Who Are They?

Series on Luke

III The Initiation

D The Activities of His Ministry Revealing That the Kingdom Is:

3 Forerunner’s Vindication

Text: 7:18-35

Introduction

This passage is a series of questions. The first question is a sincere inquiry about Jesus resulting from confusion. The other questions are also sincere, but they are rhetorical questions that Jesus asks and then answers Himself. All of these questions reveal things about the mood and understanding of the people around Jesus. The passage ends with a proverbial observation by Jesus in verse 35, But wisdom is proved right by all her children. This observation has powerful implications for the Church and for us. The people who love God and observe, accept and honor His wisdom in the Word continue to do what God requires even when it is misunderstood and misinterpreted by others. If we are doing what the Lord has commanded, then we should not adapt our methods to the opinions of the world. The right method is always Jesus’ method which is practicing mercy and preaching the good tidings of the kingdom. In its history the Church has resorted to compulsion, but nowadays the resort is to being user friendly. We live in an advertising culture that bombards people with the message that they should have what they want. Thus, in many instances, the church is grown by giving people what they want. However, what they want is often neither what God has commanded, or what is, in the long run, good for them. Jesus is saying that the wise ones do it God’s way, but the foolish follow their own devices. So the answers to the questions here reveal who Jesus is, who John the Baptist was, and who the Jewish people were.

I Who is Jesus?

We read of John the Baptist’s inquiry in verses 18-23, John’s disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?’” At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.” Now John was confused because he was in prison at this time. Like most pious Israelites he expected the Messiah to speedily destroy the powers of darkness, judge the unrighteous, and restore Israel. The Messiah had not delivered him from the wicked ruler or from his prison. He was a fallible man and he fell prey to the misconceptions current in his time. The Old Testament had indeed prophesied a suffering servant and one who would not break a bruised reed, or quench a smoking flax, but it was difficult for the people of the Jews to adjust to this idea.Jesus reply is essentially tantamount to saying to John, “What do the Scriptures say?” The words are from Isaiah 35:5 and 6 and Isaiah 61:1 where the time of Messiah is pictured, Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy…The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. The hope of Israel has come in fulfillment of the Scripture, and Jesus assures John that He is the One.

II Who is John?

Next we read in verses 24-28, After John’s messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the desert 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.’ I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” John’s messengers are gone and now Jesus is addressing a mixed crowd of the general populace and the religious leaders. Jesus identifies John as a true prophet and as the one who was prophesied in Malachi 4:5 and 6 as the forerunner of the Messiah,“See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.” He is not Elijah but comes in the spirit of Elijah who was recognized as the head and founder of the prophetic order. Like all true prophets John took little comfort for himself; he employed the roughest humblest dress and diet, and he was unshakeable in his devotion to the cause of God and the truth. John’s greatness is that as the last prophet of the Old Testament he introduced the Messiah, the Christ, who was the fulfillment of all that had gone before. However, the most enigmatic thing Jesus says about John is that, as great as he was, the least in the kingdom of God is greater. Jesus is talking about the new stage of God’s kingdom that John and He are declaring. Everyone in that new stage, the church of Christ, is greater because they live in the age of fulfillment rather than the age of preparation. Many people think because a person is found in the New Testament section of their Bible that that person is a New Testament character. This is not true. All of the people in the gospels start out as Old Testament figures. The actual new covenant does not commence until the fulfillment is completed in Jesus death, resurrection and ascension, followed by Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit. People who identify the baptism of John with Christian baptism are way off the mark. John’s baptism was preparatory and was an Old Testament lustration. This fact is made clear in the book of Acts when John’s baptism is regarded as insufficient and people insist on Christian baptism as Paul did in Acts 19:1-5, While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied. Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.

III Who are the Jewish people?

Jesus must now address another question and he must do so to a divided audience in verses 29-34, (All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus’ words, acknowledged that God’s way was right, because they had been baptized by John. But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.) “To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other: ”‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.’ For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and “sinners.”’ The dividing line between those who responded positively and those who rejected the message is precisely delineated by Luke as the baptism of John. Those who believed had recognized their lost condition and repented at the preaching of John. But the religious leaders had felt it was beneath them and they rejected John’s baptism as unnecessary. After all, they were clean, undefiled, and righteous according to the strict precepts they followed. Why should they be washed? Washing was for sinners and not for them. Thus, when Jesus describes His generation, He is speaking to the religious leaders who were so influential that they controlled society. They had the kind of control that we see today in Islamic cultures where the Imams follow Shariah law, and bring the people into bondage. Jesus compares them to silly children who are never satisfied, unless someone does exactly what they say. Their minds are closed to everything else. The asceticism of John did not satisfy them and the familiarity of Jesus with Publicans and sinners offended them. It was impossible to do anything right in their sight unless it supported their corrupt rules and regulations. In the end it was the domineering and autocratic governance of the Scribes and Pharisees that brought about Jesus’ crucifixion. Many Jewish believers went on to be part of the Church, but the majority followed their corrupt leaders. Ultimately this led to the destruction of the nation in 70 AD, and the threat of the prophecy of Malachi was fulfilled, “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.”