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Intro
Intro
Do you have doubts in your life? Doubts about how you should or should have raised your kids? Doubts about your choice of career or where to live? What about doubts in your faith, or in God, or in Jesus? At different times in our lives we have doubts that creep into our minds. Perhaps they are planted there by a movie, a TV show, maybe by a friend or a circumstance that you are going through. It seems to be a common occurence when someone is going through a battle with cancer or some other serious illness that they or someone they love has doubts about many different things from treatment plans or choices in life that could have lead to this. Sometimes we even have doubts that God is real and that he cares in the moment that we are struggling. My pastor, Michael died of cancer two years ago now. I remember him sharing his struggles and his treatment battles with us on staff and from the pulpit as well. I remember different stories of people telling him that he simply needs more faith and God will heal him. I wonder do you think these comments, though well intentioned, could have sowed seeds of doubt in his life? One thing though that stood out to me and struck me in all that Michael went through over his two year battle was his faith, his steadfastness. If he doubted he never showed it or expressed it.
This morning we are going to look at a passage on just this, doubt. Now we know that John the baptist or John the Baptizer was a faithful and true follower of the Lord. The preached and he baptized the words of the Lord. He condemned the rulers and leaders of Israel including the king. It was this condemnation of the king though that landed him in prison. Turning over to Luke we will be looking at chapter 7 versus 18-35. It is a fairly lengthy passage but it is best looked at as a whole rather than trying to break it up.
John’s disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
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?’ ”
At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. 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. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”
After John’s messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury are in palaces. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written:
“ ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.’
I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
(All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus’ words, acknowledged that God’s way was right, because they had been baptized by John. But the Pharisees and the experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.)
Jesus went on to say, “To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other:
“ ‘We played the pipe for you,
and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
and you did not cry.’
For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by all her children.”
So John has been in prison for sometime at this point of the narrative but he evidently still can visit with his disciples. These disciples of his come and tell him all that has been going on in Jesus life and ministry since he was baptized by John. Upon hearing all the things that Jesus has done and even having proclaimed in Luke chapter 3 that one more powerful that will baptize with the holy spirit is coming. John knows that his mission from the Lord is to be the voice calling in the wilderness, to be the one to prepare the way for the Lord’s Messiah. John 1:29-31 tells us:
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”
John was the greatest prophet, having come to prepare the way of the Lords Messiah. He came baptizing and calling people to repent because Judgement was coming on the world. We would describe his preaching today as a hell, Fire, and brimstone sermon. Now judgement is still to come, but in John’s day he was expecting the Lord to come and to exact his judgement during his lifetime. He might even have been expecting to have the prophesy of setting the captives free to be fulfilled in his immediate circumstance of prison. It appears that John was having doubts about this Jesus whom he declared to be the Messiah. So staying true to Jewish conviction he sends two of his disciples to see if Jesus is truly the one who was prophesied to come.
Now notice that these disciples don’t come to visit and question Jesus at night like Nicodemus does later. They seem to come and question him while he is actively carrying out his ministry, so to ask him publicly are you the one might explain why Jesus responds the way he does. Jesus knows the hearts and the thoughts of those around him, and he knows what they are expecting the Messiah to do and say. Jesus responds to them with a gentle rebuke, go back and report what you have seen and heard. We have seen Jesus fulfill many of the prophesies out of Isaiah, from healing the sick to raising the dead and opening the eyes of the blind. Jesus himself in one of his first acts of public ministry read Isaiah 61:1-2
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
After reading this passage he said that this prophesy had been fulfilled in their hearing, and it was after this that they rejected him and tried to stone him. Looking at this prophesy in Isaiah though and comparing it to what we read in Luke 4, Jesus doesn’t read the last line of verse 2. He simply ends with “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s Favor”, the day of vengeance is still to come. Some speculate that because Jesus had not brought about the Lords vengeance yet that this could be why John was doubting about whether Jesus was really the one sent from God. This also gives us a bit of a window into the end time beliefs of these first century Jews. They were expecting the might and the power of the Lord to come with force and vengeance, but Gods timing and plan doesn’t fit into mans timing and plan. So Jesus finishes his discussion with John’s disciples by saying Luke 7:23
Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”
Specifically he is talking here to and about John, he is saying don’t worry about stumbling by believing in me.
Then he turns and addresses the crowd that is there and has been listening and watching this interaction. Notice how he asks three distinct questions, and remember that in Hebrew there isn’t really an exclamation point so to emphasize a point you would repeat it three times and that is what we see Jesus doing here. He asks three distinct questions. Did you go to see a reed swayed by the wind? A prophet is not someone who is easily swayed by the latest teaching or philosophical thought, nor are they weak or wavering. So did you go out to see someone dressed in fine clothes? Prophets were not wealthy like kings, nor did they live in palaces where those wearing fine clothes would be found. Rather he wore a garment of camels hair and ate locusts and honey. So then did you go out to see a prophet? Jesus asks, and then answers his question in the same sentence: “Yes, I tell you and more than a prophet.” Jesus is declaring that John was kind of a super prophet, who is going to usher in the time of the Messiah.
Jesus declares that John is the best that mankind can offer to God. John came as a kind of a bridge to bring the old order of Isreal to the new kingdom of the Messiah. Then Jesus says that those who are the least in the kingdom of God, the least in this new messianic kingdom, Paul would say those of us that have been born of the spirit. The least of these are greater than John.
Hebrews 4:12 tells us:
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Jesus show us here how divisive his words can be. He justifies those who went out to be baptized by John including tax collectors. You really see how hated the tax collector was throughout Luke as he continually calls out all the sinners, even those tax collectors. These individuals acknowledged their sin and short comings and went to John and repented to show their willingness to change and to turn from their old way of life. However the Pharisees and the experts in the law rejected God and his will and purpose for them by refusing to be baptized and repent. Although at the time neither really knew how right or wrong their decision was.
Jesus concludes his message to the crowd with a comparison of children in the market place who are fickle and unsure of what they want and He and John. Typically a pipe was played as a form of entertainment, while on the opposite side of the spectrum a dirge or a lament is a cry out to the Lord, usually a complaint or a request. We can see that Jesus came was seen celebrating and feasting, or eating and drinking with sinners but the pharisees refused to dance and rejoice. While John came and sang a dirge to call people back to the Lord, but the pharisees and religious leaders refused to cry. John came living a pious acetic life style of simplicity and abstaining from alcohol yet they said that he has a demon. In contrast Jesus comes eating a drinking and they called him a glutton and a drunkard.
When Mary was visited by the angel she questioned why her, why now, and God came and gave her comfort and peace. When Zechariah was visited by the angel in the temple he doubted what the angel told him, so God made him unable to speak for a season. Then he turned and rejoiced in the Lord. John the Baptist was a super prophet the greatest that ever lived, the best that mankind could offer to God. He was devout, he was pious, and he preached what the Lord had told him to preach. Even condemning the religious leaders and king of his day. Despite all his greatness and the calling on his life he doubted. Do you doubt? We see religious leaders doubt and fall away in many different ways and forms now with the age of the internet and mass media. We see friends and family members doubt and stumble from time to time as well. The greatest question though this morning is where do you turn when you doubt? Where can you lead friends, family members and neighbors when they doubt? When they have questions. John the baptist when he doubted turned to Jesus. We should all turn to Jesus when these times of doubt and confusion arise.
Lets Pray