LOVE. . . Gotta Have It

Loving (Introduction)

LET DOWNS - FOOD

Have you ever had one of those experiences where you felt really let down by something?

Maybe it was a meal at some well-known restaurant. You heard so many people talking about this restaurant and you were looking forward to eating there for so long you could almost taste the food before you were actually served.

You heard the people rave about the food, how good the appetizers were, how delicious the main meals were, and you just had to try it for yourself.

But when you actually got to try the food, it was strikingly ordinary.

LET DOWNS - MOVIES

Or perhaps it was some long-anticipated movie: maybe it was the sequel to another film you had really enjoyed and so you had waited for years for the next installment of the series to come out.

You eagerly went to the theater on opening day, waited in line to purchase the tickets, picked up your popcorn and soda and made your way to the theater seating.

Half way through the movie you discover the new movie turned out really boring.

If you have ever had an experience like that you know the feeling of disappointment, deflation, and discouragement.

You also know that it is difficult to admit that the food or the film in question really wasn't all that good.

So maybe you hedge a little. You do some deflecting when someone later asks you how it was. "Was it everything you thought it would be?" to which you reply, "Yeah, it was good. I, I, I pretty well liked it. It was fine, OK, not bad."

But deep down you know the truth: all your waiting and anticipation ends in disappointment.

Somebody in the kitchen or behind the camera let you down, leaving your high-flying expectations in shambles.

JOHN’S LETDOWN

If you understand that let down, if you understand that disappointment then you know what John the Baptist was experiencing while he sat in prison.

John the Baptist was disappointed. He had “talked Jesus up” and was a kind of divine warm-up act for the star attraction.

READ MATTHEW 11:2-11

PRAY

Learning

A PERSON IN PRISON

A person in prison has a lot of time to think and question. This is true of John the Baptist when he gets thrown into prison for speaking the truth to King Herod Antipas.

There in that dark dungeon, John starts to wonder about Jesus. We do not fully understand what is going through John the Baptists’ mind, perhaps John is thinking that Jesus now seems a most unlikely messiah.

The messiah John had been looking for, that almost all the Jews anticipated, would sweep through the holy land with massive force, drive out the Romans, and establish a Kingdom of godliness, to the applause of his people.

But this is not happening with Jesus. The reports John receives in prison never speak of anything of this sort.

JOHN SENDS A QUESTION TO JESUS

So John sends his own disciples to Jesus with a question. "Are you the one to come, or are we to wait for another?"

John expresses his puzzlement honestly and directly. He does not doubt that a messiah will arrive to deliver Israel.

He is simply confused as to whether that messiah is Jesus or someone yet to appear.

JESUS ANSWER – WHAT YOU SEE AND HEAR

Jesus commands John’s disciples to tell John what they see and hear of what Jesus is doing.

He sums up his own activities in language inspired from the prophet Isaiah: the blind gain their sight, lame people get up and walk, lepers are lepers no more, deaf people hear, corpses are raised to life, and good news is delivered to the poor.

Finally he concludes with a beatitude, a cautionary one: blessed are those who take no offense at me.

He tells John to consider the evidence. His ministry matches what was promised centuries earlier of God's arrival to redeem his people.

Jesus says in effect to John: Yes, I am the messiah; consider what I do.

MIRACLES PROVE JESUS IDENTITY

We might say, and rightly so, that the conclusive proof for the identity of Jesus is that God raised Jesus from the dead, thereby setting on him his seal of approval.

But when John sends his message from prison, the cross and resurrection are still in the future.

Jesus is making his case to John based on events that have already happened, miracles that are being reported throughout the land, and reported throughout the scriptures.

These miracles prove the identity of Jesus as the Messiah. The power at work in the miracles is divine.

But these miracles are not done simply to prove a point. They are done to advance a mission.

These miracles have universal significance. They are not events that happened to a handful of lucky people in a small corner of the world two thousand years ago.

These miracles reveal ways by which God seeks to transform the world.

MIRACLES VS PURITY LAWS

We can see how the miracles of Jesus transform the world when we contrast Jesus miracles with the purity laws found earlier in the Bible.

These miracles, show Jesus healing at least one of every category of persons who, according to the purity laws of Jesus' society, were specifically excluded and labeled unclean, or who were declared unable to worship in the inner temple."

Among the groups that were excluded were:

§ women,

§ lepers,

§ Samaritans,

§ Gentiles,

§ tax collectors,

§ prostitutes,

§ adulterers,

§ children,

§ people with various handicaps,

§ and the dead.

MIRACLE DECLARE GOD’S LOVE

The significance of these miracles is they overturn religious and social barriers; and Jesus' declaration of God's love and compassion for everyone.

So, the healing miracles fulfill a mission that was expressed in love.

The public ministry of Jesus is in large part dedicated to this effort of sharing love.

And the people around him recognize that he is overturning old standards. Some rejoice at this, others are bewildered.

These healings are signs of the breaking in of a new order, a new kingdom, the reign of God in the world.

Jesus turns out to be the messiah, but not in the way anyone expected.

Leading (Application)

Was John the Baptist disappointed, perhaps at first. He was hopeful of a Messiah that would come in and clean house creating a new kingdom here on earth.

But once John begins to understand the power of God’s love in the miracles of Jesus his thoughts begin to change.

Today, Jesus looks to us to fulfill his mission here in this world. And part of this mission is to love others.

The challenge for us is that if we want to be loyal to Jesus and his mission, then we must, like him, love others.

We may have those times of doubt and wonder, but we cannot give up loving