Double Amongst the Giants

In the narration of Jesus’s birth establishment of His first coming, there is one pivotal character in His story. He had a cousin, Elizabeth’s son, who was the prelude to Jesus’s ministry. That is he prepared the way. The man is none other than John the Baptist.

After giving them a little instructions, Jesus sent out the 12 disciples as we talked about last week, and He Himself went into other cities and shared His gospel. In the meantime John had been captured and sent to jail. A little back story is in order. John was put in prison because he spoke the truth about the current state of mankind’s affairs, and about the impending approach of the kingdom of God. He offended the wrong crowd, and he wound up in jail. Who he offended was Herodious which was the sister in law of the king. Why he offended her was because she was married to her uncle, but she left her other uncle to be with him. So not only incest, but infidelity and divorce as well. The royalty did not like the ridicule so they had him thrown in jail.

While he was in jail he was getting reports that this Jesus who he proclaimed to be the son of God was walking around treating people with kindness and mercy. He was going around being seemingly soft while John was portraying Him to be. John said that He would cause people to burn for their sins, but He was giving the sinners their eyesight back. He was the one who was to rule with an iron fist, but He was seeing to it that the sinful could walk again. He was in the area of the people of filth, Galilee, instead of being in the city of the Kings, Jerusalem.

John was a little confused. He had this idea of what Jesus would be like while He was down here. He had a personal vision of what Jesus would do. He thought that Jesus would fit into the mold that John had conjured up in his mind, but Jesus was not. Jesus spent His time ministering to people around Him who society would deem unworthy. Jesus spent His time healing the sinful rather than condemning them. This through John off. Now it did not cause him to lose faith in Jesus, it simply took him aback. It cause John to question in a stance of reevaluating his thoughts on how Jesus was running His earthly ministry. This is why John sent a messenger to enquire about Jesus’s title and position. He questioned whether he was wrong in his assumptions or whether he misjudged, but he never doubted Jesus.

Jesus responded by sending John evidence of His validity through power. He took Johns disciples and He showed them miracles. He gave the blind their eyesight, He gave the cripple their ability to walk again, He caused the sick to be made well, He allowed the deaf to hear again, He gave those who were dead their life back, but most importantly He spread the good news of the gospel. Just as John had done.

Jesus then validates and lifts John up as a prophet. Not only was he a prophet, but Jesus said that He was the greatest prophet of all having been i the presence of Christ Himself. But then Jesus said something that was a little off the wall. He said the least in the kingdom was greater than John here on earth. He was not belittling John, but rather explaining that the least of all beings in heaven is experiencing things far greater than the mightiest of all men here on earth.

You may face trials, you may see your fair share of troubles and then some, but there will come a day when it all ends. There will come a day when you are no longer here facing the struggles, and the anxieties, and the fears. There will come a day when you are eternally in the presence of the King, and that will be far greater than any good thing we could experience down here, and it will make all the tough times worth faithfully pushing through.

John had haters, and so did Jesus. They both had many, and so will you. You will if you do it right. You may even have haters in the church because they are jealous of how well you serve God, but you will have opposition. Jesus said that they opposed both Him and John left and right wherever they went, but that would not stop their message nor would it stop the kingdom. Jesus said that John did not come living a normal lifestyle. He lived in the wilderness and ate what he could catch, he wore the skins of those animals, and he preached a good, solid, gospel. Jesus came and He ate with the people, partied with the people, wore clothing made of fabric from the markets, He lived like a normal human and He preached the best gospel there ever was. The Pharisees hated them both. The Pharisees started rumor, and they attacked both men for issues that they did not possess. They attack John because he did not engage with society like everyone else, and they attacked Jesus because He hung out with the less desirable crowds from time to time.

This goes to show you that no matter what you do, you cannot please everyone. There will always be people that are out there to tear you down, and they eagerly wait to see you fail. Jesus had enemy’s around ever corner, even ones that wanted Him dead, but He pressed on anyways. He knew the importance of why He came.

You are going to have people in your life that are going to oppose you. You certainly will when you decided that you are going to live for the Lord. This should only encourage you. It should not stop your witness. It should only give you more energy as you lean into the Lord who gives you strength. Think of it all. Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior, God of all creation was bullied, He was mocked, He had many rumors started about Him, one of His close friends stabbed Him in the back, His other close friends deserted Him in His greatest time of need,

God is full of mercy.

His plan does not always look the way we intend.