After Jesus had finished teaching all this to the people and came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him, and he entered Capernaum.
A centurion there had a slave who was highly regarded, but who was sick and at the point of death, lying at home paralyzed, in terrible anguish. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave.
When they came to Jesus, they urged him earnestly, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, because he loves our [Jewish] nation, and even built our synagogue.” Jesus said to them, “I will come and heal him.”
So Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not presume to come to you.
Instead, say the word, and my servant must be healed. For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me. I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
When Jesus heard this he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found such faith in anyone in Israel! I tell you, many will come from the east and west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, but the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Then Jesus said, “Go; just as he has believed, it will be done for him.” And the servant was healed at that hour. So when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave well.
While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came to him who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell to his knees and bowed down with his face to the ground begging him for help, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean” Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing. Be clean!”The leprosy left him at once, and he was clean. Immediately Jesus sent the man away with a very strong warning. He told him, “See that you do not say anything to anyone, but go, show yourself to a priest, and bring the offering that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”
But as the man went out he began to announce it publicly and spread the story widely. Such large crowds were gathering together to hear Jesus and to be healed of their illnesses, that he was no longer able to enter any town openly but stayed outside in remote places. Still they kept coming to him from everywhere. Yet Jesus himself frequently withdrew to the wilderness and prayed.
Soon afterward Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. As he approached the town gate, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother (who was a widow), and a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, “Do not weep.”Then Jesus came up and touched the bier, and those who carried it stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!”So the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they began to glorify God, saying, “A great prophet has appeared among us!” and “God has come to help his people!” This report about Jesus circulated throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.
John’s disciples informed him about all these things. When John heard in prison about the deeds Christ had done, he called two of his disciples and sent them to Jesus to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?’“
At that very time Jesus cured many people of diseases, sicknesses, and evil spirits, and granted sight to many who were blind. So he answered them, “Go tell John what you have seen and heard: The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news proclaimed to them. Blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”
I want to talk today about miracles and Messiahs. First, the miracles.
Last week we talked about there being no templates for how revival must look other than long-term fruit. Here we see a similar point with miracles. There is not template for how to get them.
Did they have to ask for a miracle?
· A Gentile Roman army officer did on behalf of a servant
· A Jewish leper did on his own behalf
· Nobody did
What kind of person got healed?
· A respected servant (“He is worthy to have you do this.”)
· An unclean leper
· A loved son
The person healed:
· Didn’t ask (someone asked on his behalf)
· Asked
· Didn’t ask (nobody asked)
The amount of faith/trust:
· Really high – from a Roman soldier who did not follow Yahweh
· High – at least in Jesus as a healer (“Lord” was a term of respect)
· Doesn’t say, since the widow didn’t know it was going to happen
When you read the accounts in a row, it’s a good reminder that we have to be careful creating templates for when and how God might or must do miraculous things. The common denominator is Jesus. If we get too caught up in “How can I get my miracle?” we take our eyes off of Jesus and focus our eyes on ourselves.
We will continue to see Jesus defy templates as his life unfolds, so don’t be surprised if you hear about this again J Meanwhile, I want to focus on how Jesus’ miracles established his identity.
We see at the end of that section what I think is the main point of Jesus’ miracle working: to establish who He is. He is the Messiah. He showed this by doing things in line with prophetic promises. John asked, “Are you the one?” Jesus responded, “Look. This is what the Prophets told you the Messiah would do.”
· the blind receive sight (Isaiah 29:18; 35:5)
· the lame walk(Isaiah 35:6)
· lepers are cured (Isaiah 53:4)
· the deaf hear (Isaiah 29:18–19; 35:5)
· the dead are raised (Isaiah 26:18–19)
· the good news is preached to the poor (Isaiah 61:1)
* * * * *
I’ve long wondered if John’s question wasn’t coming from a place of doubt. John himself proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah, the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, “[1]but… now he’s in prison. He stood up to Herod, and it didn’t go well. He’s like, “But are you sure you are the Messiah?” Why would John be doubting now? What changed?
I wonder if it has something to do about the expectation for what the Messiah would be like. So, let’s do some history.
Every king of Israel was known as “anointed one” (a prophet or high priest anointed him); the Hebrew term was “messiah.” When the line of kings in both Israel and Judah ended with the exile to Babylon, the title “anointed one” gradually began to mean a future king who would save Israel. The Jews believed that
“The covenant will be renewed: the Temple will be rebuilt, the Land cleansed, the Torah kept perfectly by a new covenant people with renewed hearts.” (N.T. Wright)
A lot of hope was placed in this “age to come,” or the messianic age. The ‘salvation’ would be a rescue from the national enemies, the restoration of the national symbols, and a state of peace.
The Jews people waited…. and waited… through captivity and bondage and despair. They were longing for God’s Kingdom to come - and they had a pretty good idea of what it ought to look like.
There were three main Messianic movements around the time Jesus was born (it’s more complicated than my overview will allow this morning. These are very general categories).[2]
First, the Warrior/Politician Messiah. For those who wanted to fight, the Messiah would free them from Roman oppression; there would be a physical rule on earth where other kingdoms would bow to them. These were the Zealots. Just to give you an idea of how serious they were, about 100 years after Jesus died a man named Simon Bar Kochba amassed a rebel army of 200,000 men. He was crushed by the Romans; tens of thousands were slain. Some Orthodox Jews still consider him the closest to a real Messiah the Jews have seen.
When Jesus entered Jerusalem, people spread coats (a sign of a king – see 2 Kings 9:13) and waved palm branches, a symbol used by the Zealots.[3] The Jews likely greeted Jesus with palm branches because they thought He would be physically fighting for God’s people. (Jesus’ disciple Simon was a Zealot).
Second, the Torah or Temple Messiah. Under this Messiah, the temple and the Law would finally be exalted over all the earth. The Sadducees were pretty big on piety and holiness (“separate, set apart”) though they recognized they had to work with the Greek and Roman culture. The Essenes, on the other hand? Well, their community in the desert[4] exemplified their desire to be separate from everybody else – including the Sadducees. They just wanted have the space to recreate the theocracy of old and follow the Law freely, fully and publicly as they waited for the Messiah.[5] That’s how the Kingdom of God on earth would arrive. (John the Baptist may well have been raised in the Essene community).[6]
Third, the People’s Messiah. This messiah would do those other things, but he would also bring in world peace. He would bring freedom from economic inequality and class oppression. They were most inclined of all the Jewish groups to long for a day when societal justice prevailed and everybody would get along. The Pharisees were the most closely aligned with this idea, but they were all over the map.
Jesus’ three temptations in the wilderness were loosely connected to these three Messianic hopes (Matthew 4:1-11):
· to rule the world (Warrior Messiah)
· to restore the glory of the temple (Torah/Temple messiah)
· to turn stones into bread (People’s Messiah)
But then Jesus arrived…and he caused significant confusion. He didn’t fit into these Messianic boxes like the people wanted him to. I’ll bet more people than John were wondering, “Are you the one, or should we be looking for someone else?”
The Jews, like John the Baptizer, were in danger of missing the Messiah because Jesus wasn't what they wanted or expected him to be.
Human nature being what it is (and the world being what it is), I think we experience the same dilemma. We need to be careful that when we talk about what we assume Jesus must be like and therefore must do to bring about His Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven.
We can begin to long for a Warrior Messiah that will lead His people into physically ruling the world.
If we aren't careful, we will begin to believe that political power and societal clout will bring about the Kingdom of God on earth. That means our human enemies must be conquered. It’s usvs them rather than us for them. When that happens, we start to follow politicians, celebrities and influencers inside and outside the church with almost Messianic expectations, as if they are the solution for the problems of the world.
To be sure, having followers of Jesus in the halls of power and influence isn’t a bad thing. It’s good to have salt and light everywhere. It’s just that we can’t afford to get confused about who or what is going to save us.
If we aren’t careful, we can begin to justify any means to achieve our ends. We trade peace for violence; gentleness for meanness; tenderness for callousness, truth for deception in the pursuit of establishing a righteous society, forgetting that it’s through the means that we become the kind of people we will be in the end. We will long for a God of Judgment who gives the world what’s coming to it, and we will just buckle up and watch as all the pagans get theirs.
When you hear people talk about Christians who are angry and hateful, using any means to achieve their ends, they are talking about modern Zealots, those who think, like the disciples did in Samaria, that the Messiah can’t wait to burn the world, and they can’t wait to burn it with Him.[7]
Is Jesus the kind of Messiah that fights and wants us to fight? Well, yes, but on a spiritual battlefield. He resisted the devil; he challenged corruption in the temple and the religious leaders who were making “disciples of hell.” He took on death, Hell and the grave on our behalf - and won. He will return to reclaim the world and redeem it from the ravages of sin. Is Jesus a Warrior? You bet. Just not like the Zealots expected him to be. Are we in a battle? Yes, but it’s a spiritual one. “We wrestle not with flesh and blood.” Our target is spiritual wickedness.[8]
We can begin to long for a Temple messiah, a savior made of Bible knowledge, obedience to God, pious living, and community flourishing.[9] I want to state this clearly: those are good things, not bad things.
But if we aren't careful, we will locate the Temple Messiah only within what becomes defensive and exclusionary walls around the church. The Essenes weren’t exactly known for drawing in converts to Judaism. The focus was almost entirely on themselves and the spiritual and relational health community. In a similar way, we can overflow with Biblical knowledge that never makes its way to those far from Christ; we can put a ton of energy into building a strong church community that never has an impact outside of ourselves.
The Temple Messiah crowd would never say its us vs. them, but if we aren’t careful, we lose sight of the fact that the Messiah has come for them so they too can be part of us, the church, the family of God.
If our Messiah is a Temple Messiah, we’re not angry, hateful or fearful. We don’t want to see the world burn and we certainly don’t want to help do it. But we end up looking like we just don’t care because we aren’t engaging the world with truth and love.
Does Jesus value personal holiness and the healthy community of His people? Absolutely. All the letters in the New Testament address both of these things. If the church is the “body” of Christ, then the holiness of the family of God, personal and corporate, matters. #represent It’s just not meant just for us. Salt does no good just sitting in one big heap. Light does no good against the darkness if it’s hidden. The church is never just about the church in the same way that Jesus was never there just for “His people.” He made it abundantly clear that the church is to permeate the world. The Essenes weren’t wrong about what was important, they just weren’t right about what they were supposed to do with it.
We can long for specifically a People’s Messiah, one who will eradicate poverty and injustice, believing that will bringing the world the peace, hope and joy we are lacking. The People’s Messiah is a social justice warrior in the most righteous way, convinced that God’s Kingdom will come to earth in biblical social structures of equality, fairness, and justice.
Surely the Kingdom of God has practical impact in the world when it is lived out by God’s people, and I would hope justice characterizes the movement. That’s a good thing, not a bad thing.
But if we aren’t careful, we can spend all of our energy fixing symptoms while forgetting that the problem causing all these symptoms hasn’t been addressed. Here’s one example. There’s an international organization that goes around the world and buys people out of slavery. It’s an awesome goal. The only problem is that a lot of places are asking them to stop because they are making it worse. Why? Because now there is easy money to be made. The rate of human trafficking is growing in those areas. Free folks are lining up and pretending they are slaves so they can get a quick $50.
Does Jesus care about oppression, poverty, injustice and want His people to care too?Absolutely. Read the Law in Exodus – Deuteronomy, a law which Jesus himself says can be summarized as loving God and loving others. Read Jesus’ teaching about, “When you have done it to the least, you have done it to me.”[10] God has always showed His people how to enter into those sin-scarred spaces in the world and bring hope and healing. But that is not the Kingdom in its fullness. It helps – that’s a good thing – but cycles will continue without the transformation Jesus brings.
* * * * *
God care about all the ways in which the world is broken, and we should too. I’m not suggesting that you don’t get involved in social issues, or that you don’t pursue God through knowledge and experience, that you don’t seek to build righteous community, or that you don’t get involved in politics or entertainment or social media. By all means, be involved in the ways God calls you. There are good and just ways to offset the impact of sinfulness in a fallen world and point toward the ultimate salvation found in Christ.
But good things can become idols, false Messiahs. We begin to mold Jesus in our image and assume His Kingdom only flourishes in our framework. I think this is why John the Baptist was struggling. Jesus (and the way Jesus inaugurated his Kingdom) didn’t fit cleanly with how he thought the Messiah would show up in the world.
And if we get locked into just one narrow focus, it’s easy to judge those who don’t have the same expectation we do.
· The Zealots think the Essenes are weak and the Pharisees are woke.
· The Essenes think the Zealots are crazy and the Pharisees are wasting their time.
· The Pharisees think the Zealots are dangerous and the Essenes are irrelevant.
I have to imagine the disciples had a grand old time sorting that out between themselves.
So, how to put a bow on this? If we get Jesus wrong, we will misunderstand His character, mistake his Kingdom, and misjudge His people. What’s the solution? Well, it starts with seeing Jesus clearly. I hope this series helps us, but don’t rely on me.[11]
· Meditate on Scripture. The Bible is the story of God’s work in, with, and through humanity. Study its entirety. One chapter or even one book doesn’t give a well-rounded picture any more than one event from Jesus’ life would give you a healthy view of Jesus.
· Study Jesus. Read far and wide within the historical and global church. Everywhere Christians live, it can be easy to simply study Jesus through one cultural or community lenses. It’s worth pursuing how “every tribe, nation and tongue” studies Scripture and experiences life in the Kingdom.
· Pray for wisdom and clarity. Surrender your perspective at the foot of the Cross. Ask for correction and insight that brings Jesus into an ever more clear focus.
· Do life together in diverse community. Within your circle of friends, learn to appreciate (with discernment) how the Holy Spirit is working to illuminate Scripture and reveal the person and work of Jesus.
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[1] John 1:29
[2] I think I got these three categories from N.T. Wright.
[3] Solomon dedicated the Temple during the Feast of Tabernacles using palm branches; when Judas Maccabeas, one of the founders of the Zealots, briefly freed Jerusalem from Roman rule and purified the Temple in 165 BC., the Jews celebrated with palm branches.
[4] They lived in towns too. I’m citing the desert community as a symbol.
[5] They were founded by a Teacher of Righteousness a Messiah figure “predating Jesus by roughly 100 years. This figure…had been a priest and confidant to the king. However, he became dissatisfied with the religious sects in Jerusalem and, in reaction, founded a "crisis cult". While amassing a following, the Teacher (and his followers) claimed he was the fulfillment of various Biblical prophecies, with an emphasis on those found in Isaiah. The Teacher was eventually killed by the religious leadership in Jerusalem, and his followers hailed him as messianic figure who had been exalted to the presence of God's throne. They then anticipated that the Teacher would return to judge the wicked and lead the righteous into a golden age.” Wikipedia, “Teacher Of Righteousness”
[6] https://sjvlaydivision.org/john-the-baptist-essenes/
[7] Luke 9:52-55
[8] Ephesians 6:12
[9] The Essenes were pretty radical in this: they held their goods and property in common even more communally than the early church in Acts.
[10] Matthew 25:40-45
[11] Some books to start with: The Jesus I Never Knew, by Phillip Yancey. The Prodigal God, Jesus The King, Encounters With Jesus, all by Tim Keller. Sitting At The Feet Of Rabbi Jesus, Walking In The Dust Of Rabbi Jesus, and Reading The Bible With Rabbi Jesus, all by Lois Tverberg. Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, by Kenneth Bailey. Jesus Through the Eyes of Women: How the First Female Disciples Help Us Know and Love the Lord. By Rebecca McLaughlin. Reading While Black, by Esau McCauley. Some books I have not read but that have been recommended: The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views (Spectrum Multiview Book Series) from IVP press. Jesus Without Borders, by Gene L. Green. The Crucifixion, by Fleming Rutledge.