“Who Are You Looking For?”
[Matthew 11:2-11]
December 12, 2010 Second Reformed Church
We are in the season of Advent. The season of Advent is a season – a time – of preparation – of waiting. And if we are waiting – if you and I are looking for someone to come – something to happen – we might well ask, “who are you looking for?”
Advent does not mean a mere four weeks, as we celebrate it before Christmas. Advent is an indeterminate time of waiting. The first Advent lasted about four thousand years. We are in the second Advent – the period of waiting and preparation for Jesus’ Return – and it is two thousand years long, thus far. Are you waiting for someone? Who are you looking for?
John the Baptist was in prison, and he knew that he didn’t have long to live; he knew that he would soon be put to death. John had served the call that God has placed upon him – leading people to a water baptism, preparing them – in the first Advent – for the arrival of Jesus – the Savior. And John announced that Jesus is the long-awaited Savior when He came to John to be baptized.
John had gathered a group of disciples around him as he ministered – calling people to repentance – and preparing them for the soon coming Savior. John had come to know the day he baptized Jesus that Jesus is the Savior. But some of his disciples were not sure. Some people were looking for the Savior to be a political force to overthrow the oppression of Rome – Jesus was certainly not doing that.
John was concerned for his disciples, just as Paul was concerned with the Corinthians. Paul wrote, “I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as pure virgins to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (II Corinthians 11:2-3, ESV). John and Paul had taught their disciples the Truth of the Gospel, and still some were not sure, and they were troubled by that – they were concerned for the eternal state of those who still said they were not sure if Jesus is really the Savior.
So John, being wise and knowing he didn’t have long to live, sent his disciples to Jesus to hear from His own mouth who He is. John told them to go to Jesus and ask Him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” “Go to Jesus and ask Him if He is the Promised Savior. And then ask yourself who you are looking for. Are you looking for the Promised Savior, or are you looking for someone else?”
And we should ask ourselves, as we hear the history of the birth of Jesus in the next few worship services, “Is this who I am looking for?” Because the Jesus that we have in the Scripture is the only Savior that God will send. Is Jesus Who you want? Is Jesus enough for you? We may think God’s Plan would have been better if Jesus did this or that, but, perhaps, our minds are not as great as God’s. Perhaps God’s Plan through Jesus is the best plan. Are you satisfied with Jesus?
Some of us might think those are blasphemous questions, but that is really what John was telling his disciples to do – “Go to Jesus and ask Him straight out if He is the Savior, and, then, ask yourself if you believe in Him.”
So the disciples of John went to Jesus and asked Him if He was the Savior – the Christ – the Messiah – if He was the Long-Awaited One, or if they should look for another. And Jesus told them to go back to John with this message: “The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
Did Jesus answer the question?
Jesus quoted from Isaiah 35 and 61 – chapters that prophecy of the work that the Savior will do – the things that He will cause to occur. God’s Promised Savior will give sight to the blind. He will cause the lame to walk. He will cleanse the lepers. He will give the deaf hearing. He will raise the dead. And He will preach the good news to the poor. That is what Jesus was doing.
What was He saying? “Tell John that I am the fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah. Tell him that I have authority over the body. I have authority over disease. I have authority over life and death. And I preach the Good News – that I am God come to earth in the flesh for the salvation of My people – to all those who recognize that they cannot do anything to help themselves – to all those who recognize their spiritual poverty and their inability to become right with God.”
“And the one who receives My Gospel will be blessed by me, but those who hold my Gospel in contempt will be cast aside.”
Who are you looking for?
John’s disciples turned to go back to John, and Jesus began asking the crowd questions about John: John began his ministry in the wilderness – in the desert, in the dump, in the last place any rational person would want to go. And Jesus asked them, “Did you go out into this barren and dangerous land to see a reed shaken by the wind? Did you go out into the wilderness because you believed that John was a wishy-washy person with no commitment one way or another? Did you go out into the wilderness to see a man dressed in soft clothing? Did you go out into the barren wasteland with all of the robbers and wild animals because you believed that John was a wealthy man?” Jesus was being sarcastic to wake them up – of course they didn’t go into the wilderness expecting to find some wishy-washy speaker or some wealthy executive.
What Jesus said was similar to this: Did you go into the crack house on Coit Street because you thought the people there would speak well of you? Did you go to the crack house on Coit Street because you believed that’s where the President lived? Of course not – that would be ridiculous
The people of Jesus’ day went into that forbidding and dangerous land because they believed that there was a true prophet there – and they wanted to hear a word from God. God has not spoken through the prophets in four hundred years, and now there was a man in the wilderness – in a place where nice, normal citizens would not be, dressed like a prophet, eating like a prophet, and they wanted to hear the prophet – a true prophet of God
In fact, Jesus told them that John is a prophet – the greatest prophet – because he fulfilled the prophecy of Malachi, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.” John was the greatest prophet, because he had been given the honor and the duty to prepare the way for the Savior and announce Jesus as that Savior. John was the greatest prophet born of a woman because he announced the coming and the fulfillment of the greatest prophecy ever made – that God would send a Savior for His people. John was the greatest prophet as the herald of Jesus.
But Jesus also said, “Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” What did Jesus mean by that?
John was the greatest prophet because he had the honor of announcing that the Promised Savior had arrived. He knew Jesus and believed Him to be the Savior. But the fulfillment of the Salvation that Jesus came to bring – through His Death, Resurrection, and Ascension came after John’s death. John did not see the fulfillment of Jesus’ Mission. John was the greatest and last prophet because he announced the arrival of Jesus the Savior, but He didn’t live to see Jesus’ fulfill His Call as Savior.
Who has seen the fulfillment of Jesus’ Call as Savior?
Everyone who has lived and believed in Jesus after His Resurrection and Ascension. You – and me. You and I – Jesus said – are greater than John the Baptist. Why? Because we had the good sense to be born after John the Baptist? No. We who believe in Jesus Alone for our salvation are greater than John the Baptist in this sense: Jesus has caused us to know and believe the whole of the Good News.
John knew that Jesus was the Savior that God sent. John knew that He was doing miracles and preaching God’s Word. And then John was put to death. You and I and all those who believe also know that Jesus was put to death and rose from the dead and ascended back to His Throne and will soon return to take us to be with Him. That is the way in which we are greater.
What does this mean for us?
It means that we have a great call on our lives as ministers of the Gospel. I did not say we are all pastors, but as Christians, we are all ministers. We all have heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have heard that on Christmas we remember that God came to earth in a human. That He lived among us, suffered, and was crucified and died. Then, on Easter, He rose from the dead, and then He ascended back to His Throne. And all those who believe in Jesus Alone for salvation will be saved – made right with God – and inherit eternal life in the Kingdom with Jesus. And if that amazes and excites us – and I hope it does – we ought to want to tell others. And if we care about other people and their eternal welfare – we ought to want to tell others. And if we want to magnify and glorify Jesus – we ought to want to tell others. God has made us great by putting His Gospel in us for the world to hear and believe.
Who are you looking for this Advent season? Are you looking for someone to make you feel better about yourself? Are you looking for someone to cure your physical illnesses. Are you looking for someone to overthrow world governments? Are you looking for a great moral teacher? And you looking for an example of how to live your best life now?
Or do you recognize yourself as one of the poor? Do you realize that you are needy and nothing will make you well and fill you and make you right except God Himself? Are you looking for God, born of a woman, in human form, to live, and die, and rise, and ascend that you might be made right with God eternally? Are you looking for God, born of a woman, in human form, Who has promised to return and bring all those who believe into His Kingdom forever?
Who are you looking for?
Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You for the season of Advent. We thank You that you give us time to remember the first Advent of Jesus and how the people waited for Him, listening to the promises of Your prophets, and finally to the announcement that the Savior had arrived from the prophet, John the Baptist. We thank You for the time You have given us now, in this second Advent, as we wait for Jesus’ Return. We ask that You would grant us assurance of our salvation and help us to see that You have put in us the greatest news ever to be told. And then cause us to go forth and let others know. For You have caused us to find You, and we are looking for You now. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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