Luke 7
A prophet with faltering faith
John the Baptist has a moment of faltering faith. He sent his
disciples to ask Jesus directly—are you the one we should be looking
for, of is there another? I am encouraged by his honesty to Jesus
here.
John was called by God to baptize, saying “Repent of your sins
because the Kingdom is near.” Thousands were coming to him to humble
themselves and seek the Lord. His message was, if you humble
yourself, God will exalt you; If you bow your head, God will lift it
up again. But if you hold on in pride to your image or reputation,
you will reap the consequences of it. As Luke’s story unfolds, you
see some who did humble themselves and some who did not.
John himself baptizes and, in a sense, ordains Jesus for his public
ministry. John witnesses the Holy Spirit descend on Jesus and the
Father say, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased.” Why
then would John’s faith waver? Matthew 11 tells us that John was in
prison for preaching against King Herod’s immorality. (Herod was one
who did not humble himself.)
An unexpected kingdom
John was preaching a gospel of repentance because he, along with all
of Israel expected the Kingdom to arrive. Everyone expected a
political movement that would cleanse Israel morally and restore
Israel’s independence, drive out Rome, and restore the glory of
Israel’s golden age under David.
Jesus was preaching a kingdom, but it was a different kind of
kingdom. The kingdom Jesus was preaching is based on humility that
takes hold in our hearts and radiates outward from there. But John
was looking around and seeing the walls of a prison cell. Far from
repenting, the King had him arrested. Rome, it seemed, was only
consolidating power.
How does Jesus Answer?
How does Jesus answer John’s question? Jesus says, “Look at what’s
happening—the blind are receiving sight, lepers are cleansed, the
lame walk, the deaf hear, and the dead are being raised.” Jesus is
referencing the promise of messiah in Isaiah. Jesus gently reminds
John what the messiah’s ministry will look like.
Have you ever experienced a faltering faith? John the Baptist did,
and Jesus says he was an example of the greatest of mankind. When
our faith fails us, we are so quick to look inward, perhaps
examining the fruit in our lives; perhaps looking for some sin to
repent of to get things back on track. Perhaps we look around at our
peers or at our circumstances and get cynical; fooled again, we
might say.
Look at Jesus
We look inward or we look around, but in that moment, here is what
Jesus says to us. He does not condemn you because your faith
falters. He does not shame you for seeing that things are different
from what you might have expected your life to look like. He also
does not appeal to fear, calling you to look for positive fruits in
your life to prove your faith is genuine. No. Jesus gently, kindly
says, “Don’t look there, look at me.” What are the fruits of Jesus’s
ministry? What is the fruit of Jesus’s life, Jesus’s character?
Jesus gently invites us to repent. He does not shame us for feeling
angry, or sad, or afraid. He does not try to prevent us from feeling
these things. He does not shame us for having a shaky faith. He just
invites us to turn our focus from ourselves and onto him.
If we hold on to our pride—if we try to white-knuckle ourselves, and
hold on tight, we will miss the kingdom of God. But if we simply
humble ourselves, admit our frailty, our weakness—yes, even our
sin—then Jesus will lift us right back up again. And even when the
kingdom we receive doesn’t look like wealth and power, it may look
like a powerful Roman centurion (vv. 1-10) who entrusts himself to
the lowly Jewish preacher. It may look like a widow receiving her
son again (vv. 11-17). It may look like a woman with a reputation
being freed from shame (vv. 36-50). And it may look like a prophet
of God getting his faith back.
What would it look like for you if you look at Jesus again today?
