Luke 7 [continued]

Verses 11-17  Jesus is on the road again.  As He enters the gates of Nain they encounter a funeral procession.  There is a large crowd of people with Him and a large crowd from the city with the mother of the dead man.  In the midst of all this, Jesus sees this weeping mother and "He felt compassion for her".

Then, Jesus did another one of those unacceptable things... He touched the coffin.  Again, I sense that there must have been a hush fall on that crowd.  The wailing stopped, those carrying the coffin froze, and the mother's heart pounded.  Then He spoke, " Young man, I say to you arise!"

And, he did.

The people knew that God was there in that little town that day.  They gave all the glory to Him, even as great fear "gripped them all".

Jesus has displayed His authority over nature, over evil, over the law, and now over death.   Luke wrote this book "so that you might know the exact truth about the things your have been taught" (1:4). He is systematically laying out the revelation of who Jesus really is - the Lord over all.

7:18-35  Now, John the Baptist is in prison.  His disciples come and "reported to him about all these things."  So John sends 2 of his disciples to Jesus to ask "Are You the Expected One or do we look for someone else?"  It seems strange that John would have any doubts about who Jesus was.  After all, he had seen the Holy Spirit descend on Jesus, and he had heard the voice of God declare Him to be His Son.  Perhaps John,  like all of us really, expected something different... perhaps he didn't expect to be stuck in prison while the Messiah walked the earth.

Jesus' answer to John's disciples is also unexpected. " 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. And blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over Me."  Jesus points John back to the Word of God.  It's like He is saying, " Remember what Isaiah wrote, John?  Here's what he said, and here's what I am doing... don't get tripped up on this.  Don't go by your own expectations, look at the Word of God!"

After John's disciples left, Jesus talked to the crowd about John. "What did you go out into the wilderness to look at?"
They didn't go to see the grass.
They didn't go to see a king.
They went to see a prophet... and that's who John was.  Yet John is no different than anyone else.
John needed to believe in Jesus too.

"But the Pharisees and the lawyers," Jesus says, " rejected God's purpose for themselves, not having been baptized by John."
They criticized John for his lifestyle of "eating no bread and drinking no wine;"
And they criticized Jesus for eating and drinking with sinners.

"Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children." v35
Who had true wisdom?  The Pharisees and religious leaders who refused to repent, who rejected the message of John and of Jesus?
or
Those who had repented and been baptized, accepting the message of John and the authority of Jesus?

Father in heaven,  You have given us Your Word and shown us the power and authority of Jesus Christ our Lord.  O, may we be faithful to follow Jesus and to accept Your purposes for us.  In His Name we pray, amen.