“Greater than expected” (Matthew 11:2-11)

Matthew 11:2-11

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Pastor Tom Johnson, December 15, 2019

“John the Baptist in Prison” by Josef Anton Hafner (1750)

There is some debate on why John the Baptist asks if his cousin Jesus is the one to come or if they should expect another. Some say John had his doubts. That does not bother me since he was human like the rest of us. Others say he did not ask for himself—that John did not doubt who Jesus was but wanted his disciples to hear for themselves how Jesus would assure people that he was the true Messiah.

These are difficult times. John is in prison. He knows that he could be executed by Herod at any time. He is being toyed with and only kept alive for his entertainment value. Everyone knows John’s days may soon be over. Jesus is also under constant threat of arrest himself. The religious authority are constantly challenging Jesus, trying to find fault in him, and bringing charges against him to get him into trouble.

Neither John nor Jesus make a spectacle of their greatness. They both humble themselves. John, a human, took on camel flesh for clothing. Jesus, the eternal Son of God, took on human flesh to clothe himself in humanity. John pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John said, “Jesus must increase but I, John, must decrease.” It was John’s mission to prepare the world to better understand and receive Messiah. That’s why Jesus says John is the greatest of prophets and even more than a prophet. He had the great responsibility of helping people recognize Jesus as the Savior of the World. And he was faithful—even to his imprisonment and death.

Jesus says, “Blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” Blessed are those who do not despise Jesus because of his perfect humanity and great humility. We are truly blessed when we believe that God did the great work of sending his eternal Son be born, live, teach, heal, suffer, die, and rise again for us. Both John the Baptist and Jesus the Messiah came as servants to people, servants to God, and servants to help bring God’s reign from heaven to earth. They built the Kingdom of God on earth from the bottom up.

It makes me think about driving into the city in the early morning hours. Sometimes the great skyscrapers of our skyline are clothed in fog and clouds. Sometimes you can only see the base of those tall structures. It’s that way sometimes when you hike great mountains. You begin under the cover of darkness, fog, and cloud. You trust the forecast that the fog will lift and the clouds will melt away in the sun to reveal their majesty. We know that the greatness of buildings and mountains are sometimes obscured and hidden. We trust that even though we have not yet set foot at the top yet or can see their height, they are greater than what we can now observe.

This is the humility and patience of Advent, the coming of Jesus. “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor the heart imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Jesus is not offended by our questions. Are you the real deal? Are you who you say you are? Are you really the Word made flesh? He is patient toward us. He came to encourage us. He came to build us up in him. He came to extend his reign into our lives, minds, and hearts.

So we should not take offense at Jesus or God. His ways are not our ways. God says through the prophet Isaiah, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways…For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa 55:8,9). God’s thoughts and ways are so high that they are sometimes hidden by the fogginess of our minds and our clouded thinking. It only makes sense that God’s greatness is not yet fully known or realized by us mere mortals. Barbara Brown Taylor says, “Blessed are those who do not let the Messiah they are expecting blind them to the Messiah who is standing right in front of them.” The greatness of Christ came wrapped in the flesh of a human baby, he comes to us wrapped in the Word of Scripture and the Gospel, he comes to us wrapped in bread and wine of Holy Communion. One day he will come wrapped in his full glory.

The truly mind-blowing thing that Jesus reveals to us is when he says, “…the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than [John the Baptist].” That is you and me! We are those who have been Baptized into an even greater name—the Triune God. 1 John 3:2 says it this way, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we will be like him because we shall see him as he is.”

One day—and the day will come quickly—Jesus will come in his full glory. The heavens will tear apart and the King of Glory will come to make all things new—including you and me. We will be transformed into his likeness. He will not clothe us in camel skin or in greater humanity; we will be clothed in blinding light and the righteousness of Christ. We will realize how great he has re-created us to be in the Kingdom. We will celebrate an eternal wedding feast in the great company of Jesus the Groom and we will be the beautiful Bride. And so we pray, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”