John the Baptist was a courageous
man, undoubtedly one of the most courageous figures in the biblical narrative.
John was the voice in the wilderness who proclaimed the coming of the messiah.
John was the voice in the wilderness who denounced sin and corruption. John was
the voice in the wilderness who called all to repentance—back to truth faith,
back to true obedience to the God of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. As you might imagine, John’s bold proclamation
and uncompromising denunciation got him into some trouble. A target of his
campaign was one of the biggest targets you could think of—King Herod himself,
a man whom John charged with the sin of sexual immorality. John was imprisoned
as a consequence, locked up, and shut away. Now John was brave, he was courageous, but he wasn’t
superman, much less was he divine. He was a prophet, but he was a man, a man
with a heart for God, but still a man. And as a man he would have been afraid,
alone, and doubtful. As he sat in prison John had evidently heard that Jesus
was active, active and drawing attention. John had proclaimed the Messiah’s
coming. Now he questioned, “ was this really the Messiah?” “ Was Jesus the
anointed one?” The promised one who would save Israel and all of humanity?” Was
Jesus really the one or was there a other on its way. Historians tell us that there were around this time many men who claimed to be the Messiah.
There were many who came, and many who dissapiinted. John wondered if Jesus was yet another one of these. He
undoubtedly stood by his proclamation that the Messiah was coming, but was it
jesus? Or was the true Messiah still to come? Was Jesus the real deal or a
pretender? Was Jesus the prophesized one, or a well meaning, but deluded,
impersonator? Was Jesus Christ truly Immanuel “ God With us”, or a hopeful
projection of the imaginations of those around him?
These
would have been the questions which filled John’s heart. So he sent his
disciples to conduct an investigation to see if Jesus was truly the Messiah.
While
we are separated by John’s experience by more than two thousand years, that
question still remains. Was Jesus the Messiah? Some even ask if Jesus really
existed? Did Jesus do what the scriptures record him having done? Was Jesus
truly resurrected? Or is this the product of human imagination? Is Jesus truly
present in the world and in my life, or is this all a made-up story? Is Jesus
really coming again, or should we be investing our hope, and our faith in
something else something different, some new idea.
Many
people in this part of the world have chosen that path. Having been raised in
the church, having professed faith in Jesus they have turned to other sources,
have followed other paths. Secular humanism has emerged as the growing and
dominant religion in North America. Gathering to hear the words of Judeo-Christian scripture is
for many people these days a strange, and archaic practice, best suited to an
earlier, less enlightened age.
Christian
apologetics offers a compelling case for the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy
in Jesus. External historical sources like Josephus, the Jewish historian,
validate that there was in fact a man named Jesus who had a substantial
following. I would encourage you to read Lee Strobel’s work, A Case for Christ.
Strobel was an agnostict who set out to disprove the claims of scripture, and
like CS Lewis, so many years before, ended up converted to Christianity. Strobel,
a man of logic, concluded, that the probability that Jesus was any one other
than the Messiah foretold by Old Testament prophecy was infinitesimally low. In other words, Jesus fulfilled so many
Old Testament prophecy that any reasonable, logical, person could not conclude
that he was any one other than who scripture proclaims him to be. Strobel found the answer to his most
scientific question.
John
the Baptist, sitting in that dark prison cell, asked the same question, but it
wasn’t a scientific one. It was a direct question, a question posed to the man
himself, to Jesus himself: “ Are you the one who is to come, or are we to await
for another?”
This
wasn’t an academic question. John was in prison. He had invested his whole
being in the proclamation of the coming messiah. And now he needed to know,
hungered to know right down to the very depth of his soul “ Was this the one?”
Jesus,
knew the hearts of men, knew what they hungered for in the bellies of their
souls. He knew what John needed to know. John needed to know that the prophecy
had been fulfilled. This knowledge would not be given to him in the form of a
thick binder, an extensive report, detailing the many and various ways which
Jesus had fulfilled the requirements of Messiaship. Jesus passed along one
sentence: “ Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their
sight, the lame walk, the leapers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are
raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.” Jesus referred the disciples of John back to their own
witness. This begs the question: “Couldn’t they have told John themselves? Did
Jesus really have to tell them?”
The
answer to this question is “yes”. Jesus was a healer. This was something John’s
disciples would have seen for themselves. But what they may not have seen,
realized, and appreciated was what this healing meant. It meant the fulfillment
of Isaiah’s prophecy which we have heard today. God’s kingdom was going to be
established. The Messiah had arrived to bring in God’s kingdom of love,
compassion, and healing. John, upon hearing the words of Jesus, would no longer
have had any doubts. He would have known that Jesus was the real deal, that the
Glory of the Lord had taken on flesh.
But
many still ask and question: Is Jesus really
the one? And as was the case with John the Baptist, this isn’t a scientific
question—it’s a question which burns deep within the human heart. Deep within
the human heart there is a hunger for that place of peace, that place of
healing, that place where death and suffering is no longer a reality. How do we know that this comes through
Jesus?
The
answer we are given is the same one that John’s disciple was given: ”Tell what
you have seen and hear”. The healing work of Jesus was not hidden from those
disciples of John then, and the healing work of Jesus is not hidden now, if
only we see it through the eyes of faith. Yes. There is much pain and
difficulty in the world. But there is also much healing, healing which stands
as a testimony to God’s work in the world. And when we experience or see a
healing—and I speak here not necessarily even what we might consider a
miraculous healing—we can draw one
of two conclusions. We can conclude that it was the result of natural
processes, and the skill and ability of a medical practitioner. Or we can say
that there was an intention behind it, something, beyond scientific
understanding. That intention is the intention of the ultimate being. It is a
sign of God for us. It is testimony of Christ’s work in the world. But there is
a deeper level of healing even than
the physical—a kind of healing which escapes scientific explanation and
dismissal. This is spiritual healing—spiritual healing effected by the forgiveness of sin, and the
bestowal of eternal life, and ultimate hope. This kind of spiritual healing is
witnessed to, attested to, by many, many people—even by people who are not
physically healed, even by people whose lives are drawing to a close. I have
witnessed this many times in the course of ministry—that inexplicable peace
which comes at what the world says is the darkest moment. This is the light
which shines in the darkness and cannot be extinguished. Jesus Christ is God
for us—the God who gives, sustains, and restores life, so that life may be had
in abundance. This is God’s will for all people, and not just those who come to
church on Sunday. Wherever there is healing and love, there is Christ—there is
evidence of the presence of God, evidence of God’s loving will for the world. God
has done something for all people, and he has done it through Jesus Christ. This is the good news of the gospel.
This is what we celebrate today.
God
has promised a new reality, the highway which leads to it is the Holy Way. It
may not come tomorrow or the day after, or even in the next few years. But it
is coming. When John the Baptist knew that Jesus was the Messiah, imagine what
he had felt, imagine the comfort he would have received—even as he sat within a
prison cell. He could not change the physical reality, but the spiritual
reality was quite a different matter, because John could rest in the assurance
that what he said meant something. His proclamation meant something. Our
proclamation means something, even at times when we doubt that it is being
heard—heard by a world which is so preoccupied. The Apostle James offers counsel to first century Christians
who were probably assailed with many doubts, and who were anxious to say that
great promised day arrive. Patience, he tells them. The day is coming, the
kingdom will arrive in its fullness. But be patient, just as the prophets were
patient. Just as John was patient. John could be patient because he heard the
good news. You have heard the good news. We as a community can celebrate the
good news, and are called to share
it with the whole world. Now may the peace which surpasses all understanding
guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
