Day 3
Scripture:
John summoned two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord, asking, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
When the men reached him, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to ask you, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’ “
At that time Jesus healed many people of diseases, afflictions, and evil spirits, and he granted sight to many blind people. He replied to them, “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news, and blessed is the one who isn’t offended by me.”
(Luke 7:18-23).
Reflection:
This is one thing I truly enjoyed about the Bible when reading it as an unbeliever: how candid it is in revealing the shortcomings of Jesus’ disciples, no matter how embarrassing. This honesty helps to build trust with the skeptic: the writers of the Gospels weren’t out to promote themselves; they were out to glorify Jesus. When even John the Baptist—the very prophet who earlier confidently announced of Jesus that he was “the one who is to come”, and “the Lamb of God” (John 1:29)—had doubts and needed some reassurance that Jesus was indeed “the one”, the Bible doesn’t gloss things over. And when that question comes to Jesus, he doesn’t respond directly by saying “yes, I am the Messiah”, but with what looks like the beginning of an incomplete argument that John should finish for himself: “all these miracles are happening, therefore … fill in the blank, what do you think?”. And the “therefore” is supposed to be followed by a resounding “yes!”, Jesus is the one, it’s happening!
Over and over, the stories of miracles performed by Jesus are intended to reveal his identity, and people are catching on: Jesus performs a sign, and observers immediately ask: “who then is this?” He multiplied the bread, and we’re told “when the people saw the sign he had done, they said, ‘this truly is the prophet who is to come into the world’” (John 6:14). After he calmed the storm with his disciples on the boat, they “were fearful and amazed”, and asked one another: “who then is this? He commands even the winds and the waves, and they obey him!” (Luke 8:25). And when Jesus raised the son of a widow from the dead, the crowds concluded: “A great prophet has risen among us”, and “God has visited his people” (Luke 7:16), a report that “went throughout Judea and all the vicinity” (v.17).
Another crowd that never fails to identify Jesus in the context of the miracles he performed is the demons themselves, which he regularly cast out. The unclean spirit in the Synagogue in Capernaum cried out with a loud voice “I know who you are – the Holy One of God!” (Luke 4:34), and once Jesus cast him out, the crowds murmured again: “what is this message? For he commands the unclean spirits with authority and power, and they come out!” (v.36), and the news spread “to every place in the vicinity” (v.37). Jesus continued healing people in Capernaum, and “demons were coming out of many, shouting and saying, ‘You are the Son of God!’”, as they “knew he was the Christ” (v.41). I find it ironic that in the Bible we’re indirectly getting quite a bit of orthodox theology from demons: “Jesus, Son of the Most High God” is how the “Legion” demoniac cries out to him from among the tombs. (Luke 8:28).
His opponents famously suggested that he was driving out demons by the power of “Beelzebul, the ruler of demons” (Luke 11:14), and Jesus addressed the accusation: “a house divided against itself falls” (v.17). Jesus is doing the wrong kind of works to be playing for the devil’s team. The goodness of the miracles speaks for itself, and Nicodemus read the signs correctly: “we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.” (John 3:2)
The amazing works performed by Jesus testify to who he is. Accordingly, we can make two mistakes about this: fail to see they testify to who he is, or fail to see they are amazing and entertaining indeed. Yes, they serve a bigger role than to bless and entertain the crowds: they reveal the identity of the Son, and the heart of the Father. But they are mightily exciting! The blind see, the deaf hear, and the lame walk! And blessed are we if we see this marvel for what it is. When a man born blind is healed by Jesus, people are asking: why was he born blind? Because he was a sinner? Because his parents were sinners? No, Jesus replies: but so that God’s glorious works might be displayed in him (John 9:3). Glorious!
Scripture:
When the men reached him, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to ask you, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’ “
At that time Jesus healed many people of diseases, afflictions, and evil spirits, and he granted sight to many blind people. He replied to them, “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news, and blessed is the one who isn’t offended by me.”
(Luke 7:18-23).
Reflection:
This is one thing I truly enjoyed about the Bible when reading it as an unbeliever: how candid it is in revealing the shortcomings of Jesus’ disciples, no matter how embarrassing. This honesty helps to build trust with the skeptic: the writers of the Gospels weren’t out to promote themselves; they were out to glorify Jesus. When even John the Baptist—the very prophet who earlier confidently announced of Jesus that he was “the one who is to come”, and “the Lamb of God” (John 1:29)—had doubts and needed some reassurance that Jesus was indeed “the one”, the Bible doesn’t gloss things over. And when that question comes to Jesus, he doesn’t respond directly by saying “yes, I am the Messiah”, but with what looks like the beginning of an incomplete argument that John should finish for himself: “all these miracles are happening, therefore … fill in the blank, what do you think?”. And the “therefore” is supposed to be followed by a resounding “yes!”, Jesus is the one, it’s happening!
Over and over, the stories of miracles performed by Jesus are intended to reveal his identity, and people are catching on: Jesus performs a sign, and observers immediately ask: “who then is this?” He multiplied the bread, and we’re told “when the people saw the sign he had done, they said, ‘this truly is the prophet who is to come into the world’” (John 6:14). After he calmed the storm with his disciples on the boat, they “were fearful and amazed”, and asked one another: “who then is this? He commands even the winds and the waves, and they obey him!” (Luke 8:25). And when Jesus raised the son of a widow from the dead, the crowds concluded: “A great prophet has risen among us”, and “God has visited his people” (Luke 7:16), a report that “went throughout Judea and all the vicinity” (v.17).
Another crowd that never fails to identify Jesus in the context of the miracles he performed is the demons themselves, which he regularly cast out. The unclean spirit in the Synagogue in Capernaum cried out with a loud voice “I know who you are – the Holy One of God!” (Luke 4:34), and once Jesus cast him out, the crowds murmured again: “what is this message? For he commands the unclean spirits with authority and power, and they come out!” (v.36), and the news spread “to every place in the vicinity” (v.37). Jesus continued healing people in Capernaum, and “demons were coming out of many, shouting and saying, ‘You are the Son of God!’”, as they “knew he was the Christ” (v.41). I find it ironic that in the Bible we’re indirectly getting quite a bit of orthodox theology from demons: “Jesus, Son of the Most High God” is how the “Legion” demoniac cries out to him from among the tombs. (Luke 8:28).
His opponents famously suggested that he was driving out demons by the power of “Beelzebul, the ruler of demons” (Luke 11:14), and Jesus addressed the accusation: “a house divided against itself falls” (v.17). Jesus is doing the wrong kind of works to be playing for the devil’s team. The goodness of the miracles speaks for itself, and Nicodemus read the signs correctly: “we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.” (John 3:2)
The amazing works performed by Jesus testify to who he is. Accordingly, we can make two mistakes about this: fail to see they testify to who he is, or fail to see they are amazing and entertaining indeed. Yes, they serve a bigger role than to bless and entertain the crowds: they reveal the identity of the Son, and the heart of the Father. But they are mightily exciting! The blind see, the deaf hear, and the lame walk! And blessed are we if we see this marvel for what it is. When a man born blind is healed by Jesus, people are asking: why was he born blind? Because he was a sinner? Because his parents were sinners? No, Jesus replies: but so that God’s glorious works might be displayed in him (John 9:3). Glorious!
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