Are you the One? 是你吗？

Title: Are you the One? 是你吗？
Date: 8th Jan 2017
Preacher: Rev. Wong Siow Hwee

Luke 7: 16 They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.”17 This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country.
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 leprosy are 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.”

When Luke said that he wanted to provide certainty in his gospel, one of the key questions would be the identity of Jesus. Who is Jesus? Is he really the one? Interestingly, the way he chose to address this question was to introduce John the Baptist. Not just Luke though, all four Evangelists also did the same. Why? Because John the Baptist played a very unique role in relation to Jesus’ ministry. He was the prophet who would prepare the way for the arrival of Jesus. [1] He was calling out for the people to repent. This wasn’t any ordinary repentance, but the repentance of a people. The preparation of the way was for the coming of God. He had forgiven his people. God was going back to Zion. And he was going back to reign as king. Isaiah 40: 10 See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm.

The repentance of the people was symbolized by John’s baptism. Luke 3: 7 John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 9 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
10 “What should we do then?” the crowd asked.
11 John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”
12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”
13 “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.
14 Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”
He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”

For John, God’s restoration of his people came alongside with his judgment. That’s in line with the Prophets. Remember the passages of Jeremiah during Advent? Whenever the people were to be restored, the enemies of God were also to be destroyed. So the demarcation between God’s people and God’s enemies was important. When God comes with his restoration and his judgement, which side are you on? Are you to be destroyed? Or are you to be restored? Don’t assume that just because you are Jews, it means that you are automatically God’s people, and therefore you are safe from God’s judgment. John declared that God could create his own people even out of stones. That means that God’s restoration and judgement are not determined by race. Race does not define who God’s people are. If not by race, what is it then? It is by your response of faith.

Is faith just defined by repentance? John the Baptist said repentance must be coupled with producing fruits. Which means that a heart of repentance must be followed up with actual transformation of your daily lives. John’s message is about community living: to share with those in need, collect your tax fairly, and don’t bully people. We would expect the current leaders of the people to be the first responders – the priests, the royalty. Yet, some of the people who responded seemed to be the least patriotic people you can find. Tax collectors who collected taxes from the Jews for the Romans. Soldiers who fought for the Romans, and kept the general masses in line for them. Yet they were the ones who asked what they could do to transform their lives. This is what truly fascinates me about John’s preparation for God. It doesn’t matter what your background is. What matters is – you believe God is coming and you respond accordingly from now on.

If you think that John the Baptist was unusual in preparing the way, Jesus the coming King was even stranger. This is why in our passage today, John later sent his disciples to ask Jesus the critical question: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”[2] How did Jesus respond to him? He told the messengers: Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard. Jesus’ reply was pointing towards many of the passages echoed in Isaiah. “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.” It was like telling John the Baptist, think about what Isaiah promised, and you’ll know, I’m really the One.

According to the Prophets, God would one day restore his kingdom and his people. According to Luke, John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus who was the true Messiah. Jesus was the coming king. He would restore the people, just as he will be the final judgment. But none of these would be along typical nationalistic lines. They were not even along earthly lines. Jesus’ kingdom shall be the eternal kingdom that conquers sin and death, and yet also open to all humanity. I believe this goes even beyond the imaginations of John the Baptist. That’s why Jesus said, 23 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me. For the Jews especially, it was not easy for them to realize and to accept that the Messiah that they were longing for, would be a Messiah like Jesus. Even John the Baptist, with the help of the Holy Spirit, had to revisit and renew his understanding of Isaiah, to confirm his faith in Jesus. The fact is, John’s job was only to prepare the people for the coming king, but it doesn’t mean he knew exactly what the coming kingdom would be like. The kingdom to come and the way Jesus was going to be king would only be revealed until his death and resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit. However, affirming the significance of John the Baptist means that we establish the true identity of Jesus. The true prophet points towards the true king.

Luke 7: 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.”

In this passage, Jesus asked the crowd what made them go out to John the Baptist in the wilderness to be baptized. It was not to see a reed. It was not to see a prince. A Galilean reed was the favorite symbol of Herod Antipas, and it was used for the coins in his rule. So, both of these examples were targeted attacks against the current government. You didn’t go to see John the Baptist because you were looking for more of the same old government of Herod, a puppet of the Romans. You went because you sensed that he was a prophet, promising something new from God. Then Jesus took it to the next level: John wasn’t just any prophet. He quoted from Malachi 3:1 to say that John was the promised coming of Elijah (see Malachi 4:5). And after Elijah comes, God will come. His quote also included hints of Exodus 23:20, which was a reminder that after the coming of such a messenger of God, a new kingdom would arrive. So Jesus was saying, you went to see John the Baptist because you knew he was a prophet. But I tell you, he is the ultimate prophet, and after him, God is coming, and the kingdom of God is coming.

Before the coming of God, John was certainly the greatest messenger of God, like a combination of Elijah and Moses. But those that got to see God’s arrival in the form of Jesus, and enter his heavenly Kingdom were even more blessed. When Jesus said that, 28 there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he, Jesus was stating that the kingdom would be beyond all their current expectations. They never thought it could turn out like this. However, that’s putting it in a positive way. But to those who were deep set in their personal agenda, it could mean that this coming kingdom of God had fallen short of their expectations. This was not what they wanted to see. The last part of today’s passage addresses this issue.

Luke 7: 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.)
31 Jesus went on to say, “To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other:
“‘We played the pipe for you,
and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
and you did not cry.’
33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ 35 But wisdom is proved right by all her children.”

When Jesus revealed himself and the true nature of the new kingdom of God, there were two responses. There were those who were joyful about the grace of God, and they embraced the new plans of God. These even included the tax collectors. Perhaps they never imagined that God’s plans would include sinners like them. In the book of Acts, they even included the Gentiles. But there were others who rejected Jesus and God’s new kingdom. They didn’t like what they saw in Jesus and his presentation of God’s kingdom. Let me explain why. These people were the elites of the community. They had the purest Jewish heritage. They followed the laws and traditions most closely. And they perhaps thought that if there was going to be any new Kingdom of God, they should be the most honored members there. And the Jewish way of expressing this was by table fellowship: meaning that you ate with those you found acceptable. Simply put, ‘who you eat with’ was how you demarcated who was on your side and who you rejected. In the context of the restoration of God and his judgement, it also means who you identify with as God’s people and who you reject as God’s enemies. The true Jew will only eat with those who are the true Jews, everybody else is excluded until you prove to become one of them, to become like them.

But John the Baptist and Jesus both destroyed this system. John the Baptist didn’t care about who you were or your background. He fellowshipped with no one. He favored no one, except God and his message. He only cared about your actual response to God. Jesus on the other hand, seemed to fellowship with anyone. He willingly reached out to whoever responded to him. Instead of reflecting on the messages from John and Jesus, and responding accordingly to God, the Jewish elites chose to label them and dismiss them. John was crazy for being so anti-social. Jesus was a social butterfly not to be respected. They were like children who taunted others when they didn’t play their game. ‘We played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.’ Translated as: “Tell you to play wedding games with me, you don’t want. Tell you to play funeral games with me, you don’t want. I don’t friend you.” Children are often like that. “If you friend him, I don’t friend you.” But for John and Jesus, this was not about who should be in whose gang. Their message determined how they should act. John spoke of repentance and transformation. And Jesus about grace and forgiveness. It is not about who you are, but what you choose to do about God’s calling.

Brothers and sisters, I have two objectives today. My first aim today is to bring you certainty about John and Jesus. To let you see that John the Baptist is the true prophet. To proclaim that Jesus is indeed the true Savior promised by God. He is the King that shall rule over all of God’s people, and bring judgment upon God’s enemies. And with that certainty, I can then call out to you to have faith in Jesus: he is the One! My second objective is to ask you to respond to their message. It is those who respond to God, those who transform their lives accordingly who will be saved. Glory be to God! After John, Jesus came. He conquered sin and lived a righteous life. And he was raised from the dead, seated at the right side of God. He reigns forever. Amen.

[1]First of all, you can observe that Luke placed great importance on John the Baptist since his story starts right at the beginning in Luke chapter 1. His birth was placed right alongside Jesus’ birth. However, right at the beginning, there was already a differentiation of their future roles. For John the Baptist, his role was to prepare the people:
Angel Gabriel said this to Zechariah in Luke 1: 16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
However, when Gabriel later described Jesus to Mary, Jesus’ role was to become the king of this people:
Luke 1: 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.
Right from the beginning, you can spot the difference: John the Baptist to prepare the people, Jesus to reign over them.
At the birth of John the Baptist, Zechariah also summed up both of these roles in his song:
Luke 1: 68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has come to his people and redeemed them.
69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David.
This Savior is obviously referring to Jesus who is from the house of David, he will be the new king of Israel. As for John the Baptist, Zechariah said,
76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,
Again, this is about John the Baptist preparing the people. From the prophecies in Luke 1, we can already identify the distinct roles between the two characters.

[2]In John 1, when he first met Jesus, 29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ If you were to compare today’s passage with the Gospel of John, you might be a little surprised. What happened from ‘This is the one’ in the beginning, to ‘Are you the one?’ now?