Daily Devotion, March 3, 2021

 

Devotion:

Read Luke 7:18-22.

“Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” In light of John the Baptist’s circumstances, this is a very serious question with which he is sending his disciples to ask of Jesus. Matthew 11:2, Mark 6:17 and Luke 3:19-20, tell us John the Baptist was in King Herod’s prison.   John the Baptist’s entire calling and purpose had been to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God. Now, he was in prison, knowing his life was in danger.

His question is perhaps a plea from his own despair and the limitation of his own human understanding. He is giving his very life depending on this truth, that Jesus is the promised Messiah, the Son of God.

I like the word “expect” in this NIV translation. Some of the people expected the Messiah to be an earthly King on a pathway to political power. Perhaps, this was John the Baptist’s “expectation” as well, especially since he was in Herod’s prison. But an earthly king cannot give what Jesus gives.

Jesus’ response is for John the Baptist’s disciples to give witness to what they had seen and heard Jesus doing: “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them.”  Jesus offered his answer as to what gave John the Baptist’s claims legitimacy. Jesus is the Messiah. 

Luke places this story in the middle of several stories in chapters 7 and 8 of Jesus’ caring, healing, and concern for all of God’s people. Dr. Frank Stagg writes, “The concern of Jesus for all people is seen most clearly in his relationship with the outcast, the sick, the sorrowing, the poor and the helpless.”  In chapter 9, Jesus calls disciples to follow him in ministering to all people in these ways. Will we also follow?

Personal Worship Option:

Luke 4:18-19, records Jesus reading from the Old Testament Book of Isaiah in the temple: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Jesus said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”