You’re probably getting tired of this passage where Jesus commends John the Baptist, but there’s one other principle I think we should look at.

Imagine the position of John the Baptist. He’s in prison, under a sentence of death. You may know, he is about to have his head on a platter (literally!). If there is one thing he needs, it’s encouragement! That’s exactly what Jesus gives him. John is having doubts about whether Jesus is the promised Messiah, and Jesus fulfills prophecy, and then tells his messengers this:

Luke 7:23

23 "Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me."

I’m not particularly fond of this translation. The verb translated take offense is the Greek word SKANDALIZO. Look at how Joseph Thayer’s Greek Lexicon defines this word:

SKANDALIZO - to cause a person to begin to distrust and desert one whom he ought to trust and obey.

Jesus is saying that happiness belongs to the person who does not desert his faith, or allow his faith to become unraveled. He is offering encouragement to John in a terrible situation.

Encouragement is designed by God to carry believers through the valleys of suffering that are inevitable in life. But He has promised to encourage us, and this is the only TRUE encouragement! He has promised to provide us encouragement when we are suffering, provided we turn to the Lord. He is the faithful One, and will do as He has promised. Your friends and family may fail you, but He will not!

Part of our responsibility as Christians is to encourage other believers:

Hebrews 3:13

13 But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

1 Thessalonians 5:11

11 Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

John’s encouragement came from the Lord (what He said) through John’s disciples. In the exact same way, a suffering believer’s encouragement can come from the Lord (what He says in the Word of God) through other believers. Our responsibility when fellow believers are suffering is to offer them the encouragement that comes from the Lord, and recognize that we can be a vessel of the true encouragement found in the Lord.

God works through other believers to offer His encouragement to us in suffering, just like He did to encourage John the Baptist.