Tripping On Jesus (Luke 7:17-35) Series

Today, I'm going to try to tackle a few interconnected episodes. It's kind of a lot, but this whole section teaches one main thing, and if we want to hear that one thing, we need to grab it all at once. The simplest onramp to today's verses is to begin, simply, by rereading last week's passage, Luke 7:11-16:

(11) And it happened on the next day, he (Jesus) went to a city called Nain,

and they were going with him-- his disciples, and a great crowd.

(12) Now, as he drew near to the gate of the city--

and LOOK! He was being carried out-- a dead person , a one and only son to his mother--

and she was a widow,

and a large crowd from the city was with her--

(13) and seeing her, the Lord had compassion on her,

and he said to her,

"Don't weep,"

(14) and approaching, he touched the coffin/bier.

Now, the ones carrying it stopped,

and he said,

"Young man, to you I say, Rise!,"

(15) and the dead one sat up,

and he began to speak,

and he (Jesus) gave him to his mother.

(16) Now fear took/seized [them] all,

and they glorified God, saying that

"A great prophet was raised among us!,

and that

"God has visited his people."

That's where we cut off our story last week. Jesus, by raising this widow's son from the dead, brings to mind the centuries-old story of Elijah raising a widow's son. The crowd realizes they are face-to-face with a brand new, great, prophet.

And they also realize that it's through this prophet Jesus that God is visiting his people, to help them (and that idea is implicit in the word "visit," as a number of translations bring out). This Jesus is anointed by the Spirit, and empowered, and speaks and acts as God's representative. And I should add to this, that Jesus isn't simply telling people God's plan, and God's vision, for his people. Jesus is actualizing it (h/t Luke Timothy Johnson, Prophecy). He's bringing God's vision into being. And as this happens, God receives glory.

Now, the other thing that happens through all of this, is that Jesus becomes famous. When God gives you a great anointing, and uses you to do signs and wonders, the word about you spreads. But the idea about that, again, is that this word gives God glory. Jesus becomes famous, and God becomes highly praised.

At this point, let's start adding in our new verses. Let's read 17-20 (it seems like people often put verse 17 with the preceding verses, but it's very clearly a Lukan connecting sentence, that transitions to what follows):

(17) and this word went out in the whole of Judea concerning him and in all of the neighboring area,

(18) and they reported to John-- his disciples-- about all these things,

and calling to himself two particular disciples of his, (19) John sent [them] to the Lord, saying,

"You-- are you the coming one, or another, should we expect?" [Luke 3:16]

(20) Now, the two men, coming to him [=Jesus], said,

"John the Baptist sent us to you, saying,

"You-- are you the coming one, or another, should we expect?"

What do you find yourselves focusing on here?

There's one sentence in these verses that we read and hear twice. "You-- are the coming one, or another, should we expect?"

Normally, this is not how you tell a story. There's an art to storytelling, and part of that art is keeping things moving by not repeating yourself, and not including details that are unnecessary. There was a way for Luke to write his story, that didn't involve this repetition.

And Luke is a gifted storyteller. So why does he do this?

By repeating this detail, Luke makes this question the focus for this entire little episode. Who is Jesus? Specifically, is he "the coming one," or should "we" expect someone else?

Now, who is "the coming one"? Who are we talking about?

Our gut reaction, which is probably mostly right (glossing over the issue of whether they're a link here to the promised prophet like Moses in Deuteronomy 18), is to link this "coming one" with the promised messiah. God had promised King David that he would always have a descendant on the throne. And this promise becomes linked with the idea of a really special king, who rules over a really special kingdom. And it's through messiah that God himself will reign over Israel.

Everyone expects a coming messiah. John had been pretty sure that this messiah is Jesus. But there's something about Jesus that bothers John-- that makes him unsettled. That makes him wonder if Jesus isn't actually the messiah. There's something surprising about Jesus, at least up to this point.