A sermon
presented at First Presbyterian Church, Spring City, TN, February 12, 2017 with
the help of friends.
This is one of the
important messages in this text of Luke. (There are many!) John the
Baptist, in prison, heard what Jesus is doing and because of his faith in his
prophecy, asks, “Is this what the messiah does, bring good news to the
oppressed, binding up the brokenhearted, proclaiming liberty to the captives,
release to the prisoners? Can this be the
vengeance of the Lord that brings comfort??” For John and us, it isn't our view
of Jesus that needs to be adjusted, it is one's view of what the Messiah
does that needs adjusting. Like everyone John can chose to accept the reports
of witnesses, not on getting more witnesses to know how God is working in the
world.
Last week we heard
about the centurion in Luke’s gospel. The Centurion heard about Jesus because Jesus
had been so extensively preaching and teaching about the town of Capernaum that
everyone around had heard him telling to live the good life of the gospel. Many
witnesses had seen healings. Even John the Baptist languishing in Herod’s
prison for criticizing his adulterous marriage to his brother’s wife has heard
of the acts and words of Jesus from his disciples.
To understand this passage, let’s ask, “What do
we know about John the Baptist?” We are tempted to read into this passage all
the information we gained from the other gospels, but each gospel tells us something
different about John the Baptist. Mark tells us John the Baptist proclaimed that
“one is coming who is more powerful than John, and will baptize people with the
Holy Spirit.” According to Mark, John baptized
Jesus but never proclaimed Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus kept his identity quiet until after John was arrested,
and even then did not explicitly identify himself as the Messiah. Matthew tells
much the same story as Mark, and adds that John did not want to baptize Jesus
because Jesus was greater than him. Matthew never reports John saying Jesus is
the Messiah. Only the gospel of John reports that John the Baptist testified
the Messiah is coming. In John’s gospel when John the Baptist saw the Holy
Spirit descend upon Jesus after baptism, he testified this is the Messiah.
But John’s gospel never clearly states John baptized Jesus. Neither Matthew, Mark
or John give us any details on the family history of John the Baptist. Only
Luke gives us information about the childhood of Jesus beyond the birth
story.
Luke
says he has collected the reports about Jesus and recorded them in his gospel
as an orderly report. Luke evaluates all the material and writes what he
thinks is the important message in each event. Luke placed importance on the connection of the
lineage of Jesus to Hebrew history. Luke alone gives us his family history telling
us that (1) Luke describes the
conception of John and his birth in a series of events that markedly parallel
the story of Abraham, Sarah And Isaac, (2) the mothers of the two are
relatives, either aunt and niece, or cousins. This means Jesus and John are
cousins.
Luke tells no childhood details, but perhaps as
children the two cousins played together. What we do know from Luke’s account
is that Jesus and John have had no contact as adults until this occasion when John, in jail, sends his disciples
to inquire of Jesus about what he has heard.
A lot of sermons have painted John languishing in
jail facing death for taking on King Herod for marrying his brother’s wife. They
say John doubts his own faith in the Messiah. Such a sermon says John by his
own voice proclaims the coming good news and the coming of the king, the
powerful Messiah, baptizing people for repentance so John must think that the
Messiah will come and save him. In these sermons when John sends the question,
“Are you truly the Messiah?” John is thinking “Maybe Jesus isn’t the Messiah,”
so he sends his disciples as more witnesses to ask.
If you put aside what you have read in the other
gospels and carefully read the text, it does not support these conclusions.
John knew the Messiah is greater than he is (The angel Gabriel told his parents
this fact and that John is on a divine mission.) We have no reason to think John has abandoned
his belief that Jesus will bring the good news to the poor, heal the sick, give
sight to the blind and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor because he is
proclaiming what was written in Isaiah
61:1-2 and Psalm 146: 5-10
(as did Jesus in Luke 4:18-21):
The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the
LORD has anointed me;
he has sent me
to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the
brokenhearted,
to proclaim
liberty to the captives,
and release to
the prisoners;
to proclaim the
year of the LORD’S favor,
and the day of
vengeance of our God;
to comfort all
who mourn;
John knows all these things. He has heard of all the
signs of the Messiah, so it is a very logical that he will send his disciples
to inquire if this is really it, “Are you the Messiah, the one marked by the
Holy Spirit and burning zeal? Or should
we continue to look. He recognizes the signs of the prophecy but maybe he
wonders are these signs of a prophet such as Elijah or Isaiah, or is this the
Messiah?
Maybe John wonders only if more signs are to come?
If his cousin is the Messiah, is he going to overturn the Roman kingdom and
free Jerusalem and the captives and open its Temple gates to everyone,
including John?
It is entirely possible that John
‘s idea of the Messiah is shaped by his Jewish history. For centuries, the
Jewish people suffered continually under subjugation. The Rabbi’s read these
passages from Isaiah and other prophets in the synagogues and Temple regularly.
The prophets tell of the mighty deeds of the Lord when he gathers his people
together again. John knows the promises of the coming Day of the Lord.
Isaiah epitomizes these hopes, “He has sent me to bring good news to the
oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to
proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; and proclaiming
the year of the LORD’S favor.” This prophecy shapes the dreams and hopes of the
people. People build subjective ideas of what it will be like when that Day of
the Lord comes. Much like the four different gospels shape our perception of
John the Baptist, people wonder when will the bondage by the chains of Rome be
broken?
Does John wonder what Isaiah meant when he said a day of vengeance
of our God is coming when the Messiah comforts all who mourn? After all, the
reports of witnesses to John do not say Jesus carries a sword?
Perhaps John is asking, “Jesus
you are spending all your time with the poor, sick and distressed, the
outcasts, the unclean who violate the Law. Does the Messiah eat with the tax
collectors, those who take advantage of the poor, and drink too much? Is this the
way the Messiah acts?”
Maybe John would be better assured by more
witnesses? Would 100 more witness reports of the same event make any stronger
impact? I don’t think so.
The test in John’s mind is not doubt of whether the
Messiah will release John from Herod’s prison, but rather, “Do I believe what
my ears hear and my eyes see, does my own witness sustain my faith that this Jesus
is the One?
I argue that we all think in a similar manner, at
least some of the time. We read our
bibles that contain all the hopes and promises of the Lord. Do you remember the
hymn, “When we all get to
heaven what a joyful day that will be?”
That hymn is the stuff of dreams of our future. It captures something
very important but also contains something dangerous.
The focus of that hymn and others like it points
us towards the future and away from the present. When we are in distress it is
a natural thing to look to the hopes that we have built for the future. What is
more satisfying than to dream of the joy and fulfillment we will have when we
are sitting at the foot of the Lord? Not
much. But if we spend all out day dreaming
about that future and lose sight of what we should be doing in the present, we
have a serious spiritual problem.
By now you may remember how many times I’ve
repeated this, Jesus said
that God is the God of the living. The reports of Jesus’ actions
brought back to John by his witnesses reveal one thing, Jesus’ actions are the
way God works and moves in the World. We
must not let our subjective ideas lead us to conclude “This isn’t the way my
dreams and aspirations say it is going to work.”
The question of John the Baptist, ‘Are you the
Messiah?” brings us directly to that point. Jesus is fully engrossed in bringing
good news to the oppressed, binding up the
brokenhearted, proclaiming liberty to the captives and release to the
prisoners; and proclaiming the year of the LORD’S favor directed towards all God’s
children. He is so focused on this that at times we read that the disciples
worry that Jesus will not even eat because it takes time away from this
calling.
John’s question is born of faith, “Is this the way
the Lord works in the world? …With compassion not judgment?”
If our faith says, “yes” because
we have heard Jesus tell us the good news, then we come to understand the last
part of Isaiah’s proclamation, he will “proclaim … the day of vengeance of our
God; (and) … comfort all who mourn,” to mean that our salvation is the Lord’s
vengeance against the world and a comfort for all who mourn.
There is nothing new under the
sun. I believe that. The names of leaders change, the names of countries
change, we get new science and technology that can be used for good or evil, intentionally
or not. What remains in front of us then and now is faith that the testimony of
the witnesses is true, “The Kingdom of God is near;” that “God so loved the
world he redeemed it with his love”; that “Jesus has broken into this world,
but that Kingdom is yet to be fully consummated.”
Like John, we must answer our own question, “Are
you the Messiah?” and decide based on the testimony of a single witness, Jesus
Christ, that we have a Messiah who walks in the world, making this place a
little safer, comforting and loving for all our neighbors, especially those who
languish in hunger, grief, and are imprisoned by habit, vice, or iron bars. The world will know we are Christians by our
love.
Isn’t that what the one witness, Jesus Christ, testified to the world?
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