself, of course), the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than John the Baptist! What in the world did Jesus mean?
One of my favorite children’s books is called “The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles.” It is written by, of all people, Julie Andrews (the singer). She is actually an excellent writer. I have really enjoyed every book I have read that she has written. A whangdoodle is a creature believed to be non-real; the book uses the word “fanciful.” But a professor somehow figures out that there is a real alternative world out there where the whangdoodle lives. He makes friends with some children, who have greater imaginations (I would use the word “faith,” although the book does not) and he teaches them how to go to this world. After many adventures, when they ascend a mountain to at last go to the whangdoodle’s palace, the professor falters. He has difficulty seeing (I would use the word “believing”) the world in front of him, and it looks like he will not be able to join the children when at last they get to meet the whangdoodle. You’ll have to read the book yourself if you want to see how it all turns out.
But when I think about what Jesus might have meant, I think it is like this book. We are like the least in the kingdom of God, and we are like those children in Whangdoodleland. We, with our eyes of faith, can “see” the whangdoodle! We know that Jesus really is the Son of God and is God. We know that He died for our sins and rose again from the grave. We have the Holy Spirit inside of us teaching us and guiding us into the truth. But John the Baptist, as great as he was, was more like the professor. He was the last of the “old covenant prophets,” and it was hard for him to see the fulfillment of the new covenant. He had not seen Jesus die and rise from the grave. Even though Paul says that we look through the glass darkly compared to how it will be when we are with Christ, we had a clear, sunny view compared to the dark shadowy vision that was John’s.
Jesus didn’t say this to put John the Baptist down; He had just praised him with amazing praise! But He was saying that we, even if we are weak helpless babies in God’s kingdom, are greater than him.
5. Be thankful to God for His incomparable gift of faith.
For it is by faith that we are acolytes in His kingdom, and even that faith ultimately comes from Him. He is the one who nurtures our faith and makes it grow.
(All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus' words, acknowledged that God's way was right, because they had been baptized by John. But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God's purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.) – Luke 7:29-30
Does Luke really mean that every single person there except for the Pharisees and experts in the law had been baptized by John? Not necessarily. First of all, exaggeration of this type did not have the negative connotation back then it does now. Also, presumably after John had been imprisoned, his disciples continued to carry on his teachings, his callings to repent, and his symbolizing this through baptism. The implications are that these teaching had become pretty widespread, and most people had heard the call to repent. The Pharisees and experts in the law had heard it too, and rejected it. Those who accepted it were there saying, “Yes, that’s right” to Jesus, but those who rejected it were saying, “No, that’s wrong.” What were they rejecting? Pretty much anything Jesus was saying. They rejected Jesus’ account of the greatness of John the Baptist, and they rejected Jesus’ claim that those, whoever they are, who are “in the kingdom of God” are greater even than he. For whom did they think were the greatest? Themselves, of course!
"To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other: "'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.' For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners."' But wisdom is proved right by all her children." – Luke 7:31-35
If you think about it, John the Baptist was like the one singing the dirge. His call to repentance was not a call to dancing, but to crying. They rejected him, because they did not believe they needed to repent. They rejected him and even accused him of being demon-possessed.
In contrast, Jesus was like the one playing the flute. He offered healing, forgiveness, even resurrection. He spoke words of life and hope to sinners, even the worst sinners. And they rejected Him, because they couldn’t stand how He could break their man-made laws or how He would point out their hypocrisy. They rejected Him and called Him a glutton and a drunkard – basically, a sinner.
“But wisdom is proved right by all her children.” What does that mean? “Proved right” can also be translated “vindicated.” And of course this is true. A day will come when those who have chosen to follow Christ will not be seen as foolish, but as the wisest of the wise.
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. – I Cor. 1:27
Based on this passage, my final points today are these:
6. Take care to keep your heart a heart of repentance.
Do not become like the Pharisees, too proud to admit your sinfulness and depravity before God.
7. Accept that you will be labeled “foolish” and worse, but do not be bothered by it.
The day will come when we are vindicated and the wisdom of not relying on man’s wisdom will shown to be trustworthy and true. God’s ways are right and will be proven right.
No comments:
Post a Comment