Matthew 11:1-19 Notes

What was Jesus NOT doing that, that John expected him to be doing, and that therefore made John doubt?

How do we process through the times when Jesus doesn’t do what we expect of him?

John was crucially important person in Jesus’ life —> Baptized by John.

Prison is different back then. No food. No services.

What do you think the question would be? Given how much John knows of Jesus (He witnesses Jesus’ baptism!) But what does he ask? “Are you sure you’re the Messiah?”

John hears what Jesus is doing, and it makes John wonder if Jesus is the Christ. Something that Jesus is doing is causing John to doubt.

What did John say Jesus would do? In the line of the prophets, John announced that one was coming who would bring about the day of the Lord - that would herald a great rescue of God’s people, but also a refining judgment.

What was Jesus doing? He’s healing people.

Jesus’ answer - This is what Jesus has been doing. Also, Isaiah. They all talk about the great day of the Lord, when God would visit his people with salvation and Judgment, purify his people, bring the messianic Kingdom.

“You weren’t wrong am the one, and the kingdom is here. But it doesn’t look like what you thought it would look like. Blessed are the ones who can see past what they thought would happen, and see what’s actually going on.”

John proclaimed the coming of one who was going to bring the hammer. Jesus instead is bringing healing. He’s having dinner with sinners and tax collectors. Here John is in prison and what is the Messiah doing?? He’s eating and partying with tax collectors.

I think we can be very sympathetic with John. John had a story in his head about how things were going to go and about what Jesus was going to do in the world and in his life, and it’s clearly not coming true. And John is rocked by it.

The big question - is John’s hope and trust in Jesus? In one sense, yes, because he wouldn’t ask the question if his hope was not in Jesus, he obviously is yearning for the One to come. But in another sense, it’s no. But John didn’t know that. He’s discovering that he was actually hoping in this story that he had in his head about what he expected Jesus to do and to be. And now Jesus is not doing those things and he’s not that kind of Christ.

This is a lesson we just have to learn as humans. There are some time when we’ve set unrealistically high expectations, and they aren’t met, and we’re disappointed. That’s something that we all learn. But there are other times when something happens in life, either big or small, but something happens and we’re absolutely crushed, and the strong emotions seem to come out of nowhere, and we discover that we actually had a strong set of expectations about what you hoped would happen, but you didn’t know you had those expectations until they weren’t met.

There are all kinds of expectations that we know we have, but there are some expectations that we don’t even know that we have until they are not met. Suffering and hardship has a way of revealing these hidden expectations. And it’s the same with following Jesus. We don’t realize that actually we were banking on jesus to solve all of our problems, and we’re expecting him to make all our dreams come true, but we don’t realize it until our dreams don’t come true, and then we find ourselves crushed by Jesus. And he see what Jesus is actually doing in the world, and we say that’s great, but it’s not what I wanted, it’s not what I was hoping for. This is where John is.

“Why should you follow Jesus?” If he’s not going to make all your dreams come true, why follow him?

John was not just a prophet, he was the prophet that all the prophets looked forward to - the great herald who would announce the coming of the Christ. John is one of the most unique and important and priviledged person in all of history - but the reality is that John will die in prison - he will never see the birth of the things that he is announcing. But there are disciples listening to Jesus, men and women who would see Jesus bring about the things that John is announcing but will never see. They will see Christ die and rise again. They will see and experience the Spirit descending on them. They will witness the spread of the gospel and the miraculous power of the Spirit. In this way, they are greater than John.

verse 17 - broken expectations. Flash mob that doesn’t take. This generation has a whole set of expectations about who John is supposed to be and who jesus is supposed to be, and they are not joining the flash mob.

Jesus knew he wasn’t what the people expected. He knew he wasn’t doing what they expected him to be doing, look at verse 16:

​English Standard Version Chapter 1116 “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, 17  “ ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’

So the children are in the marketplace playing music, trying to get people to dance and sing. Do you remember your middle school dances? No one wanted to dance or do anything that would draw attention to themselves, and the DJ that the school hired, usually some middle-aged guy, he’s really into it, really trying and expecting people to be as excited about The Red Hot Chili Peppers as he is? Well, imagine that DJ complaining that his expectations aren’t being met, that’s what Jesus is saying. He knows he’s not doing what people expect him to be doing, but he also knows that we don’t know what we really want. He goes on in verse 18:

​English Standard Version Chapter 1118 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’

So John doesn’t go to the dinner parties and they say he’s crazy. Jesus does go to the dinner parties, and they say he’s a drunk. But look at how Jesus ends.

​English Standard Version Chapter 11Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”

Jesus says, “I know that I’m not what you expected, and I’m not doing what you expected and hoped that I’d be doing, and so you don’t think I’m the one, well watch what I’m going to do. Watch what’s going to happen and you’ll see that the kingdom is here, that this is God working in the world, and even though I’m not what you expected, I’m exactly what you’ve always wanted and everything you need. Watch what I’m going to do, because Wisdom is proved right by her deeds. How do we process through those times when Jesus doesn’t do what we expect of him? When our hidden expectations of him are revealed when we’re crushed with disappointment and we’re rotting in prison. What do we do? “Watch what I’m going to do,” he says. Watch him as he continues his ministry of teaching and healing in the face of mounting hostilities and opposition against him, watch as he is arrested on false charges, put on trial, and watch as he is hung on a Roman instrument of torture until he dies, and watch as everyone will sees it as a huge failure. Clearly he was not the Messiah, because a dead Messiah is no Messiah at all. No one was expecting Jesus to die. Not even after he repeatedly told them he would, no one expected that he’d be killed. Why? Because that was not how it was supposed to go. And how many times have I thought to myself as I look at what’s going on in my life, “Jesus, this is not how it’s supposed to go. I don’t see the kingdom in any of this.” But Jesus says, “Pay attention. Pay attention to how the story goes and you will see the kingdom of God brought into your world and your life. Wisdom is justified by her deeds.”