No Longer Looking

Text: Luke 7:18-28

Structure: Story-applied

Focus: Jesus has opened your eyes and your ears to see and hear and know that He is the One - the Messiah.

Function: that the hearers may live as people who have seen and heard, as people who are content in the work of Christ.

No Longer Looking

Intro: Grace, Mercy, and Peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Things were not going well. This is not how John imagined it would be. John, John the Baptist, he was the one chosen by God, he was supposed to be the one to prepared the way of the Messiah, but instead he was sitting in a jail cell. He wondered if there was still more work to do. What other things did he have to do to get the world ready for the Messiah? As he was sitting there in deep thought, some of his followers came up to him and told him of a man who in Capernaum healed a Roman Centurion’s servant, who was at the point of death. Then they also told him that this same man raised a widow’s only son from the dead in the town of Nain. After hearing this, John, he thought to himself, could this be Him? Has the time come for the Messiah? John, he wanted to be sure, so he sent two of his followers, followers that he could trust with a very important mission. He sent two of his closest followers go search for this man, to ask Him if He was the One who was to come or should they go on looking for another. Jesus, the man they were looking for, wasn’t hard to find. He was the man, who was surrounded the large crowds of people. John’s disciples the wiggled their way through the crowds, like someone who was trying get through the crowds at the mall shopping the day before Christmas Eve, to finally get to see Jesus, the man that they had heard so much about. They got His attention and said to Him, “We are followers of John the Baptist and he told us to come ask you a question. He told us to ask you, “Are you the One who was to come, are you the One who we are waiting for or should we keep on searching for another?” Jesus heard their question, but He didn’t answer. Before He could, someone brought a friend to Him who was very sick and Jesus laid His hands on the friend and He was healed. John’s looked at each other with amazement! Another person brought a friend to Jesus before who was filled with evil spirits and Jesus, He laid His hand on the friend and the evil spirit was gone! John’s followers again, looked at each and said quietly to one another, “Wow!, This is so much better than just hearing about it!” Another person brought a blind man to Jesus and Jesus touched the blind man’s eyes and then suddenly the blind man was able to see again! Jesus, He healed person after person after person. John’s followers they couldn’t believe what they had seen! Jesus smiled at them and said, “Go and tell what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news.” John’s followers they had such great news and the were so amazed the ran back to John as fast as they could; they didn’t want to waste anytime because they wanted John to hear what they had seen! They got to the jail cell out of breath out of breath from running so fast. And they reported to John what they saw Jesus do. They said to John, “We have never seen anyone like this before, He was truly amazing! He healed the blind, He made the lame walk, He cast out evil spirits. He told us to tell you that, but He never answered our question! Well, John, what does this mean? Is He the One we were waiting for? I thought the Messiah was supposed to come and save us from the Romans. I thought that Messiah was going to come make us, Israel, a great nation again like it was in the time of King David. I thought the Messiah was the One was going to come and judge the evil nations around us! John smiled and said “Yes!, He is the Messiah!” We no longer have to keep looking, because the Messiah has come! He not only opened the sight of the blind, but He opened my eyes, our eyes to see the truth, that He is the Messiah, the time has come! We no longer have to keep looking because we have found Him; He is here!

Application: (Inductive) Christmas time is a busy time of the year with people in work and school. Kids in school and college students are busy with their end of the semester projects, you know those big projects that you have to cram and stay up all night for because you procrastinated. People in the working world are busy finishing their end of the year reports before they can go on vacation with their families. And both kids in school and people in the working world, they want to do well and succeed. Kids in school they want to make straight A’s, people in the working world they want to get that promotion or raise. And when after their hard work they get that report card sent in the mail and see the straight A’s or when at work they get that promotion; they are excited, they are happy! But eventually the happiness of straight A’s fades away as new classes begin in the new quarter. The happiness of the work promotion goes away when the next “big fire” at work is your responsibility to put out. And when the happiness of success fades away people are left saying, “Is this what we were waiting for, or should we keep looking?” During Christmas season people they look forward to spending time, especially extended family. They prepare for family coming into town or they prepare to leave and stay with others. And as they spend time with family doing Christmas activities they truly experience joy. Baking the Christmas cookies with family that brings joy, bundling up to look at different Christmas lights that brings them joy. Putting on the family’s favorite Christmas movie that brings them joy. But eventually the holiday ends, people have to go back to their home towns, family members have to back to work or school and they joy that they felt during the Christmas season has gone. And in the emptiness of their joy they are left saying, “Is that what we were waiting for all year, or should we keep looking for another?” Or this is beginning to be the time of year when people take more and more vacation! They are able to escape from work or school for a few days here and few days there. And while on vacation, they are away from their work email, they are away from the stress of work! They say that sitting on the beach or hiking in the mountains on vacation brings them a peace! But eventually the vacation and mountain top experience have to come to an end. Eventually you need to return from vacation. And after a while that peace that you once had fades, the peace that you felt as you were away on vacation, it’s gone as you return to normal life. In the emptiness of your peace, you ask, “Is this what I was waiting for, or should I keep looking for another?” Do we live as people who have seen or heard that the Messiah has come or are we still searching for another? In this Christmas season are we focused on the fact that Jesus the Messiah has come or are we still searching?

It’s so easy to get distracted by the things of this world, to try and find happiness, lasting joy, and peace in things like time with family, or our jobs or school. Those things fail us, the happiness, joy, or peace that the world gives it never lasts. We live in a broken world filled with sin, we live in a world filled with pain and sadness, we live in a world where peace and joy fade. But God in His great love for you, saw a world that was blind looking for fulfillment in all the wrong places; He saw us in our emptiness searching. And in response He sent His Son Jesus, the Messiah. Jesus through His Words and Actions revealed God’s Love to You. He came and opened your eyes so that you may see, He came and opened your ears so that you may hear. Jesus came and raised you from spiritual death into life with Him. Jesus came as the Messiah to reveal the truth that You are loved by God, that You are saved by God through Christ’s work on the cross. That you are forgiven! Because Jesus, the true Messiah, has come we no longer need to keep looking! We just like John the Baptist can cry, “He is here, we have found Him! We don’t have to keep looking!” In Christ God’s promises are fulfilled - His promises for You. And in Jesus and through Jesus you have been given a peace with God that never fades, and a joy in salvation that won’t ever go away because You have been saved and been restored to God by the Messiah.

And as people who know the truth of the Messiah, of Jesus, we no longer have go only looking for happiness in success of work; we no longer have to go looking for lasting joy in family time of our Christmas celebration; we no longer have to look for everlasting peace in time on vacation, because the Messiah has come; He is here! And He has revealed to you the truth that you are loved by God; that you have everlasting peace and joy in Him!

Now may the grace of God, which surpasses all understanding, may it guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.