In today’s gospel reading from
Matthew, John the Baptists asks a question that many people have asked of Jesus
– “are you he who is to come or shall we look for another” and this morning I’d
like to look at Jesus’ answer to this question and see what we can learn from
it.
So poor old John the Baptist has been
locked up in prison by Herod and he finds himself cut off from the world
outside. He can’t go and see what Jesus is saying and doing himself and so he
is reliant on what others tell him.
And no doubt he hears conflicting
reports. Some say Jesus is doing wonderful things but others say no – he’s a
fraud and he’s undermining the laws of Moses.
And as John listens to these
conflicting reports doubts enter his mind – and these doubts spread through his
mind like yeast through dough – and despite all he knows about Jesus – he
wonders if perhaps he got it wrong and there is a different Messiah still to be
revealed.
So John sends his disciples to ask
Jesus a straight forward question – are you the Messiah or should we be looking
for someone else?
And Jesus answers John in an
interesting way. He doesn’t just say ‘yes I am’ – he points John towards his
works and the fruit he is bearing.
Jesus said that we could recognise
whether people were genuinely Christian by their works – by the fruit they bear
– and he applies this teaching to himself.
And the point for us to grasp here is
that we can recognise who Jesus is from his words and actions. Jesus revealed
who he was – by what he said and did.
And Jesus’ words and actions point
towards him being the Messiah – God made flesh – the King of heaven.
So Jesus summarises what he was doing
for John. I mean who else ever restored sight to blind people? And not just
physical sight but spiritual sight as well.
Who else ever made lame people walk
again? And not just physically lame people – but people who were struggling to
walk in life.
Who else ever healed people
completely from leprosy? If you’ve seen pictures of leprosy its a disgusting
disease and parts of people’s bodies rot away and fall off.
But Jesus gave these people new flesh
and bones and he restored their skin. He made them clean and new, and of course
that’s what he does to us when we put our faith in him. He makes us spiritually
clean and new.
Who else ever restored hearing to the
deaf – and again not just physical hearing – but the ability to hear God?
And who else ever bought the dead
back to life – and not just the physically dead but the spiritually dead as
well?
And yet many people hear of what
Jesus did and remain completely blase and unconcerned about it. ‘Yeah that’s
cool but its no big deal.’
But these actions are shouting at us
– to believe in him.
Many people today a bit like John,
are living in prisons of darkness – spiritual darkness. They are groping around
for a meaning to their lives and wondering if there really is a God.
And some perhaps are asking - like
John – ‘is Jesus the answer – is he the one I should be looking for’?
Well the answer is yes – Jesus is the
one you are looking for. He is the answer for all your needs and his identity
is waiting for you to discover in the pages of the gospels.
The gosples testify about Jesus. They
record for us what he said and what he did.
And as we read them they point us
towards Jesus’ true identity. Indeed John says of his gospel “these things are
written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and
that by believing you might have life in his name.”
Like John the Baptist when he was in
prison, we can’t go and listen to and watch Jesus for ourselves - but we can
study his life and claims and miracles and then make our own judgement.
And hopefully if we do this we will
come to see that Jesus really was who he claimed to be - the Messiah – the son
of God – and the King of heaven.
I think the other thing that we need
to understand from this passage, is that the things Jesus said and did were all
expressions of his kingdom.
Jesus came to establish his kingdom
on earth. He came to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth.
The things he did weren’t just random
acts of kindness – they expressed his rule and reign and the type of king he
is.
People were healed because Jesus’
kingship was brought to bear on their situation.
We pray in the Lord’s prayer “thy
kingdom come and thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Well in heaven there is no sickness
or blindness or deafness or death. So Jesus exercised his power and authority
in order to bring his good and perfect will to bear over people’s lives and to
undo the works of the devil.
As John says in his first letter –
“the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”
And Jesus said “the devil comes to
steal kill and destroy but I have come that you may have life – life in all its
fullness.”
The devil wants to steal our health
our hope and our faith. He wants us to remain spiritually blind and cut off
from God.
But Jesus wants to restore these
things to us – because health and hope and faith are all aspects of the kingdom
he came to establish.
Mots of all Jesus wants us to accept
him as our heavenly king. John tells us in his gospel “the work of God is this:
to believe in the one he has sent.”
The reason Jesus wants us to believe
in him – to believe that he really is Lord and King – is that this is the first
step towards him establishing his kingdom in our lives.
All the time we resist his kingship –
we resist everything good that he wants to give us and do in us – and this
breaks his heart.
He sees what a mess we get ourselves
into and he longs for us to acknowledge our need of him and humbly bow before
him and invite him to be our Lord and king.
Jesus establishes his kingdom on
earth in people’s hearts and lives. He does it soul by soul and silently.
As we bow to his Lordship and invite him
to be our king – he comes to live within us by his spirit – and the kingdom of
heaven is planted within us like a seed.
We are instanlty transferred out of
Satan’s dominion – into God’s kingdom.
As Paul tells us in his letter to the
Colossains, the moment we repent and invite Jesus to be our Lord and King - God
rescues us from the dominion of darkness and brings us into the kingdom of the
Son he loves.
Satan’s dominion over us is instantly
broken and we become Children of God. And then God can start his work of healing
and restoring us and training us for the life of heaven that awaits us.
I like the analogy of our lives being
like a garden with a fence round it and a gate.
As Jesus looks over the fence at our
lives, he can see all the weeds that are growing and how overgrown everything
has become – and he longs for us just to open the gate of the garden – and
invite him to help us turn our gardens – our lives - into something beautiful
and fruitful.
And he knows precisely how to do it –
because he understand us and our situation perfectly.
Of course this won’t necessarily
happen overnight and we’ll find that certain weeds can have a habit of popping
up again and again – but as we submit to Jesus’ guidance and plan for our lives
– he will start to bring order out of chaos – and beauty and fruitfulness –
where there were thistles and brambles.
Hopefully when others peek over the
fence and see our gardens – they will want to know who our gardener is and we
can give then Jesus’ number.
Its really not clever to keep Jesus
shut out of our lives because when he comes to live in our hearts in the person
of the Holy Spirit - he brings light and love and truth and healing and hope
and forgiveness – everything we are crying out for and desperately need.
So, as Jesus answers John the
Baptist’s question we get a glimpse of the kingdom of heaven breaking through
into this world – like sunlight breaking through clouds – and shining down on
the earth.
Of course we don’t see the kingdom of
heaven perfectly established on the earth and this is why not everyone who
prays is healed – and why sometimes darkness can seem to hold sway for a while.
Paul says at the moment we see only a
reflection as in a mirror; but one day we will see shall see face to face.
Although the kingdom of heaven
doesn’t break through perfectly on earth – one day in heaven it will – and everything
will be perfect and whole and restored – as God designed it in the beginning.
And as we accept Jesus as Lord and
his kingdom is planted in us – our main purpose in life becomes to help others
receive his light and his life.
Paul in his letter to the Philippians
describes Christians as shining like stars in this dark world.
Like Jesus - our words and actions –
our works, should help others to see something of the light and life of Christ and
point them towards Jesus.
I’d like to close my talk today with
a time of prayer to give some of you the opportunity to invite Jesus into your
life. I know I do this fairly regularly but if it gives just one person the
opportunity to enter the kingdom of heaven - as far as I’m concerned - its
worth it.
So lets pray – and just repeat the
words I say silently in your heart to God.
Lord Jesus thank you for your great
love for me.
Thank you for dying for me on the
cross because you love me and you wanted to take all my guilt and shame away –
and all my sin – so I can be free.
Lord please forgive me for the
mistakes I’ve made in my life and the people I’ve hurt. Forgive me for the bad
things I’ve said and done.
With your help I want to live a
better life. I want to follow you.
Lord Jesus I want you to be my Lord
and King. Please come into my life and make me whole. Restore me and forgive
me. Fill me with your love and your life. Amen
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