Are You The One?

Are you the One?

Matthew 11:2-11

John the Baptist is the subject of a lot of sermons preached through the Christian season of Advent. And, indeed, it should be, as Advent is a season of preparation. Unlike what is commonly believed, Advent is not a season to prepare us for Christmas, to receive the Christ child into the world. As thankful as we are that the Word became flesh in Jesus Christ and was born in Bethlehem, Christmas has come and gone. It is an event in history and cannot be repeated. Instead, we use this season to anticipate the Lord Jesus’ return to earth and the establishment of His eternal kingdom. This kingdom is for a prepared people, so we examine ourselves during this period to ensure we are ready for this event. John the Baptist is important, because he prepared Israel for the first coming of the Christ (Messiah). The message he brought is just as valid today as we prepare for the Second Coming.

Often we take the texts about John the Baptist and make a montage about his life, a biography. This is certainly a useful approach. All of the gospels mention John as the one who prepared the way for Jesus. Even though the Gospel of John does not explicitly mention John baptizing Jesus, even there Jesus comes to the Jordan for John to introduce to Israel. John 3 returns briefly to John the Baptist to answer a problem that had come up between the disciples of John the Baptist and Jesus, who was greater. Matthew and Luke mention a moment of doubt on the part (this passage). Then there is the account of the death of John the Baptist as the result of the scheming of Herodias. But each of these passages have their own contexts as well which needs to be examined.

This morning’s passage is introduced by verse one which says that Jesus had just finished commissioning His disciples and had sent them out on a preaching mission. Then Jesus also went out and began to teach the people. The fact that this passage follows the commissioning sermon in which Jesus goes into great detail about how they were to conduct their commission. He also elaborates of the dangers which they would face. From all appearances, the first mission tour of the disciples seemed to be pretty successful. The report we get is they were amazed they had power over demons. There was no mention of persecution. They jumped to the wrong conclusion, and Jesus had to correct this by saying they should have rejoiced that their names were written in the book of life. A lot of what Jesus warned the disciples did eventually come to pass, but only after Jesus’ resurrection when the church went out on mission. It seems that Jesus was preparing them for this well in advance just as He prepared them well in advance about His rejection, crucifixion and resurrection. We should also appreciate that Matthew’s gospel is also addressing concerns of the people he was writing, and the Holy Spirit has seen it fit that these words be preserved for us as well.

Times of persecution can really shake one’s faith. And as great as John the Baptist was which Jesus here acknowledges, he was subject to disillusionment. He had boldly proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah. He boldly preached against Herod and Herodias, that they were illegitimately married. For this, he was arrested and imprisoned. Perhaps john had thought the Kingdom would come immediately after His introduction of Jesus. The Messiah would crush Herod and Caesar both and set up Jerusalem as the new capital of a restored Israel. The wicked would be judged, the righteous rewarded, and all Israel would live happily ever after. The disciples also fell into this misunderstanding and ran when Jesus was arrested. Peter shrank in horror about the prospect of Jesus’ rejection, suffering and death at Caesarea Philippi. Even after the resurrection and just before Jesus ascended, they still clung tht the resoration of the kingdom to Israel was just a few days off.

So John was foundering in prison, so he sent two of his disciples to ask whether he had gotten it right about Jesus. Things were not happening according to John’s interpretation of the script. “Should we look for another?” An interesting observation to be made here is “Why did John still have disciples?” In the Gospel of John, when John identifies Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Two of John’s disciples leave John and follow Jesus. In chapter 3 of John, a dispute broke out between the disciples of John who were jealous of the success of Jesus’ ministry. If John’s disciples had listened a bit more carefully to John himself, they would not have been jealous and would have become the disciples of Jesus.