S. Advent 3.09 “Not What I Was Expecting…” Luke 7:18-28

It wasn’t what John the Baptizer was expecting. Not what he’d been looking for from the Messiah. John sent a couple of his disciples to ask Jesus “what’s up with that?”. He had to send disciples to ask because he happened to be in prison himself at the time (Luke 3:20). Going to prison was an occupational hazard for a prophet. Most of the good ones did some jail time at one time another.

This was because their calling required them to speak to the kings and rulers of the people the word of God and this word is often inimical to kings and rulers. It shows them to be selfish, corrupt and at odds with God’s Word and ways. So, few kings liked to hear the prophets. And when they got tired of hearing them, since the prophets would not shut up, they threw them in prison and/or killed them.

John had been telling Herod that it wasn’t right for him to have married his brother Philip’s wife. That it was wrong, in fact, and God would judge him harshly for this. He also pointed out many other offenses and sins of Herod. Herod threw John in prison to shut him up and finally did kill him. This sort of thing happened to prophets repeatedly. John knew it was a common prophetic work related injury, but pressed on with his calling anyway.

But here he is sitting in prison, knowing the executioner’s sword can’t be far off, and he’s wondering: why am I here? Now it isn’t the usual narcissism that makes him ask this question. This is related to Jesus and His word. John knows Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God who was and is to come as Lord and King. He saw the dove, heard the voice from heaven when he baptized Jesus not too long before this. John pointed the crowds to Jesus and they left him and followed Jesus; and John was happy about this, saying the bride belongs with the bridegroom, the Jesus must increase, and he must decrease.

But if you turn back a couple chapters in Luke’s Gospel, to Luke 4 and the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, His first sermon at the synagogue in Nazareth (the church’s regular divine service is Jesus’ preferred place to operate) Jesus read Isaiah 61 (He seems comfortable with the traditional lectionary too) where it says: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has appointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed…” then Jesus said this Scripture is fulfilled in Him, in their hearing.

So John is in prison, a captive! and where is the Christ who promises to set captives free? Jesus has hailed John as the forerunner Isaiah also promised, the great Elijah type prophet. John is in prison for carrying out this calling, yet that doesn’t seem to bother Jesus. If He came to set the captives free, John is basically saying: “I know one captive You could free to kick off the whole “setting free the captives” thing—uh, namely me! I could help You with Your ministry, this baptizing and teaching thing. I’m a trained, professional, an experienced baptizer, and I preach a mean sermon. You could use me, Lord, really I could be helpful, if You’d set me free from this cell—which Isaiah says is Your whole thing anyway…”

John is too respectful of Christ to come out and say this directly. So he sends his disciples with a more cryptic message (but one which Jesus will immediately understand) “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” Which is to say: the Messiah frees the captives, are You going to do this, or should I look for someone else to help? It’s a way of trying to force Jesus’ hand a bit, remind Him of His job description…

So, Jesus takes the disciples of John around with Him for a morning. He heals the sick, casts out the evil spirits, gives sight to the blind and says “Go tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the Gospel preached to them, oh, and blessed is he who is not offended because of Me!

And that is an impressive list from Isaiah 35. But no mention is made of the text John is really interested in, which Jesus Himself brought up at the start of His public ministry, Isaiah 61 and the freeing of the captives. When is that going to happen? Huh? I wouldn’t be offended at You Lord, if You’d just do for me what Your word declares You do, namely set this captive free!

Maybe you have felt the same way? Maybe you have been held captive by something: sickness, illness, job loss, poverty, bad grades, hostility from friends, bleak prospects, and you are waiting on Christ to set you free, and nothing happens, nothing changes? Maybe you feel like Theresa of Avila, when her cart was stuck in the frozen mud, on some pilgrimage, and she cried to God: “If this is how You treat Your friends, no wonder You have so few of them!”

What’s interesting is how Jesus speaks of this to the crowds. He doesn’t give John any long lectures about perseverance or how suffering is good for you, really. He gives John a beatitude that those who are not offended at the Messiah’s cryptic ways are blessed indeed. Encouragement to continue with Him in faith.

But then He turns to the crowd, and instead of warning them to be stronger in faith than John, to be less self-interested and more Christ-centered, He praises John to the heavens. He knows the crowd loves to see one of the prophets, one of the great theologians, trapped in his own words. And Jesus snaps at them, wondering what they expected to see in John: a reed shaken by the wind? (Which is to say the reason John is in prison is because he was the unshaken sort of reed). Did they expect to see a man living in luxury? Those who criticize the powers that be will live in poverty and contempt, just like John.

Did they expect to see a prophet? Well that’s just what they got with John, a prophet and more—the forerunner of the Christ, the greatest of men born of women, though, Jesus adds with what I imagine a wink and smile: “he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he…”

And in that last, cryptic, little wry remark is the answer to John’s question. John has shown the greatest courage and honor as a prophet. But for all his greatness as a man among men, the least in Christ’s kingdom is greater still. John’s courage and honor would indeed make him indispensable to an earthly king. But Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world.

Christ’s kingdom does not come by human intentionality, working, striving, and honor. It comes purely as gift, Christ’s own handout to the useless and dispensable. It comes by Gospel and Sacrament to and through faith alone. When we think God needs us and our works, well, then we’ve parted ways with Him. When we imagine that our bold witness and example is necessary to advance the Kingdom and make it come, we’ve turned away from the Master…

But, when we embrace our dispensability, then we are right where Christ wants us—open handed, empty hearted, ready to be filled, by Jesus alone, with the forgiveness, grace, and mercy that truly makes great, that lasts forever. In the sheer gratuitousness of John’s life, he found his freedom, his release, Christ’s everlasting life, bliss, and Peace that surpasses understanding, guarding heart and mind through faith alone in Christ Jesus alone. Amen.

  

Pastor Kevin Martin