John’s Expectations

Scripture: Luke 7:18-30

Video Link: https://youtu.be/1aD988jAIZY

Structure:

• Introduction
• Luke 7:18-20
• Luke 7:21-23
• Luke 7:24-30
• Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Expectations. They are like balloons; buoyant, fun, uplifting, but also vulnerable. They can be stolen by the wind (and drift across America) or burst on the sharp edges of reality. Even if you manage to keep hold of the balloon of your expectations though, it will inevitably become deflated.   

Expectations are also like bread baking in the oven. It has a pleasant aroma which fills the house, triggering memory and hunger, drawing people together, in anticipation of a good feed. But, like bread, expectations have a tendency to go stale.

Today we conclude our series on John the Baptist by considering John’s expectations. From Luke chapter 7, verse 18, we read…

¹⁸ John’s disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, ¹⁹ he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

²⁰ 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?’”

²¹ At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. ²² 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 leprosyare cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. ²³ Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”

²⁴ 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? ²⁵ 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. ²⁶ But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.  ²⁷ This is the one about whom it is written: “‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ ²⁸ 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.”

²⁹ (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. ³⁰ But the Pharisees and the experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.)

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

Luke 7:18-20

Did you feel the earthquake last Wednesday night? It was about 6.2 or 6.3 in magnitude, located 81 km’s north of Wellington in the Tasman Sea. In Wellington we live with this ambient expectation of an earthquake most of the time. Mindful of the damage caused on the east coast by the recent cyclone, we are thankful the earthquake on the west coast didn’t do any harm.

Expectations are a bit like fault lines. Just as we get an earthquake when two tectonic plates bump up against each other, so too we get a disturbance deep in our soul when our expectations bump up against reality. The stronger the expectation the bigger the magnitude of shock if that expectation is not met.

By the time we get to Luke 7, John the Baptist is in prison. This was hardly unexpected. John was smart enough to realise that if you criticise powerful people (as he had criticised Herod) they are going to make life difficult for you.

For John, the fault line created by unmet expectations did not come from Herod, it came from Jesus. Jesus’ ministry had not unfolded in the way John the Baptist had expected.

When there is a gap between our expectations and the reality we experience, that creates uncertainty. John did not doubt that Jesus was from God but when he heard what Jesus was doing it may have caused him to doubt himself; did I get it right in thinking Jesus is the Messiah? 

You see, John had preached that the Messiah would bring God’s fiery judgement, to destroy the wicked, but Jesus seemed to be doing the opposite. Jesus was actually healing people and bringing God’s mercy. Jesus even helped a Roman centurion, the last person you would expect to benefit from the Messiah’s work.

What’s more, Jesus’ approach was completely different from John’s approach. Yes, they had the same objective; to bring people back to God. But they went about achieving that objective in a totally different way. John abstained from drinking alcohol. He lived in the wilderness and fasted, while Jesus went to parties in town and was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard.

Jesus was not behaving in the way John expected the Messiah to behave. So, John sent two of his own disciples to ask Jesus if he was the one who is to come or should we expect someone else?

Before we consider how Jesus responds to John, let’s pause for a moment to think about what John is doing here.

Sending two disciples was significant. It takes at least two witnesses to agree for the truth to be established. Sending two witnesses was almost like putting Jesus under oath. The question and the answer is important to John.

And it is little wonder. John has given his whole life to one purpose: telling people to repent and be baptised because the Messiah is coming to judge the living and the dead. 

John doesn’t have a wife or any family or even a home to return to. John has put all his eggs in one basket. He has no safety net. He has no back up plan. John needs to know that his life has not been in vain. He needs to know that the message he has poured his heart and soul into is true. That he backed the right horse (or the right Messiah in this case).

We human beings can suffer a great deal if we know why, if we understand the meaning in our sacrifice. Jesus is John’s why. John is not relying on himself. He is looking to Jesus for meaning in his suffering.

At some point in your journey of faith, God will disappoint your expectations. There will come a day (if it hasn’t come already) when it feels like Jesus has pulled the rug out from under your feet. It is never fair. The expectation created by the lovely aroma of freshly baking bread can turn stale overnight.

It happened for Job, when he lost everything. It happened for Jonah when he preached to Nineveh. It happened for Joseph when he was sold into slavery. It happened for Mary & Martha, when Lazarus died. It happened for the disciples when Jesus went to the cross. It happened for the early church who were persecuted for their faith. It’s probably happening right now for believers in the Hawke’s Bay and Syria and Turkey and the Ukraine.  

Disappointment with God can happen when a marriage fails, or when a loved one becomes ill and dies. It can happen when your dreams and goals are turned to ash. It can happen in an instant or over a prolonged period. It can happen once or it can happen multiple times.

Though he slay me, yet I will hope in him. (Job 13:15).

John does not quit God when Jesus upsets John’s expectations. No. John takes his question to Jesus. He enters into a conversation with the Lord. And that is the key.

When God does not meet your expectations, don’t give him the silent treatment. Give him a piece of your mind, in a respectful way. Be honest with him. Tell him what you are thinking and feeling. Ask him what you need to know.

You might not get the answer you want but (if you are listening) God will probably give you some perspective. The important thing is to stay in the conversation with him. Do not close yourself off from God. That would be like holding your breath, it would be madness.     

Okay, so John takes his question to Jesus. He basically asks if Jesus is the Messiah. How then does Jesus respond?

Luke 7:21-23

Expectations can be a bit like movies. When you go to watch a movie you escape reality for a couple of hours. The storyline of the movie normally involves the hero overcoming great odds to achieve their goal and live happily ever after.

Movies tend to create unrealistic expectations because they edit out the boring bits of life and usually have a neat and tidy ending. Then you go back to real life, which is mostly hard work and frustration with no neat and tidy endings, and you can’t wait to escape back to the movies again. 

Jesus doesn’t make a movie. He doesn’t create any false expectations for John or anyone else. Jesus simply states the facts, saying…

The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosyare cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.

These words of Jesus are, in fact, a collage of quotes from the prophet Isaiah. But they are not just random quotes. They are words that Isaiah wrote in relation of the Messiah. John would have known this. It’s like Jesus is saying: ‘I am doing exactly what Isaiah said the Christ would do. You do the math’.

Jesus doesn’t say directly to John, ‘Yes, I am the Messiah. You just have to blindly trust me’. No. Nor does Jesus send John to the movies. Jesus offers John hard evidence from real life and from the Scriptures.

None of this results in a happy ending for John. None of this gets John out of prison. Jesus does not save John from Herod’s executioner. As far as we know, Jesus doesn’t even visit John or send him a care package. John still suffers great injustice at the hand of Herod’s household. This is not a movie. This is real life.

But John can take comfort in the fact that he was right to identify Jesus as God’s Messiah. John does not need to doubt himself, much less Jesus. John’s sacrifice was not in vain. His life had the highest meaning and purpose. Jesus gave John the ‘why’ he needed to deal with his uncertainty and pain.

Some of you may be wondering, if John’s expectations were not quite right about the Messiah, does that mean we can disregard what John said about the coming judgement and the need for repentance?

Well, no. Just because God’s judgement did not come as quickly as John expected doesn’t mean that it’s not coming. There is still going to be a day of judgement at the end of time. And repentance still goes hand in hand with forgiveness.

One of the functions of judgement is to separate the wheat from the chaff, the good from the bad. What we notice when we look at the ministry of Jesus is that he sifted pretty much everyone he met. Jesus did not come to condemn or destroy people. Nevertheless, his very presence divided people.

There is no sitting on the fence with Jesus. You are either for him or against him but, once you encounter Christ, you cannot ignore him. Each of us must decide how we will respond to Jesus. We either accept him as Saviour and Lord or we don’t. Those who receive Jesus, receive God’s mercy. Those who don’t receive Jesus, can expect God’s justice.  

Luke 7:24-30

I have compared expectations to balloons, to fault lines, to the aroma of freshly baked bread and to the movies. We might also think of expectations like the pendulum of a clock. Expectations swing both ways; they can be high or low, positive or negative.

Expectations can also have a hypnotic affect. Stare at them too long and they will put you in a trance, leading you down the path of fantasy and illusion.

Once John’s disciples have left, Jesus begins to speak to the crowd about John. In doing this Jesus is getting the people to consider their own expectations. Jesus does not want the people to fall into a trance or be misled. From verse 24 Jesus says…

“What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? ²⁵ 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. ²⁶ But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.’      

To contrast John with ‘a reed swayed by the wind’ is a poetic way of saying that John was not a voice echoing public opinion. Likewise, to contrast John with a palace official ‘dressed in fine clothes’ is a way of saying that John was not a spokesman for the rich and powerful.

Rather, John was a prophet. He was a spokesman for God and as God’s spokesman he did not compromise his message. He was not interested in scratching the itching ears of his audience by telling people what they wanted to hear. John gave God’s message straight up; no spin, no hidden agenda.  

It seems to me that Jesus is trying to bridge a gap in people’s understanding. He is helping people to make the logical connection. Given that John the Baptist is a prophet from God, it logically follows that to accept John’s message is to agree with God. But to reject John’s message is to call God a liar.

Luke spells out the connection Jesus is wanting people to make in verses 29-30, where he says…

²⁹ (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. ³⁰ But the Pharisees and the experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.)

Once again this goes against the grain of our expectations. We would ordinarily expect the religious leaders to model the right example and accept God’s purpose by repenting and being baptised. But they don’t.

In a bizarre reversal of expectations, the non-religious people (including the really bad people like tax collectors) are able to recognise John as God’s prophet and they flock to him in their thousands.

Jesus and John may have had very different approaches to ministry but they both had the same goal: to reach out to people and bring them closer to God. John used the stick of God’s judgement, while Jesus used the carrot of God’s mercy. Different approaches, same result. People turned to God.  

This is in contrast to the religious leaders who were more aloof and did not help people come to God. Jesus and John did not dance to the religious leaders’ tune and so (like spoilt brats) the religious leaders refused to play with them.

Now, it’s tempting for you (in the congregation) to sit there thinking to yourself, ‘Well, lucky I’m not a religious leader, like our pastor Will. Man is he going to be in trouble when Jesus comes back’. (Maybe, but I hope not.)

Here’s the thing. Being a religious leader is not the problem. Being self-righteous is the problem. Anyone can be self-righteous. You don’t need to be a religious leader for that. So the thing to avoid is self-righteousness.

To be self-righteous is to live as if you don’t need God. A self-righteous person expects to be able to do what is right without God’s help. And if they do make a mistake they think they can make things right without God.

The unfortunate thing about self-righteousness is that it hides in our shadow, where we can’t see it. So when we are being self-righteous we are blind to it. We don’t realise it. It’s like we are in a trance, being misled by the illusion of our own expectations. Pretty much all of us have a bit of religious leader in us.

John’s question of Jesus shows that he was not self-righteous. It takes real humility to acknowledge what you don’t know and to ask for help.

In verse 28 Jesus has this to say about John…

²⁸ 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.”

I’m not sure I fully understand Jesus’ words here. Most of the experts I read on this passage say it has to do with two different epochs of history. John belongs to the old age and Jesus to the new. So maybe it’s like we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us. We stand on John’s shoulders.

Leon Morris puts it this way: the least in the kingdom is greater [than John], not because of any personal qualities he may have, but because he belongs to the time of fulfilment. [1]

The message seems to be: we are lucky to live at a time in history when Jesus has fulfilled the law on our behalf. This means, for example, that we no longer need to keep sacrificing animals or performing other rituals to make ourselves right with God. We can be right with God by accepting Jesus.  

Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we enjoy privileges that people before the time of Christ did not. Of course, with privilege comes responsibility. 

Conclusion:

What are your expectations of Jesus?

Do you expect judgement or mercy when Christ returns?

Do you expect to carry on as you are or do you need to make some changes?  

Do you expect to escape pain and uncertainty in this life? Or do you expect to receive the strength to face whatever the day may bring?

Do you expect Jesus to behave in a certain way or are you prepared to let God be God?

Let us pray…

Heavenly Father, the events of recent times have left us not knowing what to expect. Give us strength and wisdom to follow Jesus through the uncertainty and the pain. May we not become so entranced by our own expectations that we exclude you. Have mercy on us and on this world that you love, we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.   

 Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

• Can you remember a time in your life when your expectations did not meet with the reality of your experience? What happened? How did you feel? What did you learn?

• Why did John ask if Jesus was the Messiah (the one to come)?

• How does Jesus respond to John’s question? Why do you think Jesus responds in this way?

• What should we do when we experience disappointment with God? How can we help others who may be going through similar disappointments?

• Discuss / reflect on the meaning of Jesus’ words in Luke 7:28. What is Jesus saying here? What might this mean for us?

• What are your expectations of Jesus? How might you know if your expectations are fair or accurate? Do your expectations need to change? If so, how? 

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[1] Refer Leon Morris’ commentary on Luke, page 143.