March 23
2019
Are you the Coming One?
And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to Jesus, saying, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” When the men had come to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, saying, ‘Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?’ ” And that very hour He cured many of infirmities, afflictions, and evil spirits; and to many blind He gave sight. Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and 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. Luke 7:19-22
“For I say to you, among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist, but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” Luke 7:28
John the Baptist spent his whole life preparing the way for Jesus to come.
At all times in his preaching He pointed away from himself and toward the coming Messiah.
He baptized Jesus and saw the dove descending upon Him.
Several times in the Gospels he identified Jesus as the Lamb of God.
And yet, when John found himself in prison he sent his disciples to Jesus to ask Him if He was the “Coming One”.
It doesn’t matter how clear we are on who Jesus is, there will often come a time in our lives, when the going gets tough, that we may question the Lord and who He is because we don’t understand what we are seeing.
John found himself in this position.
He knew that Jesus was the “Coming One” and yet when Jesus wasn’t doing the things that John expected him to do and when John found himself imprisoned, he asked the question.
What I love about this passage is Jesus’ response.
He didn’t berate John for asking.
As a matter of fact, He goes on to tell the people that there was not a greater prophet born of women, than John.
What Jesus does is refocus John.
He tells the disciples to go and tell John what they 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”.
He doesn’t defend His practice and His plans, rather He reminds John about what John knows of the Messiah.
Jesus will often do that in our lives as well.
Instead of berating us for asking the question, Jesus will refocus us on what we know to be true about Him, rather than defending the path He is taking us on.
Are you in a similar position to John today?
Ask the question and allow Jesus to refocus you!
He is a gracious God.
Question for Discussion Group:
Are you able to be honest with God when you have questions? What has your experience been in taking things to God when you don’t understand the process?