Luke 7:18-35

Transcript

00:00:00:46 – 00:00:29:15
Clint Loveall
Everybody. Thanks for closing out the week with us as we continue through the gospel of Luke here. We’re in the seventh chapter, kind of a little bit larger chunk of material today, Some interplay between John the Baptist, who we’ve mentioned has been really important in the front end of Luke. We haven’t seen him for a while, but makes a pretty significant appearance today, although in some ways you might say this is the handoff like runners in a relay.

00:00:29:33 – 00:00:54:45
Clint Loveall
This is kind of the in some ways the passing of the baton in terms of John and Jesus a story. I’ll read through this quickly and then we’ll come back and and see what we find in it. The disciples of John reported all these things to him. So John summoned two of the disciples and they sent them to He sent them to the Lord and said, Are you the one who is to come or are we to wait for another?

00:00:55:01 – 00:01:14:15
Clint Loveall
When the men had come to him, they said, John the Baptist has sent us to ask, Are you the one who is to come or should we wait for another? Jesus had just then cured many people of diseases, plagues and evil spirits and had given sight to those who were blind. And he said, Go tell John what you’ve seen and what you’ve heard.

00:01:14:36 – 00:01:36:18
Clint Loveall
The blind receive their sight, the flame, walk the lepers or cleanse the deaf, hear the dead, or raise the poor, have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me. When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John. Why don’t we? Let’s pull that, Michael, and let’s talk about this from the end a little bit.

00:01:36:34 – 00:02:02:06
Clint Loveall
So here you have this this message, and we get to investigate Jesus through the story of John the Baptist. John’s hearing these reports. He wants a word from Jesus. Maybe there’s familiarity, you know, in Luke sort of opens the door that these two probably knew each other through the family connections. And they go with this very blunt question Are you the one to come or is there another?

00:02:02:06 – 00:02:24:59
Clint Loveall
Should we keep waiting? We’ve waited and waited. Is it time? Is it you or do we continue to wait? And Jesus answer is very fascinating, Michael, because in some ways it’s a non-answer except to a prophet. When when Jesus gives this answer to John, he essentially says, Well, you tell him the evidence and let him make his mark.

00:02:25:01 – 00:02:45:52
Clint Loveall
Let him see what’s playing. We’ve been in the last couple of stories talking about if it bears fruit, it’s a good tree. If it doesn’t bear good fruit, it isn’t a good tree. And Jesus appeals to his fruit. Go tell him the blind are seeing the lamb or walking lepers or clans. The deaf are hearing the poor have good news brought to them again.

00:02:45:52 – 00:03:07:57
Clint Loveall
Remember, Luke loves things that help the poor. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me. And it’s an interesting answer in that it really puts it doesn’t solve the decision making for John, but it presents him with a reason to a framework. Maybe to understand what Jesus is saying to him.

00:03:08:22 – 00:03:34:26
Michael Gewecke
I think you’re exactly right to point out the fact that here Jesus is actually living out the teaching that He’s already made to his disciples. We sometimes make the mistake of thinking that Scripture is just about teaching us how we are called to be disciples, what we should do and shouldn’t do. But the gospel writers do take time and invest real effort in showing us that Jesus walked the talk, that he lived what he called his disciples to do.

00:03:34:26 – 00:04:02:11
Michael Gewecke
And so here, when it comes time to be interrogated by the disciples of John, in the positive sense, who are you? Jesus doesn’t need to offer some kind of esoteric knowledge. He doesn’t need to offer some long rant or teaching that only John would understand. This isn’t a kind of who’s who’s club. This is Jesus simply responding and saying, Well, this is what is the fruit of my ministry, and that that’s enough.

00:04:02:11 – 00:04:25:55
Michael Gewecke
And I think if you know the story of the Old Testament prophets, you know that the thing that the prophets most often are accusing the people of is straying is their actions. It’s the things that they’re doing that they that the people of God are leaving the path that God has set out for them. And here Jesus is living the definition of the path of God.

00:04:25:55 – 00:04:51:25
Michael Gewecke
As the Son of God, He is showing what God’s work in the world would look like. And so therefore, when a prophet is digging into that, doing some investigative research to find out who is this man, Jesus can be known because Jesus is seen by the fruit of his work, the divinity, which Luke is trying to teach us as we go throughout this story can be seen in the practicality of the life that Jesus lives.

00:04:51:27 – 00:05:18:37
Clint Loveall
One of the wonderful tenets of the Gospel is that Jesus is not proven by theological arguments and doctrinal statements. Jesus is proven by his actions and his life and so this was his wonderful response. Are you the one? Well, go tell him what you see and he’ll know. He’ll know the answer to the question when he understands what’s happening around me, that John Jesus trusts John to figure that out.

00:05:18:37 – 00:05:40:31
Clint Loveall
And then Jesus goes on to say some very wonderful things about John. So verse 24, when John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak about John to the crowds. What did you go on in the wilderness to look at a reed shaken by the wind? When did you go out? What did you go out to see someone dressed in soft robes.

00:05:41:07 – 00:06:05:04
Clint Loveall
Look, those who put on fine clothing and live in luxury in royal palaces. What then? Did you go to see a prophet? Yes, I tell you more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it’s written. See, I’m sending my messenger ahead of you who will prepare the way before you. I’m telling you, among those born of women, no one is greater than John.

00:06:05:43 – 00:06:35:47
Clint Loveall
Yet the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than He and all the people who did this, including the tax collectors, acknowledge the justice of God because they had been baptized with John’s baptism. But by refusing to be baptized by him, the Pharisees and lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves. So again, we stop here. So, John, now that John has been brought up in front of the crowds, Jesus speaks to John’s role and he says, Look, you didn’t go to see John.

00:06:35:49 – 00:07:02:54
Clint Loveall
John’s not a soft man. John’s not that easy. John doesn’t have the life of luxury. You went to see a prophet. And more than a prophet, this is the prophet, the one who is paving the way for the Messiah, though he doesn’t use that word. And I tell you, no one’s greater than John, because John points to the one who is bringing in the kingdom, which is why the least in the kingdom is greater than he.

00:07:02:54 – 00:07:40:46
Clint Loveall
Because John is a forerunner, not a recipient. John announces the coming of the Messiah. But there are those who will be in the presence of the Messiah and they are truly blessed. And so in speaking, Luke adds a sort of parenthetical word here that the tax collectors I’m sorry that the lawyers, the legal experts, the religious experts that in their refusal to heed John’s word, they also find themselves judged and that they are rejecting God’s purposes.

00:07:41:09 – 00:08:12:00
Clint Loveall
And so very flatteringly Jesus equates the message of God with the message of the kingdom. The the message of John with the message of the Christ. And and we see this in other gospels as well. Michael. It’s a moment of celebration for who John is, but also this this sort of I mentioned earlier the kind of a passing of the baton.

00:08:12:21 – 00:08:38:25
Clint Loveall
Yes, John is great, but John is the beginning of the good news, not the end of it. And the news gets better because John announced that it was coming. I’m the one who brings it with me. And I think if you understand that you read this section as both a celebration of who John is, but ultimately, as all things in the Gospel are, a greater celebration of who Jesus is.

00:08:38:27 – 00:09:28:24
Michael Gewecke
There’s also really interesting note here versus 29 through 30, because we sometimes miss this, but there were competing ideas of baptism and what that baptism represented in some of that first century. So this idea that John has this baptism, we know from other ancient writings that there were other groups within Judaism also doing baptism kinds of things. And so here the fact that the Pharisees and the lawyers are rejecting John’s baptism may not be that they’re rejecting baptism writ large, that they’re rejecting John’s proclaiming of the Son of God that they’re rejecting John’s voice and John being the prophet that Jesus is living here or lifting up only serves to show another way in which

00:09:28:24 – 00:09:51:09
Michael Gewecke
the Pharisees, teachers of the law, these lawyers, that they’ve missed the point again over and over and over again, these people who should have been the best trained and best able to understand who Jesus was, they failed to understand him. And importantly, baptism is not just an idea. It’s not a theological proposition that you accept. It’s not a thing that you say, and then it’s done.

00:09:51:19 – 00:10:24:39
Michael Gewecke
Baptism is a physical action. It is a physical display of faith. And so when these leaders reject it, they’re not just rejecting the idea of repentance, they’re rejecting the the physical act of turning of repenting, of finding a place of humility, and from that place moving forward into God’s grace and new life. It’s a way of portraying that these individuals do not want to be washed and made clean, whether they think they need to be or not in a different way.

00:10:24:39 – 00:10:51:19
Michael Gewecke
It doesn’t really matter that at the end of the day, they’ve not seen Jesus for who he is. And John in that way is offering people that opening word of you do have sin, you do have things you need cleansed from and Jesus will be the ultimate resolution of that sin. And so Luke is both making a baton passing type story, as in the relationship between John and Jesus.

00:10:51:19 – 00:11:11:07
Michael Gewecke
But I think theologically he’s also showing us how some of that old guard are going to be unwilling to go with Jesus into the New Kingdom, whereas those who go into the wilderness looking for the prophet, seeking to listen, those are the people primed and ready for this new canyon that Jesus is going to fulfill and bring fully to bear.

00:11:11:27 – 00:11:46:33
Clint Loveall
I think that’s I think that’s helpful, Michael. I think that sets the stage for the end of this, which is a kind of judgment, a word of judgment upon these people who refuse to be baptized. You know, Luke tells them calls them the Pharisees and the lawyers, which is a religious term in this instance, not attorneys in general, legal experts, religious law experts, probably like the Pharisees and Jesus here gives a criticism of them.

00:11:46:33 – 00:12:09:00
Clint Loveall
And the criticism is very interesting. So let me read this to you. To what then, would I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They’re like children sitting in the marketplace calling to one another. We played the flute for you and you did not dance. We wailed and you did not weep for John the Baptist is come eating no bread and drinking no wine.

00:12:09:00 – 00:12:52:19
Clint Loveall
And you say he has a demon. The son of man has come eating and drinking and you say, Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all of her children. So if this does if this sounds confusing, this is probably one of those Bible passages that sounds outdated. But if you if you stop and think this through, what’s the criticism here that those who are rejecting Jesus and John will neither take the solemn path of repentance, or will they take the celebrated path of of new life, of kingdom?

00:12:52:51 – 00:13:20:16
Clint Loveall
They don’t dance and they don’t mourn. They don’t they reject John because he’s he he’s too rigid and he is too strict. They reject Jesus because he isn’t that they’re neither to use the language we see later in the Bible in the Book of Revelation, they’re neither hot or cold that they’re they’re stuck in the middle, that they they miss truth on both sides.

00:13:20:16 – 00:13:41:34
Clint Loveall
They missed the truth of what John has said and done. And they are missing the truth of what Jesus is saying, done and saying and doing. And then we get this last word here. Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children, which kind of brings us back to the, you know, a tree by its fruit. And we see Jesus here.

00:13:41:34 – 00:14:11:13
Clint Loveall
We see Luke re-emphasizing a theme that Jesus is really in some ways set up throughout this whole entire chapter. Luke has done a nice job of using Jesus words and stories to kind of subtly replay that theme for us. And He ends this part of the the passage with those words Wisdom is vindicated by her children. In other words, you know, wisdom by its actions, you know, wisdom by what it does and what it produces.

00:14:11:13 – 00:14:17:58
Clint Loveall
And the same is true about righteousness and the same is true about the kingdom of God. And there are people who are missing it.

00:14:18:34 – 00:14:50:51
Michael Gewecke
You know, I think it’s really well said, and I think I’m going to take this in a more just practical kind of direction. And if you look here at the end versus 33 through 35, I would just draw your attention to this idea that one of Jesus’s major critiques is there will not be evidence for you to believe because the evidence of John, who’s come with a very strong spiritual practice and a very deep call to repentance, you reject and say he’s demonic.

00:14:51:07 – 00:15:12:25
Michael Gewecke
And Jesus says, Well, I come celebrating the new kingdom, restoring life are bringing people who have been thrown out and outcast in society and giving them new way. You find in me a person. The text literally says here, a drunk or a glutton. The idea that someone would love you die, that Jesus. I think probably blows our mind.

00:15:12:25 – 00:15:39:16
Michael Gewecke
But his point being you, there isn’t evidence you’ll accept that on both sides. There is merit to see in the lives of others what this wisdom is, but you have no intention of seeing it. And that just very practically we should all. I think, take some moments to reflect upon. Is there any evidence for us that we might be willing to see or to hear?

00:15:39:28 – 00:15:58:35
Michael Gewecke
Because I think we’ve all known people who it doesn’t matter if it’s sunny outside or if it’s gloomy outside, it doesn’t matter if today started well or not. We are we’re sort of a slave to our habits or we’re a slave to the way that we think. We’re not interested in learning or growing or changing or being shaped.

00:15:58:35 – 00:16:31:04
Michael Gewecke
And, you know, I don’t think that that’s Luke’s lesson intended by the inclusion of this text. But I do think as Jesus is making the case, I’m being rejected by people who are intractable, they’re unwilling to change. I do think it causes us maybe at our best to ask some questions about, you know, are we locked down our feet buried in concrete, or are we able and willing and humble enough to allow Jesus Christ the savior to change us, to renew our hearts, to be baptized people?

00:16:31:21 – 00:16:35:22
Michael Gewecke
And that is a really helpful check here. And I think at some stages of life.

00:16:35:40 – 00:16:57:12
Clint Loveall
I at some point in my childhood, I remember my grandmother saying about friend or family member. I don’t remember who it was that she would complain if her ice cream was cold. And and the idea the idea was there are people who just won’t be happy that they don’t take the path of John. They don’t take the path of Jesus.

00:16:57:12 – 00:17:22:17
Clint Loveall
They criticize both past and they stand in the middle going nowhere, criticizing both of these men, the greatest prophet and the Messiah, as it turns out in the story. And and so convinced are they that they understand the truth, that they can’t see the obvious truth writ large in front of them, and compare that to John’s disciples, who Jesus says, Hey, here’s the evidence.

00:17:22:35 – 00:17:45:43
Clint Loveall
The blind are seeing the lamb or walking the the things of the kingdom are happening. And that alone is enough to know what’s happening that enough. That alone is enough to answer your question. And and then there are these people who miss it. They don’t see it because they’re blinded by their own pride, by their own stubbornness, by their own self righteousness.

00:17:46:01 – 00:18:15:45
Clint Loveall
And, you know, if we could jump outside the text for a moment that there is a certain caution in that, because that’s a temptation we all face to dig in to our own position, to dig into our own assumptions, our own agendas, our own prejudices, and to say, I’m not know, it’s not that I won’t be swayed. And there are moments in life where not being swayed is probably a positive thing, but there are others where it’s deeply dangerous.

00:18:16:10 – 00:18:28:40
Clint Loveall
And here those who can’t see what’s plain in front of them are missing the work of God. They’re literally missing the kingdom. And worse than that, they’re criticizing it.

00:18:29:47 – 00:18:54:52
Michael Gewecke
Imagine that for just a moment, that that’s a place to to to take our leave at the end of this week of study. The idea of encountering Jesus and not only looking at him and saying, I’m not convinced, but saying you are a glutton and a drunkard. That is to a person of faith, a person who’s been living as a disciple sometimes for our entire life.

00:18:55:13 – 00:19:32:02
Michael Gewecke
That can be an impossible thing to try to get our minds around. And yet some of the best trained academic theologians of Jesus’s day looked at Jesus and not only saw someone that they disagreed with, they saw someone who they considered to be a rank sinner. And there’s something deeply moving in a spirituality that admits that Jesus lives at the boundary of our assumptions, that the things that the experiences we’ve had in life that have taught us this is what a good person is or this is what a good person should do.

00:19:32:54 – 00:19:57:36
Michael Gewecke
Christians should not be rejecting those. There’s wisdom in them. There’s there’s discernment in knowing some of that. But there’s also a kind of wisdom in the humility that says, but God can surprise me and a constant spirit, openness to that. Being surprised, I think, is an essential part of the Christian walk of the Christian way and in what should be our goal in temperament.

00:19:58:03 – 00:20:35:25
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I think maybe even Michael confession that aside from grace I could be there I is the idea that the idea that Jesus could show up and instead of celebrating, we might criticize because he went to the wrong place or he talked to the wrong people, or he celebrated the wrong ideas, and and that if Jesus didn’t fit our mold, rather than see the obvious truth of the kingdom in front of us, we would be blinded by our own small, stubborn picture of it.

00:20:35:47 – 00:21:17:27
Clint Loveall
And it is, I think, deeply humbling that the people who missed Jesus by the most were all religious people. They were all people waiting for the Messiah. They were all people trying to do the right thing. They weren’t rampant sinners. They they were people who believed they were trying to be godly. And somehow in that pursuit, their very the very place they got, which was a place of sort of self-righteousness or reliance on the wrong things, led them to miss the obvious truth in front of them.

00:21:17:27 – 00:21:39:37
Clint Loveall
And that’s I think if you confessed that that could happen to you. It’s terrifying. I mean, it’s it’s deeply humbling. The the it was church people who didn’t get Jesus. And that’s that’s something we should all keep in mind.

00:21:40:40 – 00:22:03:09
Michael Gewecke
It’s your word and I think that if you continue with us in this study of Luke, you’re going to see how that is maybe on one movement of it troubling. And then further movements. It’s liberating and good news because at the end of the day, it’s not our work, but Jesus is work. And that’s what Luke is setting out to tell us about, is who Jesus is and what that work means.

00:22:03:09 – 00:22:19:44
Michael Gewecke
I certainly hope that you’ve been encouraged and challenged here today. We look forward to continuing that study with you next week. If you’ve missed this or any other study, feel free to find that the YouTube channel. We’d love for you to subscribe and follow along with us as we go together. I hope you have a blessed weekend and we will see you next week.

00:22:19:44 – 00:22:20:33
Clint Loveall
Thanks for listening.