“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? 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. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: “ ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ 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.”
Luke 7:24-28 NIV
Jesus not only responded to John, He also talked about John. If He had been one of us, He probably would have had a lot today about John’s lapse. How could John doubt when he was the one who had been called to testify about Him to the Jews! Hadn’t he, John, heard the Father’s voice at His baptism? Now that John’s life was under threat, why didn’t he still trust Him even if He did nothing? After all, he was the one who told the people to trust in Jesus!
Not Jesus! Let’s look at what He did say about John. “Forget about what John has just done. I understand how he feels. He is uncertain and afraid. This is temporary, not the real John.”
Let’s check John’s track record. He was a prophet but not just any prophet. To him was entrusted the role of forerunner to the king…and he fulfilled his calling faithfully.
Jesus even went as far as declaring that John was the greatest prophet who had ever lived…after only six months of ministry!
However, Jesus also explained that John’s ministry marked the close of the era of the Old Covenant. No in so many words, He said, John was the last of the prophets who did more than predict the coming of Messiah. He, instead, proclaimed Messiah’s presence and introduced Him to His people. Herein lay John’s greatness and yet, even the lowliest member of God’s kingdom is greater than John. How can this be?
John announced the arrival of the kingdom, but believers in Jesus have the privilege of living in the kingdom. With the coming of the Messiah and all that He accomplished on earth, God’s reign was finally established in the hearts of those who were and ate connected to Jesus by faith and joined to Him by the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit. John’s was the final voice that closed the chapter of the Old Covenant and handed the baton to Jesus to usher in the New Covenant with all its completion of the Old. His work was not to be criticised but applauded because he had done what he was called to do.
Isn’t this just like Jesus and, by association, just like the Father?
Jesus did not come to criticise or condemn. He does not see our failures as final. He sees our hearts. He sees the whole picture…and, most of all, He sees His own image in us. Whatever temporary lapses we pass through, Jesus is well pleased with us. He will erase from our book very failure, every mistake, every sin that has ever blotted the pages of our history, and present us to the Father pure and spotless…transformed into His image.
“To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”
Jude 1:24-25 NIV
To be continued…