Blessed Is the One . . . Luke 7:18-23

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Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’” In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. And he answered them, “Go and tell John 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 preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” Luke 7:18-23

Intro: The way Luke introduces John the Baptist has a familiar ring:
“The word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness” (Lk. 3:2)

For example: “The word of the LORD that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri” or “The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel”
– Luke is obviously forging a link between John and previous prophets
• Jesus will soon say, John was a prophet “and more than a prophet” (v. 26)
◦ John also appears as an eccentric character
• we usually focus on John’s wardrobe and diet
◦ but his message was edgy too – “fire and brimstone”
“He said to the crowds . . . ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? . . . . His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’ So with many other exhortations he preached the good news to the people.” (Lk. 3:17-18)
◦ was wrath and unquenchable fire John’s version of “good news”?!
– well, not really–his central message was that people needed to prepare for Jesus’ arrival
• I’m going to concentrate on John this morning,
◦ but first I want to say something about Jesus
◦ because each scene in this chapter is extraordinary
• Luke keeps Jesus at the heart of the chapter,
◦ even though every story is about someone else

In the breadth of fifty verses, we cross paths with:

• A Roman centurion whose faith greatly impressed Jesus
• A widow whose loss of her only son aroused Jesus’ empathy
• John, whose question revealed uncertainty about Jesus,
  but also inspired Jesus to explain John to the crowd
• A Pharisee, who invited Jesus into his home, but failed to show him customary curtisies
• A woman, “a sinner” Luke says, who found forgiveness in Jesus

So the chapter begins with a Gentile centurion with strong faith in Jesus
– and ends with a Pharisee who cannot believe Jesus is even a prophet
• in between the two we meet, a crowd who witnessed Jesus’ miracle and said,
“A great prophet has risen among us!”
• then immediately after that, the disciples of John arrive
◦ bringing a question from one who was “more than a prophet”
– it feels to me that Luke has built a lot of tension into this chapter
• and the most intense suspense comes with John’s question
• that passage spoke to me this week – and this is why I’m sharing it with you

John is certainly not an ordinary figure

The first mystery is how did he wind up in the wilderness?
– there is a famous site in Israel where Christians are baptized
• it is in the north at the Sea of Galilee and head waters of the Jordan River
◦ tourists are sometimes told Jesus was baptized there
◦ he wasn’t – Matthew says that John baptized in the “wilderness of Judea”
• the Gospel of John tells us, that the Baptist was baptizing “in Bethany across the Jordan” (Jn. 1:28)
◦ that is located today in the nation of Jordan, near the Dead Sea
◦ but my concern isn’t that we know the exact spot
– the unanswered question is, How did John end up out there?
• he was born into a priestly family in one of the towns of Judah
◦ but when he makes his first appearance,
◦ it’s in the wilderness, where he had been living
• even if his clothes and rations were sparse and simple,
◦ how had he survived in that desert region?
◦ for years I imagined he had lived a solitary existence

There was a settlement not far from where John baptized
– it was much like the monasteries that would dot desert regions 200 hundred years later
• it is believed that the men who lived there were Essenes
◦ we don’t read about them in the New Testament,
◦ but they were one of the three major religious divisions in Judah:
Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes
• the Essenes were the most rigid and devout of the three
◦ they didn’t marry, they were devoted to scripture, and they would not touch money
◦ it was this community at Qumran who wrote and preserved the Dead Sea Scrolls
(which have provided a major contribution to studies of the Hebrew Scriptures)
– among dwellings and other structures,
• excavations at Qumran have unearthed a communal eating area
◦ a large pool that stored water for ritual cleansing (“baptisms”)
• it’s possible that John visited that community or even lived among them for a time
(although they would have never encouraged or sponsored baptizing anyone outside their community)
◦ but this is part of the mystery of John
◦ another part is of his mystery is how so many people had heard of him and visited him in the desert

In this episode, Jesus asked the crowd what drew them to John?
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.’” (vv. 24-27)
– John wasn’t a weak person, a reed swaying with every gentle breeze
• and he wasn’t a pampered groupie
• he lived an independent and uncompromised life
◦ Jesus showed deep respect for John
◦ but now John was slipping

I imagine that I hear frustration in John’s question

Maybe even an implied insult, as if he were asking Jesus,
“Are You the Messiah or not? If You are, then get on with it!”
– John’s question suggests he was having doubts about Jesus
• as strong as he was, how could this happen?
• I’ll explain how
– if you’ve been in a dark place long enough, or pain long enough, or severe poverty long enough,
• you start to question God – you question his will for you; you question your status with him,
• you start to lose faith
William Barclay wrote, “John, the child of the desert and of wide-open spaces, was confined in a dungeon cell in the castle of Machaerus. . . . . Shut in his cell, choked by the narrow walls, John asked this question because his cruel captivity had put tremors in his heart.”

John was slipping
– he needed confirmation that he had not made a mistake regarding Jesus
• this can happen to anyone
◦ we find a classic example in Psalm 73 (see the entire psalm!)
“But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
For I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked” (vv. 2-3)
– I’ve told you before that I lived with depression for most my life
• after I began to practice contemplative prayer, the depression lifted
◦ for roughly ten years I felt freed from that misery
◦ but gradually I became less diligent with my daily practice
• now–well,
I wake up twice every morning
◦ first, I wake up in a terribly dark mood – it’s oppressive, hopeless, miserable
◦ then, after my meds and during my time in the Bible and prayer,
I wake up a second time in a better mood, ready for what’s next
I’ve recently returned to being more faithful and diligent in my daily practice

John did the right thing; he took his question to Jesus

Even if his reason for asking was asking his frustration and doubt
– Jesus sent his answer to John, in the eye-witness account of the messengers
• but the Lord tagged that message with a crucial insight
“And blessed is the one who is not offended by me”
◦ Jesus is saying,
“If I don’t meet your expectations, if I walk my own path, if you’re way is hard and you think I should change it, don’t be offended and give up on Me.”
– William Barclay says, “this is not the answer John expected”
• John wanted to see might, Jesus showed mercy
• John expected fire, Jesus brought healing

Conclusion: We have entered a dark period of history

Many people are struggling financially – barely getting by
– many of us feel caught in a riptide with complete loss of control
• we’re like John in his prison cell, uncertain and doubtful
◦ we need to take our doubtful questions to Jesus

Peter was once in a prison cell, assuming he was doomed
“And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell” (Acts 12:7)
Wonderful!
We need that slender ray of hope to beam into our dark pit
“For it is you who light my lamp;
the LORD my God lightens my darkness” (Ps. 18:28)

For me, returning to contemplative is like calling a time-out
We need to have those moments when we call time-out
Coaches will call for a time-out to get their team to settle down
when they’ve started to play emotionally rather than strategically
A time-out can be used to slow or stop momentum of the game,
if the other team has scored too many points in a row
A time-out can be used to change a strategy midway through game,
or to give the team a rest, or a chance to refocus

During our time-out
listening prayer awakens our awareness of God in the here and now
The light shines in our darkness
and Jesus has answered our question