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DID JOHN KNOW OR NOT KNOW?

Weeds! When I prayed for rain to bring an end to our drought, as many of you have, I should have expected them but I failed to factor them into the equation. Nevertheless, they’ve popped up and so I’ve been using part of my time dealing with them one-by-one. It’s been a good time really, for pulling weeds is a spiritual exercise.
The mere fact of their presence is an ugly reminder of the fact that Satan has squatter’s rights and with it he sows sorrow and destruction. Yes, they appear to be benign as they pop out of the soil but as they grow to maturity some of them have thorns and they all inevitably choke out the more desireable plants.
Then too, you never have just one type of weed, one type seems to persuade two or three cousins to pop up. So it is a good time to confess one’s sins. I mean you’re on your knees anyway pulling weeds out of the soil so why not pull a few weeds out of your own life. If you don’t, those weeds in your life will grow up and destroy the fruit of the Spirit.
Drought, rain, blessings, and inevitably weeds. That seems to be the order of things. That was certainly the order of things in John’s life. After a prophetic drought of 400 plus years God gave John the Baptist to the land. Like e-mail in capital letters he thundered across the land and rained down a message of repentance. Many people, as you know, came, confessed their sins, and gladly allowed themselves to be baptized; to be washed clean. They came out of the water with a clear conscience ready to greet the Messiah.
Confession, we say it is good for the soul as if it were a private matter. It is good for the soul, of course, but only in the sense that it prepares the way for a healthy relationship. That’s what John’s prophetic message did for many, it prepared them for the blessing of walking and talking with Christ Jesus in true humility.
Then came the weeds; plural. We should have expected them in John’s life, but John for the most part comes across as bigger than life and so they take us by surprise. We see them near the end of John’s brief ministry in Matthew 11:1 - 3. We read:
After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee. When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”
Are you the expected Messiah? I can’t believe that John even asked this question. He was related to Jesus! He was one of the few people who grew up knowing that Jesus was unlike any other family member. He was one of the few who grew up hearing a firsthand account of the Christmas story. First from his parents, and then at a family gathering, from Joseph and Mary. He was the one who baptized Jesus and then “saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on Jesus.” He was the one who heard a voice of heaven that said, “This is my son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Nevertheless, at this point in his life, John lacked blessed assurance. The weeds of unfulfilled-expectations, uncertainty, and disappointment have popped up. We can, of course, imagine how it happened. For the Jews we’re expecting a conquering king after the likes of David. They were expecting someone who would slay the enemies of Israel, or at least subdue them. After all, John himself thundered in clear Arabic that the wrath of God was coming, indeed it was just around the next corner. He declared:
“ His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Matthew 3:12
Stop and think for a moment. What prompts you and I to be disappointed with life? Unfulfilled expectations! In your mind, you envision the way things should be in your job, your career, your marriage, your church, your Sunday School class, your retirement, your semiretirement, or your friendships and it seldom happens the way you imagine it. Your I-got-this-all-figured-out mentality bumps up against hard-cold reality and the weeds of pessimism start popping up all over the place.
Well, that is what happened with John the Baptist. He ushered in the Messiah and before too long found himself wasting away in a hard-cold prison cell on death row. He didn’t sense any divine deliverance from a wicked world. Instead of God coming in triumphant power, Herod was still on the throne exercising power on behalf of his own self-interest.
To his credit, however, John sent two disciples to Jesus. He wasn’t able to go talk things out with Jesus himself so he did the next best thing. He sent others to do his talking for him.
I must tell you at this point that all too often we tend to stew in our own juices. Instead of bending over and pulling the weeds up we stare at them. We stare and we mumble; we grumble about how bad they are and how someone ought to do something about them. And while we stare and mumble to ourselves, another weed, the weed of anger, pops up and soon takes over the entire yard.
But John the Baptist didn’t let that happen. He sent others to talk to Jesus; as best he could, he bent over and began pulling the weeds in his life. We see Jesus’ reply in vv. 4 - 6 of Matthew 11. We read:
Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive their 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.”
Jesus told the two disciples to go back and tell John what they heard and saw. At first blush, this reply hardly seems adequate. It doesn’t tell John why judgment hasn’t reigned down on the wicked or why the people of Israel haven’t been delivered from the dominating power of Rome.
Instead, Jesus spelled out what he was doing. He told of deeds that may have reminded John of several verses in the book of Isaiah. Verses that spoke of how the coming Messiah would heal the sick, open the eyes of the blind, unstop the ears of the deaf, and give the lame the ability to leap like deer. But more importantly, he gave John something to chew on. He said,
“ Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.”
In other words, “Blessed is the man who does not stumble over the way I do things.” Or, as the New Living Translation puts v. 6:
“ God blesses those who are not offended by me.”
You see, the word translated “fall away” in the NIV and “offended” in the NLT refers to something that ensnares or prevents progress. Jesus was saying to John, and is saying to us, that blessing comes to the one who is not offended, not ensnared, by the uniqueness of Jesus’ way of ministry.
In John’s day, the manner in which the Messiah came was at the very heart of many conversations. Many concluded that despite his controversial style that he was indeed the Messiah. Others, primarily the religious and political power brokers concluded that he was more than simply a nuisance, they concluded that he was dangerous.
Today, the issue of how God does things within this old world stills pops up. For example, this past week or two many have been asking, “What kind of God allows a Tsunami to disrupt and destroy the lives of so many people?” In other words, if he is indeed an all-powerful God that cares about people, he has a strange way of going about his business of running the universe. So many today question His style; and stew in their unfulfilled-expectations, disappointment, and anger.
In David Baldacci’s book WISH YOU WELL a young boy was killed in a bizarre mining accident. At his funeral, or shortly thereafter, a girl, in her grief for her friend, asked an older gentleman, “Why do things like this happen, Cotton?”
The man sighed deeply and said, “I suppose it may be God’s way of telling us to love people while they’re here, because tomorrow they may be gone. I guess that’s a pretty sorry answer, but I’m afraid it’s the only one I’ve got.”
The girl was courageous enough to bring her disappointment out into the open. In essence, she was questioning God’s management style. To his credit, Cotton was wise enough to give her an answer she could live with in the long run.
On another practical note, a few years ago I was listening to Steve Brown on the Key Life radio program. Not wishing others to be offended by anything he might say or do, he informed his listening audience that one of his habitual prayers was as follows:
“ Lord, help others to see how good you are before they see how bad I am.”
Wow! While Jesus’ life and ministry never gave good cause for disappointment our life does give good cause for others to be disappointed. If you have ever known anybody for more then a week then you have seen or sensed things in their life that suggest they aren’t perfect examples of humanity. And if you’ve known them for quite a while they have probably stepped on your toes; more than once!
Jesus didn’t have to pray such a prayer. But you and I will inevitably fall short of someone’s expectations of us. We will inevitably do something that will prompt others to be disappointed in us. If this other person is a nonbeliever, it may very well cause him or her to shy away from the claims of Christ. If this should happen, may God forgive us.
But the fact is, some people are never satisfied. Whatever style is before them they find room for criticism and unbelief. Jesus put it like this in vv. 16 - 19:
“ To what can I compare this generation? They are like children (brats) sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:
“ ‘We played the flute for you,
and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
and you did not mourn.’
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and “sinners.”’ But wisdom is proved right by her actions.
Though some are forever critical, the style of John and Jesus would be shown to be right by the good results. Namely, that many would be ushered into the kingdom.
As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in find clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in king’s palaces. Then 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 the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater then he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. He who has ears, let him hear.

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