The text this morning is from the Gospel according to Luke, the seventh chapter:
The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’ ” In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in kings’ courts. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, “ ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’ I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
John, the prophesied herald of the coming of the Messiah, sat in prison, languishing under the rule of Herod. He was not in kings’ courts, but in the king’s prison. He was not in regal robes, but sackcloth. But, he did his duty. He was not blown about by false winds of doctrine, nor did he scratch itching ears by telling them what they wanted to hear. He preached the good news that the Messiah was coming, he helped the people prepare the way of the Lord, he preached repentance and the forgiveness of sins. And he did all of this unabashedly. He made no apologies for his preaching, even if it offended a person, or, in John’s case, the most important person in the area, King Herod. He preached the Word of God with no apologies.
But, for that he was thrown into prison, for his preaching of the Law was too much to sensitive ears; it pricked the consciences of Herod and his wife, and they could not let it stand. So, John sits in prison. And his faithful disciples, those who had come out into the wilderness to hear the Word of the Lord, watched and waited with him.
If you think about it, it’s interesting. The presence of the Lord departed from the people after the prophesies of Malachi. God had been silent for 400 years. He had not talked with His people, giving them His words through His prophets. He was quiet, and waited until the time came for His Son to be sent into the world, the time for all of His purposes of the salvation of man to be accomplished. But, Jesus would not come first. The prophet John must be born first, must preach first, before the Lord begins His mission, His ministry. And so he is.
For 400 years, God was silent, then sent John the Baptizer into the world to begin to proclaim that the kingdom of God was at hand in the person and work of Jesus Christ. And John begins in the wilderness. For 400 years, God was far off, then appears through John out in the wilderness. He doesn’t come into the midst of His people, but makes His people come out to where He is, where repentance and the forgiveness of sins are.
His people were called out of the world, out of the teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees, people who thought they were speaking for God, but were not, called out of the world but into His marvelous light. And then, that prophet of God, the one who brought the first word from God in such a long time, was thrown into prison to languish.
So, too, did the people. The first prophet in their lifetime, indeed, in many lifetimes, was quieted. So, of course, they flock to Jesus, a man who preaches with authority. He wasn’t like the Pharisees or the Sadducees, but preached the Word of God with authority. He didn’t use maybes, perhaps, ifs, buts… He preached as if He knew the Scriptures backwards and forwards, inside and out. And He did. This man preached like John, with scathing Law and the comforting promises of God, and, on top of all that, He did miracles, raising boys from the dead, healing the servants of the Romans, healing the hands of the Jews, making paralytics walk, cleansing lepers, casting out demons, and defeating the temptations of Satan himself.
So, the people came to see Him. They went to see this man who did these things, and did them all just as John did them, but more, but better. And John suffered in prison. John heard all the things Jesus was doing. Perhaps he thought Jesus should have done more. Perhaps he thought Jesus should have preached better. Perhaps he thought Jesus should have cast out the Romans, taken down Herod, released him from prison. But, that is not why Jesus came. Even this, the greatest man ever born of woman, according to Jesus, did not always believe that this was the Messiah for whom he had prepared the way.
And so, sending his disciples, those faithful men who stood by him, even perhaps ministering to him through the windows of his prison cell, he sent them to find out if this Jesus was the one who was to be coming, the Lord for whom John worked tirelessly to prepare the way. But now, he was tired. Now, he did not know what to do. Now, he knew he would die like all of God’s prophets before him.
Yet, for the doubt that set in John’s heart, he still sent his disciples to Jesus, a prophet, yes, a prophet who also knew the Word of God. And John sent them to Jesus to find out what his fellow Prophet said. He sent them to Jesus for Him to answer if He was the Messiah, the Coming One, and to answer the question based on the Scriptures. God had revealed to John that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, but, tired as he was, doubt moved in. Jesus wasn’t swinging the axe that laid at the root of the tree. Jesus wasn’t sending people into judgment. He did Messianic things. And John wanted to know if this was all that Jesus had come to do, if this was the way things were in the kingdom John worked to prepare.
And they are. Look at Jesus’ proclamation. See that there is not judgment, but mercy? Blind see, lame walk, lepers cleansed, deaf hear, dead raised, poor preached to. And blessed is the one who is not offended by Jesus, nor His works, nor His ways. For Jesus’ way is the way of mercy, the way of God.
But people are offended by Jesus. They are offended by these things, for in God’s mercy, there are always those who reject such mercy and grace. And people are offended by you, too. Jesus is with us there. Jesus is with us even as we suffer under other people, for there are always those who, hearing God’s call to repentance, forsake the forgiveness of sins, forsake Jesus Himself, forsake even His gifts that He gives to His people. A couple verses on, even Jesus’ call of mercy from God on High is rejected by the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
This is the struggle of life, even today. This Advent season, we focus on John and how he prepares for the Lord’s coming, and so we, too, are working to prepare for the Lord’s coming. But, sometimes it does feel like we languish in prisons, be they real or otherwise. Whether we have literally been thrown in prison for our faith, or we sit in the prisons of despair, depression, disappointment, it is hard to focus on this Jesus who comes to bring mercy.
We want Jesus to break us out, to make us well, to heal our sicknesses. And certainly He does. He has done so in His mercy, and will continue to do so, though, like John, we do not see this day yet. In the death of Christ, as His body hung upon the tree, broken, bleeding, and dying, He took all the sickness and death in the world into Himself. And in His resurrection, all that sickness and death and disease were declared impotent. They cannot hold us down when faced with the Creator of all life. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, all through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And so, too, will you be. You will be healed. You will be set free from the prison of agony that you face. But, the way we get there isn’t always pretty. Often, we get there through our deaths, through our sickness, through our disease. It doesn’t always feel good, but our Lord is good. It doesn’t always feel right, that we should suffer, but we do. Yet we are not without hope. And that’s because, like John, like John the Baptizer who was reminded of the very Scriptures that testified to him and even to Jesus, we, the poor, the meek, the lowly, are preached to by Christ Himself.
We get to the end, we get to the culmination of all things, we get to the Last Day, the day of Resurrection through the preaching of Christ. And you have been preached to. You have repented. You have been forgiven. You have been washed. You have been fed. You will, indeed, as John did, persevere unto the end for you have the Good News given to you.
And this is the Good News: that, just as John came to prepare the way of the Lord, so, too, did Jesus come to prepare the way of salvation for you. He was obedient to the Law, even unto death on a cross, and He paid the penalty for all your sins so that you would never have to face doubt that leads to despairing of salvation. Jesus died and gave to you all of His gifts so that you will indeed persevere in the one true faith unto the day of eternal life.
For that eternal life is here even now. We live in the day of the Resurrection. Jesus lives that we might live. Jesus rose that we might rise. Jesus does all his work so that we will live forever.
Though we may end up like John, beheaded for the right preaching of God’s Holy Word, though we may suffer in sickness and disease, though we may languish in prisons of our own making or the making of those who hate us, yet Jesus lives and He is the one who takes these things away. He lives, He who once was dead, and because of that, we have a sure and certain confidence that our Lord has done great and marvelous things for us, so that we never need doubt that He is the Savior of all mankind, God with Us, Immanuel, God for us, God with you, God for you.
Even should we begin to doubt, do not go into the wilderness seeking a Word from God, but come where it is found: where Jesus Himself is. And Jesus is here, in this place, now and always for you. Jesus is the One who has come, and He is the Coming One, and we look for Him, even now, as He prepares our hearts and our minds to receive Him, now and for eternity. We need not look for another. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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