Luke 7:18-23

Last week I saw an article about an actress who appeared on a late night show not long after getting started in her career. She recently revealed that she was embarrassed and offended when the host mispronounced her name. My first thought was to wonder how many people have not had their names mispronounced at least once in their lives.

One year in elementary school the cafeteria tried a new idea. Each Monday when you got to school you would go to the cafeteria and pay for your lunch for the week. I assume the reason was so students wouldn’t lose their money and so the line could go faster at lunch. You were given a ticket with your name on it and the teachers kept up with the tickets. The first week the cafeteria worker asked my name and I said “Greg Key” and she replied, “Rickey Who?” After some explaining she finally understood my name is Greg Key. The next week it happened again and the next week and the next. I don’t remember how long it took before she stopped messing up my name.

Of course the most common mispronunciation of my last name is to make it plural, Greg Keys. I reply by saying that there’s just one of me so it’s not plural.

I never had to leave my house to have my name mispronounced though. If I did something wrong my mother would start yelling for me and it wasn’t uncommon for her to yell my brother’s name. She’d yell “Robby” when she meant Greg or she’d yell Greg when she meant Robby. She knew our names but she’d still get them mixed up. It happens.

We can offended by any number of things.

In Greek, the word for offended is σκανδαλίζω (skandalízō). The word refers to an impediment in your path, something that could cause you to trip or to fall or to cause someone to take offense. We’ll find this word used in our passage tonight.

Turn to Luke 7. We have been looking at some smaller passages in this chapter but this one is a little longer. We finished up last week with verse 17 but really it is a transitional verse that connects the story of Jesus raising a young man from the dead to the next story which concerns John the Baptist. So I want to back up to that verse as we begin this evening.

17 This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country. 18 John’s disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, 19 he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” 20 When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’”

21 At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. 22 So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 23 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” (Luke 7:18-23)

News about Jesus, specifically news about how Jesus raised the widow’s only son back to life, spread from Galilee where it took place to Judea and Jerusalem and even to John the Baptist in his prison cell. John is hearing these stories about the miracles Jesus is performing and he begins to wonder if this really is the Messiah. Literally, in the Greek John asks, “Are you the coming one?” Is Jesus the one the prophets said will come one day or should they continue looking for someone else?

Turn over to the first chapter of John’s gospel. That seems like a strange question coming from John. Surely John was told stories about his miraculous birth and of the birth of Jesus. All the apostles wrote about John baptizing people in the Jordan River. When John began baptizing some thought he might be the Messiah but John was quick to dispel that notion.

19 Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.” 21 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” 22 Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’ ” 24 Now the Pharisees who had been sent 25 questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 “I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. 27 He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.” (John 1:19-27)

John made it clear that he was not the Messiah. In fact, he was not worthy to even untie the sandals of the Messiah. Then, we read about Jesus coming to be baptized by John in the Jordan River.

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.” (John 1:29-31)

John the Baptist also talked about what happened after the baptism of Jesus.

32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.” (John 1:32-34)

It seems pretty clear early on John knew that John the Baptist knew Jesus was the Messiah. But now, a year or two later, it seems John is having some doubts. Is Jesus really the one all of Israel had been waiting for? Is Jesus the Messiah? So, John sent two of his disciples to Jesus to ask him, “Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?”

The problem was that John was unable to understand the ministry of Jesus. Remember the description John gave about the things Jesus would do. In the gospel of Matthew, John is recorded as saying:

11 I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3:11-12)

John was warning about the coming judgment. The Messiah will come and separate those producing fruit from those that do not, the faithful from the unfaithful. He’s picturing a time when people with turn to God with their whole heart and things will be made right. But when was that going to happen? Jesus was going around preaching. His message was very similar to John’s. Here was John’s message:

1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matthew 3:1-2)

Here’s the message of Jesus:

From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matthew 4:17)

Both preached the need for repentance and the reason was because God’s kingdom had come.

Jesus was preaching but he was also healing. He was curing those with leprosy, healing the sick, casting out demons, and now Jesus had raised the dead. Those were all great, but when was the time of judgment going to start? Where was the Holy Spirit he’d talked so much about? Things weren’t happening like he’d expected them to. Was Jesus really the Messiah? If so, when were these things finally going to start happening cause Jesus wasn’t doing the things John expected him to do. What Jesus was doing was great but, Jesus wasn’t meeting John’s expectations. So many of the prophecies concerning the Messiah deal with him bringing judgment and making things right.

Turn to Malachi 3. It is the next-to-the-last chapter of the Old Testament. Jesus is quotes the first verse of Malachi 3 in Luke 7:27. In the first few verses of this chapter God says what he will do when he sends the Messiah and the one who will come before the Messiah – John the Baptist.

1 “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years. 5 So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty. (Malachi 3:1-5)

John is familiar with this prophecy and wants to know when it will begin. When will fire start? If Jesus is the Messiah, when will he start making wrongs right? And better yet, when will Jesus get John out of prison? Prison had to have been particularly difficult for John. John had spent years in the wilderness and the wide open spaces. And now he was in a small confined space. Why wouldn’t Jesus help him considering the role he played in Jesus’ ministry?

In Luke 4, Jesus visited his hometown of Nazareth when he attended synagogue on the Sabbath. When asked to read from the scriptures he read a selection from Isaiah 61:

18 The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Luke 4:18-19)

This is a prophecy about what the Messiah would do. Jesus then told those listening that what he had just read had been fulfilled in their hearing. This prophecy was being fulfilled in him. However, Jesus did read all of the prophecy in Isaiah 61. He left out this part:

. . . to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God (Isaiah 61:2a)

In John 12, Jesus said that he had not come to judge the world. He said the same thing to Nicodemus in John 3. He said he hadn’t come to condemn the world but to save it. However, those who refused to believe in him were already condemned. That doesn’t mean Jesus won’t judge the world when he returns but that it wasn’t his reason for coming the first time. The first time he came to save the world. There are these two aspects of what Jesus does – save and judge – but they are divided between his first coming and his second coming.

It’s understandable that John would not understand this, even the apostles didn’t understand. Only minutes after Peter declared Jesus to be the Messiah, the Son of God, Jesus told the apostles that he would suffer and be killed. But Peter didn’t want to hear it and rebuked Jesus for even saying it. They didn’t understand. So, why should we expect John to understand?

But John did do this correctly, he sent two men to ask Jesus. “Are you the one or should we expect another?” John went to the source to find the answer. He took his question to Jesus. And how does Jesus answer?

We’re told that when the two men presented John’s question to Jesus that he had been curing diseases, casting out evil spirits, and giving sight to the blind. As a result, Jesus told the two men to go back and tell John what they had seen:

. . . the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor. (Luke 7:22, NLT)

In reality, Jesus never game the men an answer. John wants a yes or no response and Jesus tells the men to tell John what they’ve seen. What kind of answer is that? Instead of talking about himself, Jesus was allowing his works to testify about him. Nicodemus mentioned the works of Jesus and how they identified him:

[Nicodemus] came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” (John 3:2)

Nicodemus said they knew he was from God because of his works. I wonder who the “we” is since the majority of the Pharisees openly opposed Jesus. Jesus would later say:

I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish – the very works that I am doing – testify that the Father has sent me. (John 5:36)

Just before he was arrested Jesus told the apostles:

Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. (John 14:11)

The miracles Jesus performed proved him to be from God. If the two men wanted to know if Jesus was the one sent by God all they had to do was observe what Jesus had done.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said that you can recognize a tree by its fruit because only a good tree can produce good fruit. If Jesus does things that only God can do does that not prove that he is from God? Jesus’ works were a witness as to who he is. So, Jesus tells the men to go tell john what they’ve seen:

. . . the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor. (Luke 7:22, NLT)

Isaiah had prophesied:

5 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. (Isaiah 35:5-6a)

Surely Jesus is a fulfillment of this prophecy as well.

Then Jesus makes this interesting comment:

Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me. (Luke 7:23)

Some translations, such as the NLT, translate the verse as:

And he added, “God blesses those who do not fall away because of me.” (Luke 7:23, NLT)

The words “stumble,” “fall away,” and “offend” are from the Greek word σκανδαλίζω (skandalízō). It is also translated as “offended.” The word is found about thirty times in the New Testament. Paul used it in his letter to the Corinthians when talking about how Jews view the gospel.

22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block [a σκάνδαλον, skándalon] to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:22-24)

The Jews were offended at Jesus because he had been crucified. The Old Testament said that anyone who died on a tree was cursed so they couldn’t understand how Jesus being crucified could be good news.

On the night he was arrested Jesus told the apostles that they would all be offended by him.

Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away [σκανδαλίζω, skandalízō] on account of me, for it is written: “ ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ ” (Matthew 26:31)

But Jesus said that those who do not stumble because of him are blessed.

The implication is that John had been offended too. John stumbled and the apostles stumbled because Jesus was not using the power they thought Jesus should be using. Jesus should have used his power to get out of being crucified. In the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus was being arrested, Peter pulled out a sword and cut off one guy’s ear. Jesus told Peter:

Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? (Matthew 26:53)

Jesus had the power to stop his arrest and prevent his crucifixion but he didn’t do it. That’s what caused them to stumble. Jesus didn’t use the power he had and they couldn’t understand why. The same was true with John. John knew that Jesus had the power but he wasn’t using it. Jesus had the power to get John out of prison. He had the power to over throw the Roman government. He had the power to establish the kingdom and make everything right. Why wasn’t Jesus using the power he had?

I think it’s what causes many to stumble today as well. If Jesus has the power to heal the sick, why doesn’t he my loved one. Why did Jesus allow them to die? When he doesn’t use his power like we think he should we can get offended. Why doesn’t Jesus use his power the way I want him to?

When we ask that though what we are really asking is why Jesus doesn’t meet our expectations. This is the way we think Jesus should do things and he doesn’t. So, when Jesus doesn’t meet our expectations, who is right? When Jesus doesn’t do everything we want him to who is in the wrong? I’ve heard countless stories of people dropping out of church fur just this reason. They have turned their backs on God because God didn’t things the way they thought God should have done them. And Jesus says:

Blessed is anyone who does not stumble, who does not get offended or fall away because of me.

Do we trust God? Do we trust him to always do what is right? We will not always understand why some things happen. We will always wish God had done something differently. But will we trust him anyway?