Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text (Matthew 11:2-10):
Tell John what you see and hear: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended at me.
Prayer: Sanctify us in the truth, Lord. Your word is truth. Amen.
Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”
Why do you think John asked this question? Don’t you think that this is strange? When John the Baptist was still in his mother’s womb, he leapt for joy in the presence of the unborn baby Jesus. Surely John knew that Jesus was the one that everyone was waiting for. He spent his life’s work baptising people and pointing people to Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Surely he knew.
So why did he send his disciples to Jesus to ask him his question? “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”
Sometimes, some people have thought that John had no doubts whatsoever about who Jesus was, but he sent his disciples to Jesus for their benefit. To be honest with you, it’s hard to say whether John had any doubts himself or not. But still, why do you think John sent his disciples to ask Jesus these things anyway?
Let me read to you the verse again, and see if you notice something unusual.
Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”
John doesn’t come and ask this question to Jesus himself. But what’s the reason why? Because he’s in prison! What on earth is he doing in prison?
And John’s disciples must have thought – hang on, a minute! We thought you were a great prophet! We thought you were a great man! We believed you when you said that Jesus is the Lamb of God. But how does that work now, if you’re locked up?
So maybe they start thinking, “If John’s not a real prophet, then is Jesus the real Messiah?” And so perhaps John says, “Look… you go and ask him yourself. You go and see what he says about himself.”
And so what does Jesus say?
“Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
Have a look, says Jesus! Look what’s happening! Who else is supposed to be doing these sorts of things?
But what is so significant about these miracles of Jesus that testifies to the fact that he is the Messiah? After all, other people performed great miracles!
But Jesus does a particular type of miracle. He performs miracles of good news, miracles of peace, miracles of comfort! He makes the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers clean, the deaf hear, the dead raised!
Have a think back to Moses – Moses’ miracles were a different type. They were miracles that cause fear, miracles that scare, miracles that frighten. His staff turned into a snake. He sent many plagues.
But whereas Moses sent a plague of darkness, Jesus opened the eyes of the blind. Moses put his hand in his coat and it came out covered in leprosy, but Jesus healed people from leprosy. Moses changed the waters of the Nile into blood, but Jesus turned water into wine!
Moses preached bad news to the proud, he preached words of judgment to the rich. But Jesus preaches good news to the poor, to the humble.
What Jesus does is a different type of miracle! And we really only understand Jesus’ miracles when we look at the miracles of Moses. We realise that they’re not just any type of miracle, they are miracles of good news, miracles of the forgiveness of sins. Moses’ miracles are miracles of law, sin, terror, and judgment.
Now we’ve got to make sure that we don’t get these different type of miracles mixed up. Now the main reason why Moses came was to bring us the Law. From Moses we learn about God’s expectations, and his anger when we don’t do what he expects. And the main reason why Jesus came was the bring us the Gospel. From Jesus we learn about God’s forgiveness, which we have through Jesus’ blood shed for us, and that God is totally pleased with you because of that forgiveness.
From Moses we have the 10 commandments which show us our sin.
From Jesus we have the forgiveness of sins which he won for us.
If we think that from Moses, and from the 10 commandments, we have nothing but pleasure and happiness, we haven’t really got to know Moses yet.
But if we think that from Jesus, we only get sin and judgment, then we haven’t really got to know Jesus yet either.
Now sometimes we know that Jesus is even more harsh than Moses when it comes to rules. We read that Moses says, “You shall not murder”. But Jesus says, “Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer.” Moses says, “You shall not commit adultery.” But Jesus says, “Anyone who lusts after a woman” -- (or in a woman’s case a man) – “has already committed adultery in his heart.”
But Jesus does this to make sure that we don’t escape from Moses. He wants us to make sure that we recognise our need for forgiveness, before he gives it to us. If we don’t need forgiveness, then forgiveness is no use.
St John says in Revelation: “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realising that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked.”
When you realise that you are not rich, that you are needy, then the words of Jesus make sense:
“Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
Now what’s this last bit that Jesus says: “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me”? Why would anyone be offended if Jesus is healing people and making all things new? Why would anyone be offended?
Well, this brings us back to John. Listen to what Jesus says about John today. We read:
As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out in the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, “Behold I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare you way before you.”
Jesus goes on to say:
“Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
But what’s the irony about all this, do you think? Where is John? He’s in prison.
He is a man who is “more than a prophet” and he is in prison. And more than that, we know that later on in history, he will have his head cut off in the most humiliating and silly circumstances: King promises his daughter anything in his kingdom, and she asks for John’s head!
This man who is greater than anyone born of a woman is in prison! He’s locked up! And funny enough, we read that the same thing happens to St Paul and Silas in Philippi.
But also, we read that Jesus says that John is the one about whom it is written, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare the way before Jesus.”
John prepares the way for Jesus, in that he preaches repentance to people and points them to Jesus. He says, “Repent! For the kingdom of heaven is near!”
But when Jesus comes to preach, he also says, “Repent! For the kingdom of heaven is near!” They preach the same thing! (Jesus must have pinched John’s sermon off the internet!) So if John is in prison, if he’s going to die at the hands of king Herod, what will happen to Jesus?
Jesus is preaching the same message! And he also will be locked up, but also beaten, whipped, spat upon, mocked and ridiculed, and killed in the most brutal way imaginable, he is nailed on a cross.
And so no wonder that Jesus says, “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me” because there’s plenty of room for offense! We read in 1 Corinthians 1: “We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and weakness of God is stronger than men.” Blessed is the one who is not offended by Jesus!
But if that’s what happened to John, if that’s what happens to Jesus, what will happen to us?
Who knows? But one thing we do know… In Acts 14, we read that St Paul preached the gospel to a certain city and had made many disciples…strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
Jesus himself says, “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets”. “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.”
Who knows what will happen to you? But more importantly that that, we know that if we are faithful unto death, we will receive the crown of life. We know that he who is in us is greater than he who is in the world. We know that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and has won the victory for us.
And so, we can say with St Paul, “We rejoice in our sufferings”. We can rejoice in the Lord always, because Jesus gave sight to the blind, he made the lame walk, he cleansed the lepers, he opened the ears of the deaf, and he raised the dead, and he preached the good news to the poor.
Rejoice in the Lord always, because he has raised your body from death in holy baptism and given you new life. “Blessed are those who die in the Lord!”
Rejoice in the Lord always, because he has opened your eyes to see wondrous things in his holy precious word. He has made spoken these holy and precious words into your deaf ears.
He has healed you of your diseases, and preached the good news to you, saying, “I forgive you all your sins”, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit in holy baptism”, saying, “Take and eat, this is my body given for you, take and drink, this is my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”
And he says, “blessed is the one who is not offended by me!” Blessed is the one who is not offended to call a bleeding naked man their Lord and God! Blessed is the one who is not offended to call a baby in a manger surrounded by hay and animals their Lord and God! Blessed is the one who is not offended to call the church their home! Blessed it the one who is not offended by Jesus! Rejoice in the Lord, always, and again I will say, Rejoice!
Amen.
Lord God, heavenly Father, we thank you for every good and gracious gift that you sent to us. We thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ, and his miracles of healing. We ask that you would strengthen us in the hope of eternal life, and uphold us through any suffering and hardship that comes our way, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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