Grace to you and peace from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
The Holy Gospel is written in the 11th Chapter of the Gospel
according to St Matthew: Verses: 2 – 11:
2 Now when John
heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3 and
said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” 4 And
Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you
hear and see: 5 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.
6 And blessed is the one who
is not offended by me.”
7 As they went
away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed
shaken by the wind? 8 What
then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who
wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. 9 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell
you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is he of whom it is written,
“ ‘Behold,
I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way before you.’
11 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.
Did you hear what Jesus had to say about John?
“Truly, I say to you, among those
born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist”. You heard today’s Gospel. That is what Jesus had to say about
John. No one is greater. You heard it yourself, straight from the
mouth of Jesus.
What a reference! John is the
greatest!! We have read this and yet we
have to ask – What is the greatest man that ever lived doing in a dungeon on
death row? Literally, he was in a stinking rat hole.
Today’s reading doesn’t tell us why John was in prison, but the facts
are that John was in prison because he stood by his Christian principles and spoke
the truth. You see, Herod Antipas the
son of Herod the Great had stolen the wife of his brother, Philip. This was a clear case of adultery. John the Baptist fearlessly and faithfully
condemned Herod for this adultery. So, Herod
arrested John.
We know that John was already a prophet in his mother’s womb as he leapt
for joy when Mary approached bearing Jesus in her womb. John wandered the
wilderness proclaiming Jesus in preparation for His coming. John had baptised
thousands for repentance in anticipation of the coming Messiah. He had done everything he was supposed to do
and yet, he ended up in a stinking dungeon on death row. You can’t blame him for looking back over his
ministry and wondering if it was all worth it. You really can’t blame John for
having his doubts. He had done what he
was supposed to do.
You know, there are quite a few who struggle with the idea that John had
doubts; it’s a prickly theological issue! John was the last of the Old
Testament prophets. John preached with
power. John baptised the Lord and heard
the voice from heaven and saw the Spirit descend as a dove. Surely someone who had all these experiences
wouldn’t crack under pressure. The truth
is, that for us Christians, there is never a time when faith is very far from
the edge of unbelief. Satan never leaves
us Christians alone, but each day he works harder to take us away from
Christ. John was no exception; Jesus did
say John was the greatest human that
ever lived, and just like all humans when times are hard and challenges seem to
overwhelm us we tend to weaken and question our beliefs; our very faith!!
Just like Job in the Old Testament, we are forced to ask ourselves if
God really cares for us. Perhaps we go to the extreme and question whether God really
exists. John’s question was a little different. He sent his disciples to ask
whether Jesus was the Christ: “Are you
the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” John, who had pointed to Jesus as the
Messiah, was actually considering that he may have made a
misidentification. If Jesus was not the
Christ predicted by the prophets, then John’s ministry was a total waste.
When John’s disciples came to Jesus, He answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see.” Go and tell John … Jesus
understood John’s doubts. He understood
that John needed assurance. Jesus
appointed John’s disciples to be apostles … sent ones who are specifically sent
to bring their witness to John. Jesus
invited John’s disciples to witness His work and then take the proclamation of
His work back to John.
Here is a very basic truth. When
we have doubts, Jesus says, “Hear what I have done.” He provides us with His written Word in the
Holy Bible; He sends people to proclaim that Word; He instituted the Holy
Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist
- All this He has done so that we can hear about His promises; His
deeds; His plan of salvation and grace. He sends the Holy Spirit to bear us up
and strengthen us as we travel through this sinful world … especially as we
travel through those darker times of doubt.
Jesus told John’s disciples to proclaim to John what they had witnessed: The blind receive their sight; the lame walk;
lepers are cleansed; the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up. You see to John ‘The Prophet’, these
signs are the fulfilment of the prophecies that reach all the way back to
Isaiah, as we heard in the OT reading today. This proclamation clearly
identifies Jesus as the promised Messiah.
These visible miracles proclaimed to John by his disciples are
credentials that validate Jesus’ authority to perform the most important
miracle of all. As Jesus Himself once
said when He healed a paralytic, [Matthew
9:6] “But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to
forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go
home.”
Jesus has the authority to forgive sins.
This miracle of forgiveness is more important than all the other
miracles combined. Way back at the
beginning mankind fell into sin; only true forgiveness of sins can deliver us
from our sinful condition!
When there is forgiveness, then God is comfort and assurance. When there is forgiveness, God’s holiness is
for us. When there is forgiveness, God’s
knowledge serves us. When there is
forgiveness, God’s power protects us.
With forgiveness, God is the ultimate comfort. He is the ultimate re-assurance.
Forgiveness does not come cheap. To
receive forgiveness we must satisfy God’s justice and God’s justice requires
the punishment of sin. That is exactly
what Jesus did. Jesus took our sin into
Himself. Then, when God punished our
sin, that punishment fell on Jesus and not on us. When Jesus hung on the cross, He took our
place as the butt of God’s just punishment of sin. This is nothing other than God’s perfect love
enduring God’s perfect justice for us.
This is Jesus earning forgiveness for us.
Jesus put the finishing touches on the cure for our doubt a few days
after He died. His friends placed His
dead body in the tomb, but it did not stay there. Instead, Jesus transformed His mortal body
into immortality and rose from the dead.
His resurrection is the ultimate sign that Jesus will do exactly what He
has promised to do. He will return and
raise us all to live with Him forever.
Like us, John did not see Jesus do any miracles, but he heard the
proclamation of Jesus from his disciples.
They proclaimed the physical healing miracles of Jesus as His
credentials. Then they proclaimed the
forgiveness of sins to John and the Holy Spirit removed his doubts. Faith does not feed on miracles. Many of Jesus’ opponents saw His miracles and
refused to believe. Faith feeds on the
Gospel … the proclamation that Jesus forgives sins.
We all have our doubts from time to
time. The resurrection is there for us when we have those doubts.
The witness of those who were with Jesus after His death gives us historical
evidence that Jesus lives. We can live in the certainty that Jesus is our
Saviour.
For that reason, we who live between
the first Advent and the last Advent can look forward to the day when Jesus
comes to judge the living and the dead. For on that day we shall stand
clothed in the righteousness of Christ and we shall live with Christ for eternity.
This is the encouragement, comfort, and assurance that will, one day, overcome
all our doubts. Amen
The love and peace of our Great
Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds
in Christ Jesus. Amen
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