In Luke 7, Jesus heals a centurion’s son, and then brings a widow’s child back to life. If you don’t know these stories, click here and here.
Now the natural thing happens – people start talking:
Luke 7:17
17 This report
concerning Him went out all over
John the Baptist is in prison many miles away, and he hears this report about Jesus. Then he sends some of his disciples to ask Jesus a question:
Luke 7:18-20
18 The disciples of
John reported to him about all these things.
19 Summoning two of
his disciples, John sent them to the Lord, saying, "Are You the Expected
One, or do we look for someone else?"
20 When the men came
to Him, they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to You, to ask, "Are
You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?'"
Didn’t John already know Jesus? Why was he asking this question? Look what John’s testimony was earlier:
John 1:19-23, 29, 34
19 This is the
testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from
20 And he confessed
and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ."
21 They asked him,
"What then? Are you Elijah?" And he said, "I am not."
"Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No."
22 Then they said to
him, "Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us?
What do you say about yourself?"
23 He said, "I
am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS,"MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE
LORD,' as Isaiah the prophet said."
…
29 The next day he
saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away
the sin of the world!
…
34 "I myself
have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God."
So John already KNEW that Jesus was the Expected One! Why did he have to ask the question again? Because John was expecting Jesus to do something:
Luke 3:16
16 John answered and
said to them all, "As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to
untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and
fire.
John was expecting Jesus to start baptizing people either
with the Holy Spirit (for those who believed) or with fire (for those who did
NOT believe.) These are baptisms that
were promised to occur when Jesus sets up His kingdom on earth. We know now
(with 20/20 hindsight) that Jesus was rejected by
It brings up an interesting principle about prayer. Sometimes our expectations do not exactly line up with the way God answers prayers. We frequently come up with a list of all possible outcomes, and ask God to fulfill one of them. We tend to forget that He has an INFINITE number of possible outcomes, and can answer our prayer in an INFINITE number of different ways!
But make no mistake about it – God does answer. He promised, and He is unable to go back on a promise. Our job is to take the answer (no matter how it compares with our expectations) and have faith that is it the perfect answer, based on an infinite knowledge of all the possibilities!
Back to John’s question to Jesus. As an example of what I mean in the previous
paragraph, John could have expected Jesus to say either “yes, I am” or “no,
wait for someone else.” But Jesus’
answer is completely different than what John expects:
Luke 7:21-23
21 At that very time
He cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits; and He gave
sight to many who were blind.
22 And He answered
and said to them, "Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the
BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear,
the dead are raised up, the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM. (His answer was a fulfillment of Isaiah
35:5-6 and Isaiah 61:1)
Then Jesus makes an interesting comment. I’m going to give you the Living Bible translation, because it’s actually closer to what the word means:
Luke 7:23
23 And tell him,
'Blessed is the one who does not lose his faith in me.'"
Just because God gives you a different answer than the one you expect, don’t lose faith in Him. Remember that He alone has all the facts, and has your best interest in mind.