12.11.22 Matthew 11:2-11
2 While John was in prison, he heard about the things Christ was doing. He sent two of his disciples 3 to ask him, “Are you the Coming One or should we wait for someone else?”
4 Jesus answered them, “Go, report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the gospel is preached to the poor. 6 Blessed is the one who does not take offense at me.”
7 As these two were leaving, Jesus began to talk to the crowds about John. “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 8 What did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? No, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. 9 So what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you! And he is much more than a prophet. 10 This is the one about whom it is written, ‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ 11 Amen I tell you: Among those born of women there has not appeared anyone greater than John the Baptist. Yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Jesus is Who Isaiah Said He Would Be, and John Too
The young man thought he had bought the perfect gift for his wife for Christmas. He was so excited to give it to her. It was some pickleball paddles and balls. He had heard what a fun game it was. When they got out on the court, the wife was having a great time! She was really good at it, and so were their kids. But she and the kids kept on beating him time and again. He started wishing he never got his wife the gift. Might this be a picture of what happens to John the Baptist when Jesus finally gets unwrapped for the world to see?
At first, everything was going according to plan. People were repenting of their sins and coming into the wilderness to be baptized. Yet only after a year or two into Jesus’ ministry, things took a turn for the worse. Herod Antipas had taken his step brother Philip’s wife as his own, and John publicly condemned him for it. Herod didn’t like it, so he had John arrested. John had to spend Advent in prison. This was his reward for telling the truth. He was no longer allowed to preach or baptize as he was doing before.
John had been warning people that the ax was at the root of the tree. He spoke of repentance and judgment to come. And what was Jesus doing? He wasn’t chopping anything down. Jesus was going to weddings and eating with tax collectors. He was healing people and telling people they were forgiven. This wasn’t what John or his disciples seemed to be expecting. This led John to ask, “Are you the One?” John was either asking for himself, his disciples, or both. They asked this right in front of the entire crowd! It might seem to be a public confrontation in a sense. It could have been embarrassing to Jesus.
Have you had those moments, when a prayer wasn’t answered? When life didn’t turn out like you had planned? It reminds me of Job’s moments of anguish when he was suffering. In a moment of weakness and anger, you blurt it out. “What’s going on?!? I wonder if God really does hate me. Is this for real!?! Are YOU for real?!?” You’re so angry that you don’t care who hears it. You said it. You meant it. You wanted some answers.
And what does Jesus do? Does He call them to the side and say in a whispered tone, “Whoa! Calm down there. How dare you question my authenticity in front of everyone! You better back off right now or I’ll condemn every last one of you!” That’s what under confident people do when they are questioned. They get angry and defensive. “What are you saying?!?” But when you know who you are and you know you’re doing the right thing, you simply answer the challenge in a cool and calm way.
So what does Jesus do? He doesn’t say a THING, not at first. If you read this story in Luke 7, Luke writes, “At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind.” Imagine the procession of people coming before Jesus. Some bent over. Others holding their stomachs or their heads or their backs. Some being carried in on stretchers, barely breathing. People shrieking and yelling and foaming at the mouth. One by one, Jesus has them brought before Him and He heals son and daughter, young and old, immediately. Nobody is sent away. Imagine the aftermath of the healing, people smiling and jumping and crying for joy. John’s disciples would be watching this whole scene unfold before them.
This was all in fulfillment of our Old Testament lesson for today from Isaiah 35:5–6, Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Then Jesus simply said to John’s disciples, “Go, report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the gospel is preached to the poor. 6 Blessed is the one who does not take offense at me.”
I love that last statement. “Who would be offended at such a thing?” Why would you be angry at deaf being able to hear, dead people being raised, and poor people receiving forgiveness? Well, you might be offended if all these people were getting freed from their sicknesses and diseases, but YOU weren’t getting freed from prison. You might be offended if you thought these people were only USING Jesus for a quick fix, if they weren’t real dedicated followers, if they’d just come for the healing and nothing more. You might be offended if you saw how for years they had ignored God and His Word their whole lives. And now they were seemingly getting a free pass?
Perhaps John’s question is coming from a Jonah perspective. He’s tired of the world. He’s tired of all of this happy talk about Jesus while he’s languishing in prison. What’s the use? Ring a bell? Little jealous of the couple with the happy marriage? The well adjusted children? The nice job? The good health? Must be nice! Get a little irritated at the so-called Christian who only manages to come to church when something is going wrong? He wants a quick fix. Is that it? How about the Christian talks about praying and strength and faith when in reality all they have are hangnails? But that doesn’t seem to bother Jesus. He doesn’t yell at a few people or condemn them to make John and His disciples happy. He keeps on being gracious and giving. It doesn’t stop Jesus from doing what He does, just because John doesn’t seem to like it.
When it comes down to brass tax, people can always find some reason to be angry with God and not believe in Him. People will always take His gifts for granted or use God in some way. But that doesn’t stop God from doing what He does. It wasn’t as if Jesus wasn’t doing anything that was prophesied about Him. Yet one side thinks He can’t be just because He allows evil to go on unpunished. The other side gets angry with God because of the threats of Hell. One says He’s too tolerant, the other too mean. Someone can always find some reason to complain when they aren’t happy that God isn’t doing things THEIR way when THEY want. You can always find reasons to condemn God when you aren’t happy with your life. People can always find reasons not to believe. But that doesn’t stop God from being God.
Finally, Jesus showed a heart that genuinely wanted people to have relief from their suffering and fear. Yes, their motivations may have not been the purest. Maybe they were just temporarily using Jesus. But nonetheless, Jesus relieved them of their pain and suffering anyway, in hope that they would come to Him for more: for salvation from their sins and from hell. And how many times does God do that with US as well? If God decides someone needs a moment of healing and grace, He knows what He’s doing. Jesus just does what He does and says, “Go and tell John what you hear and see.” He’s not bringing the ax down yet, but He is doing miraculous things, just like Isaiah prophesied. So why get angry about it?
And what happens to John? He ends up getting beheaded at the whim of a drunken man and at the request of a flirtatious young woman. What good was that?!? Where’s the reward for John? Well, think about it. John had done his job. He had pointed the world to Jesus. He had called her to repentance, and He was able to die the death of a martyr. He didn’t have to languish anymore in prison. He got to go to heaven. And what a blessing for His disciples! He still had a few disciples who were hanging on to Jesus. John didn’t want them to cling to him any more. His death would give them no more excuses. Either follow Jesus or go home. His death forced their hand a bit.
Here’s another thing. I love Jesus’ response. Jesus doesn’t attack John. He doesn’t bemoan how John has changed or act as if John sold out on Him. He understands John’s frustrations, and He praises John! After John’s disciples had left the scene, Jesus reminded the crowd of who John was. He was no Joel Osteen. People didn’t come to see him for the beautiful soloist or the breathtaking cathedral. He wasn’t dressed in the finest of clothes, telling everyone how to be rich and wealthy like him. He simply called people to repentance, pointed people to Jesus. He also put his life on the line when he publicly called out Herod, and he never backed down from his stance. He didn’t grovel for pardon. Jesus said of John that he was “much more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, ‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ Amen I tell you: Among those born of women there has not appeared anyone greater than John the Baptist.” What a compliment! Greater than Isaiah, Moses, Abraham even - John the Baptist! He was a most impressive and faithful man. God prophesied his coming 400 years before he was even born through the prophet Malachi! Who else could make such a claim for themselves?!? John was most faithful in his calling. Even when his own disciples complained to him how all of John’s followers were going to Jesus, it didn’t bother him one bit. “He must increase, I must decrease,” was John’s answer. Jesus praised John’s faithfulness.
But then there’s the last little rider. Yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. What does that mean? Did John fall from faith? Did he give up? Why would Jesus praise him then at all? Wouldn’t He instead call John the greatest failure of all? Moses didn’t fall from faith, or Isaiah, or Elijah. This would almost make John the worst of all. Or could it be that when Jesus speaks of the least, He is speaking of the One who makes HIMSELF the least, the One who gives up the most, who is treatest as the greatest sinner in the world, makes the greatest sacrifice of all? Is He actually pointing to HIMSELF as being greater?
We get to hear about everything that Jesus did for us and see all of the prophecies fulfilled. We get to see the greatest sacrifice of all, as Jesus is abandoned by the Father on the cross for the sins of the world. We get to hear Jesus cry, “It is finished.” We get to hear Peter proclaim, “Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” (1 Peter 3:18) We get to live after the fact, and that’s more than John ever got to see.
And if that is so, what does it mean for us when we are connected to Jesus in our baptism, through faith? It means that by grace Jesus takes us from nobody and from sinners and calls us His children and saints, a part of His royal priesthood, adopted into His family, even though we don’t have a quarter of the boldness of John. It means that the kingdom of heaven isn’t about who can be the bravest and the boldest and die a martyr's death, it is about who can be connected to the greatest death of all, not at the hands of a drunken king Herod, but at the hands of an angry God.
One of the most epic rants in the annals of football history came from Denny Green, coach of the Arizona Cardinals, lost to the 5-0 Chicago Bears. Even though the Cardinals were only 1-4, they were winning the game 23-0 at one point. After one series of errors after another, including a punt return by Devin Hester in the last minutes of the game, along with a missed field goal, they lost the game in dramatic fashion 24-23. Coach Green was furious from the podium and said, “They were who we thought they were, and we let them off the hook!” They were who we thought they were.
Jesus was NOT who John’s disciples thought He would be. He wasn’t swinging the ax. Not yet. They were bothered by that. They aren’t the only ones. Yet what did Jesus say? I am who Isaiah said I would be.
The husband decided not to give up on pickleball, even though he kept on getting destroyed by his wife and children. Why? It was making his wife and children happy. They were enjoying themselves. He eventually learned that if destroying him made them happy, then he would be happy for them. He didn’t have to win at pickleball to be happy.
Did John and his disciples learn a similar lesson? The glory for John wouldn’t be on this side of heaven. He would never see Jesus swing the ax as he thought he would do. Yet Jesus was doing exactly what Isaiah said He would do in Isaiah 35. After John died, Jesus would also do what He was called to do in Isaiah 53, when the ax came down on HIM instead of us, giving the world the greatest gift of all, on the cross. Eventually, Jesus will do what John said He would do. Some Day, Jesus will finally bring down the final ax. Then by God’s grace we will be harvested to heaven, and justice will be served in God’s own time. Why? Because Jesus is the One who is exactly who Isaiah said He would be, and John as well. Thank God for that. Just wait. Give Him time. Trust Him to be who He is. The One who Came and the One who is Coming, just as the prophets have said. Amen.
