Written by: Dave Flanagan – Scripture Gift Mission

Luke 7 v 18-20
John’s followers told him about all these things. He called for two of his followers and sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the One who is to come, or should we wait for someone else?”
When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you with this question: ‘Are you the One who is to come, or should we wait for someone else?’”

Notes
Carlisle Castle in Cumbria, England, has a cell with a small window that once housed a highland chief. You can still see the marks in the sandstone of his feet and hands as he lifted himself up and clung to the window ledge, looking over the hills and valleys that he might never walk again. John the Baptist’s situation was similar. Used to the open, hot conditions of the desert, he found himself in Herod’s prison with time to think.

Jesus was widely understood to be a prophet - one who spoke on God’s behalf. Luke reminds us that John the Baptist had doubts over the totality of that claim. He had understood that Jesus’ ministry would have two facets: firstly, he would baptise believers in the Holy Spirit; but secondly, he would clean up the political world around him. John, however, felt Jesus had yet to fulfil those latter expectations. John believed that Jesus was making no apparent effort to get him out of prison, or to destroy Herod, the evil tyrant. It was all right healing a slave and raising a widow’s son from the dead - John had nothing against that. But what about the big issues? When was he going to start the real work? How could Jesus convincingly be the answer to the world’s problems if he failed to stop evil and merely contented himself with saving people?

How do we react when Jesus does not seem to live up to our expectations? The good news is that Jesus is big enough to cope with any doubts we might have. Tell him about your doubts. One thing is certain: his knowledge of us is supreme. He knows us even better than we know ourselves. Jesus is unshockable. Talk to him like a friend.

Luke 7 v 21-23
At that time, Jesus healed many people of their sicknesses, diseases and evil spirits, and he gave sight to many blind people. Then Jesus answered John’s followers, “Go and tell John what you saw and heard here. The blind can see, the crippled can walk, and people with skin diseases are healed. The deaf can hear, the dead are raised to life and the Good News is preached to the poor. Those who do not stumble in their faith because of me are blessed!”

Notes
The proofs of Jesus’ Messiahship listed here in these verses are pretty impressive. Imagine putting them on your CV as things you have achieved in your life. Many hundreds of years before in Isaiah 35, prophets said that the Messiah would carry out these incredible acts.

Jesus pointed at the facts: the sick, the persecuted and the starving are experiencing the power and healing of the gospel. John, however, was expecting Jesus to say, “God’s anger is on the way.” Jesus actually says by his miracles: “The mercy of God is here.” Where pain is sorted and where death is defeated, the Kingdom of God has come. Jesus’ answer to John’s followers was: “Go back and tell John that the love of God is here.”

Maybe you struggle to believe in Jesus if he is merely interested in the saving of individuals and not in putting right the political, economic and social evils of the world. “Justice” issues are the big talking point in the world today. The Messiah’s programme for planet earth has certain inbuilt priorities. Christ insisted that people should first and foremost hear the gospel message. This should even take priority over dealing with the wicked. God is long-suffering and he will bring to account all those who have ignored his plan for their lives - in his time, not ours necessarily.

We may feel that by not instantly righting the world’s wrongs, Jesus is putting his own reputation as Messiah at risk. But we serve a Messiah who in his compassion for us, puts the salvation of the individual before his own reputation.

Pray that you can understand more fully the nature and personality of Jesus and leave the rest to him. All wrongs will be put right in his time, when he decides to act.

Luke 7 v 24-26
When John’s followers left, Jesus began talking to the people about John: “What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed blown by the wind? What did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, people who have fine clothes and much wealth live in kings’ palaces. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, and I tell you, John is more than a prophet.”

Notes
After John’s messengers left, Jesus began to probe the minds of those listening to him. The fact is that when John the Baptist first began to preach in the wilderness, people had gone out after him in their thousands, hanging on his every word. Since then, though, many of them had written off their former curiosity as emotional hot air! But Jesus would not let them forget it. He asked them “why” they chased after this odd figure. John didn’t change his opinions to suit people - John spoke only to please God. He gave the same message to both rich and poor - that was: get back to God your Maker! John didn’t have the status symbols that are pressed on us today, such as designer clothes or a personalised number plate on his chariot. These distractions would have diverted him from leading people to his successor, the God-man, Jesus Christ.

The heart of Jesus’ appraisal of John the Baptist is in verse 26: “A prophet ... and more than a prophet.” This means that Jesus saw in John an authentic spokesman for God. A prophet knew sacrifice of comfort and popularity, not luxury and kingly privilege.

Think of it this way: it is not what we are that gives others an impression of us, it is who we are when nobody’s looking that is often the more powerful statement. If we are not two-faced or foul-mouthed, then people are more likely to listen up. Like the crowd before Jesus, don’t be tempted to knock any God-moments you have had in the past either - it is often God’s way of getting our attention over a period of time. God wishes to build us, step by step, into the people he wants us to be.

Luke 7 v 27-28
“This was written about him:
‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare the way for you.’ 
I tell you, John is greater than any other person ever born, but even the least important person in the kingdom of God is greater than John.”

Notes
No one fulfilled his God-given purpose better than John. Yet in God’s kingdom, all who come after John have a greater spiritual heritage because they have a clearer knowledge of the purpose of Christ’s death and resurrection. John was the last to function like the Old Testament prophets, even though we find him in the New Testament! He was the last prophet preparing people just like us for the new era when Christ’s kingdom would rule supreme. Jesus tells the assembled audience that the prophet Malachi spoke about John a massive 400 years before he was born. That’s how significant John was!

We find a strange mix of emotion in verse 28. It appears to give to John the highest respect; then he seems to receive a put-down from Jesus! What Jesus was implying was that with the coming of the Messiah, a new spiritual era had dawned. Those who have heard Jesus and responded by believing his message are more blessed than John because they are the first of those who can experience God’s reign on earth bursting in through Jesus’ ministry. Before and including John was the preparation time for the coming Messiah; since John, we all have been experiencing the reality and power of that fulfilled promise. John’s mission was to turn the spotlight away from himself so that all would see Jesus. When you are humble, God lifts you up. The more “self” is removed from our lives, the greater we become in God’s eyes.

We are all unique. Believe it, because God does. As a Christian, you are a completely restored human being. Thank God for making you special. Ask him to fire you up for whatever comes your way today. With Christ, we can conquer all that life throws at us.

Luke 7 v 29-30
(When the people, including the tax collectors, heard this, they all agreed that God’s teaching was good, having been baptised by John. But the Pharisees and experts on the law refused to accept God’s plan for themselves; they did not let John baptise them.)

Notes
Those who had been baptised by John - even the biggest rogues of them all, the tax collectors - listened to Jesus and accepted his teaching. 

John preached that the people’s sins were intolerably obnoxious to God. The people were in line to receive God’s anger. Many of the crowd, especially these tax collectors, recognised that John’s teachings were true. They knew they had done wrong to God and to others. John’s condemnation of their sin led them into true repentance and baptism by John in the Jordan river. Not so the Pharisees and the experts in the law. These were men who patted themselves on the back for keeping the law and were quite happy to let their salvation rest on their own good works. John, however, insisted that holiness did not come through law-keeping. They weren’t really into John’s preaching on judgement.

Maybe they’d listen to Christ’s message of love and forgiveness. Surely this would please the Pharisees. What a cracking message of a restored relationship with God whilst still on planet earth! The repentant tax collectors and the sinners welcomed the message. But not the Pharisees. They dreamed up more ridiculous reasons for rejecting Christ, his personality and his actions, just as they had done to John. They would write him off as a religiously undisciplined man whose teachings actively encouraged people to neglect the law (their law!) and live sinfully.

Don’t be like the Pharisees. They got their kicks out of justifying their own point of view and refused to listen to others. Rather than trying to force your plans on God, try to discover what his agenda is for you today. God’s way was best, and it still is today.

Luke 7 v 31-32
Then Jesus said, “What shall I say about the people of this time? What are they like? They are like children sitting in the market place, calling to one another and saying,
‘We played music for you, but you did not dance; we sang a sad song, but you did not cry.’”

Notes
The reactions of the Pharisees to both John and Jesus were quite different to what should have taken place.

They hated anyone who spoke the truth and exposed their hypocrisy, and they relentlessly failed to be consistent in locating faults in themselves. They criticised John the Baptist because he fasted and drank no wine; they criticised Jesus because he ate well and drank wine with tax collectors and sinners. But their real objection to both men, of course, was nothing to do with their dietary habits. What they couldn’t tolerate was being exposed for their hypocrisy. 

Jesus reacted to their reactions. In verse 32, he quoted a local proverb and likened his listeners to bored kids who couldn’t make up their minds what music they wanted to play, whether it was suitable for weddings or for funerals. All they wanted was a small God that would fit into a tiny box and pretend that their imperfect keeping of the law was adequate. The problem for the Pharisees was that when God saved us by allowing his Son to hang on the cross, it was the biggest event of all history. Anything they could do to try and earn the favour of God would be utterly fruitless and inadequate.

For all of us, it is time to take stock of all the efforts God has made on our behalf and recognise what happened at the cross: he cleared the way for us to come full-on into his company. Good works come as a result of faith in Christ - they are not a route by which we can score points to God. Let’s communicate that biblical gospel message to others today and not give the impression that Christians hold the moral high ground over everyone else!

Luke 7 v 33-35
“John the Baptist came and did not eat bread or drink wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon in him.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! He eats too much and drinks too much wine, and he is a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is proved to be right by what it does.”

Notes
The Pharisees weren’t too bothered by their inconsistency towards John the Baptist and Jesus. They were good at justifying their own wisdom. Most of us can find compelling reasons to do or believe whatever suits our purposes. If we do not examine our ideas in the light of God’s truth, we may be just as obviously self-serving as the Pharisees.

John the Baptist was seen to be demonic because he showed his love to God through self-discipline. Jesus spent time with everyone, whether they smelled or not, whether they subscribed to his beliefs or not, whether they spoke a different language or not - but he was criticised as one who had lost commitment and self-control.

We all know of the mood swings we get when nothing will please us. Even as Christians, there are times when God cannot get through to us because we are stubborn - and we might even get a buzz out of reacting that way!

Anyone can intentionally try to frustrate God’s plans for themselves and the world around them; they might even shun God’s plan for them. God could have gone about saving the world in a different way. He could so easily have forced himself on human beings in a manner that might have meant the world around us could see quick retribution for the evil things carried out by people. He could easily have put in place structures that would make society run for ever smoothly, but then we would have lived in a dull predictable world, full of people simply play-acting out life under the instructions of a dictator God. God chose the dangerous way of giving us free will. Within that, he exercises his love and his grace. It’s that love that will win at the end of the day.


word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken from the Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993 by Word Publishing Milton Keynes