We have been moving through the season of Epiphany for the last 6 weeks. Over these weeks, we have learned more about who Jesus is and what kind of Messiah he is, just as his first followers quickly learned about who Jesus was and what kind of messiah he was. We have focused on passages that include the occasion when Jesus surprised his hometown crowd when he revealed himself as the Messiah, called unexpected people to be his disciples, communicated to the pious Pharisees that it was most important to live God’s love commandments than it was to perfectly follow the rules, and that Jesus came to heal broken people, no matter what their backgrounds were.
Despite all of the teachings and miracles Jesus said and did, there were people who were still unsure of who Jesus was – they weren’t sure he was the Messiah sent by God or if he was a prophet. Questions about Jesus’ identity came from surprising places. Listen to how Jesus answered when people asked him who he was as we read from the Gospel of Luke, chapters 18 through 35:
Scripture Luke 7:18-35
John’s disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them,
he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’”
At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind.
So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.
Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”
After John’s messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind?
If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury are in palaces.
But 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, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
(All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus’ words, acknowledged that God’s way was right, because they had been baptized by John.
But the Pharisees and the experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.)
Jesus went on to say, “To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like?
They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other:
“‘We played the pipe for you,
and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
and you did not cry.’
For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’
The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’
But wisdom is proved right by all her children.”
Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Prayer….
Message More than a Prophet
The Jewish people waited a long time for Jesus. Year after year, century after century, they waited for God to come to earth to set things right. Whenever tragic things happened to the people, they anticipated the Messiah would appear – droughts, battles, military conquests, exile – every time their people and nations experienced a major crisis, they thought the Messiah would come to earth, straighten everything out and restore the people and their nations to harmony.
Over the years, faithful Jewish people listened to prophets' predictions and preachings about the Messiah – and by the time the first century rolled around and the people lived under Roman occupation, many people thought the messiah would be like a priest and a military commander and an emperor all rolled into one.
In the third decade of the first century, John the Baptist preached that the Messiah was going to arrive soon….very soon…in the next few days or weeks. Everyone needed to get their “houses in order” so that they could respond to the Messiah demands on their lives.
When Jesus went to John and asked to be baptised, John felt that his prophecies, and the prophecies of many earlier prophets, were fulfilled. The Christ, the Messiah, was here.
But, when Jesus started his work, he didn’t do all of the things John the Baptist and many others supposed the Messiah would do – Jesus didn’t raise up an Army. Jesus didn’t go to the Temple and move into the quarters of the Head Priest and take over. Jesus didn’t hop into a boat and cross the Mediterranean Sea and depose Caesar Tiberius in Rome.
Instead, very early in his ministry days, Jesus went to Nazareth and said who he was and what his plans were. He announced: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
John probably heard about Jesus’ words …and Jesus’ miraculous healings… and Jesus raising the dead. But, John may have thought those were preliminary activities, and that Jesus was still going to morph into a soldier-priest-emperor.
So, John sent a few of his disciples to ask Jesus if he was the messiah, or if he was just another prophet…were they still waiting for the soldier-priest-emperor messiah or was Jesus it?
Jesus spoke to John’s disciples and pointed out how he had been spending his time….Jesus told them: “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.” Jesus was doing the work God promised the messiah would do….Jesus performed miracles only the messiah can do. But Jesus wasn’t also acting as a warrior, priest and emperor. Their idea about what the messiah would be like was different from the reality of who Jesus was.
Even though we live many centuries after Jesus walked the earth, people still are unsure about who Jesus was and how God calls us to behave. If you had 10 Christians in a room and asked them to describe what it means to be a faithful Christian, we would probably get 14 responses. If you asked them to describe Jesus, the 10 Christians would come up with 10 very different descriptions.
Jesus came to earth as a middle-Eastern Jewish man in the 1st century. He had brown skin. He was probably shorter than all of the men in this room. He was poor. He wasn’t regal or beautiful or muscle bound – he didn’t look like Superman or the Incredible Hulk. Nothing about how Jesus looked communicated that he was the Messiah of God.
Jesus’ words and actions were what is important. He had power and authority, and yet he spent his time and his energy serving others. Jesus focused on helping people with the most need. He relieved suffering by healed people who were possessed by spirits, suffering from illnesses and injuries, and even restoring the dead to life. Jesus led by example – he came to earth to encourage and teach us to treat each other with love and compassion.
As followers of Jesus, we are called to live God’s mandate to love God and each other as much as we love ourselves. We may not all have the power to heal illnesses or injuries with a word or a gesture. But, we can bring God’s love, forgiveness and reconciliation to each other and to the people in our lives and communities. We can work together to bring justice to oppressive and damaging systems in our world.
Jesus may have not been the Messiah people expected to come, but he was the messiah we all needed. He radiated love and compassion, and we are called to do the same….to work to alleviate suffering and work to change the world into a more faithful reflection of the Kingdom of God.
May we do so with love guiding our hearts and actions today and all days. Amen.
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