From The Kingdom series.
John in Jail
We are talking about John the Baptist – Jesus’ cousin and ministry fore-runner, who is now on death row for daring to call out the most powerful guy in the land over his relationship with his brother’s wife Herodias. We know how that ends – head on a platter stuff (Mt 14:1-12).
Now John was getting reports of what Jesus was doing, and it seems they didn’t quite tally with the picture John had of what the Messiah would be doing (Mt 11:2). We are not told exactly what John was concerned about, but we are privy to Jesus’ reply.
Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” (Mt 11:4-6).
Jesus is quoting Isaiah. There are a few candidates:
Seeing the Kingdom
Jesus is reminding John of what this coming kingdom was all about. And preaching (proclaiming the good news) and healing (the blind, the lame, the deaf, the lepers, even the dead) are all part of the job! And of course this is what Jesus had been doing (Mt 9:35, Mt 10:1, 11:1). Don’t be mistaken John! This king wants to heal, wants to comfort, wants to free. This is the picture of the kingdom you need to have.
And perhaps Jesus is steadying John’s knees a little bit too. ‘Don’t stumble over this John”. “Don’t let your idea of God’s Kingdom prevent you from seeing and participating in the actual Kingdom” is the idea.
Are you listening?
Jesus had an important message about John for his hearers. Paraphrasing: “He was the return of Elijah you know.” (Mal 4:5-6, Mt 11:13-15). And, “Listen up! – are you really listening people? John was the wild-man prophet calling you to repentance and you didn’t listen to him – you called him a demon. (Mt 11:18). I came singing a different tune, eating with you, drinking with you and you didn’t listen to me either! I got called a glutton and a drunkard. So it’s not about our ministry style, it’s about your willingness to listen, to reflect, to repent. Are you really listening at all? The miracles are to show you what God is really like and to get your attention – don’t miss it.”
Least in the Kingdom
Now verse 11 and 12 are interesting.
What is Jesus saying here? Was John not in the kingdom and now you can be? Or, is being the least in the kingdom the right seat to want to sit in, no matter who you are? This is the way of Jesus – the first will be last, and the last will be first. In his Kingdom, the reputation system is upside down. If you have worldly corporate eyes you are not going to get it.
Violence!
Verse 12 sounds like a negative – violence is never good right? But other translations of the Greek word βιάζω (Biazo) choose the sense of “forceful” rather than “violence”. Some have preached that as a positive- i.e. the kingdom is forcefully advancing, the idea being to be someone who is strong and forceful in how you go about that ministry work. This interpretation does not chime at all well with the clear and consistent New Testament teaching about the requirement for gentleness in the character of church leaders and everybody else besides (Mt 11:29, 2 Cor 10:1, Gal 5:23, Eph 4:2, Col 3:12,1 Tim 3:3, 1 Tim 6:11, Tit 3:2, 1 Pet 3:15). Either way, there is a very strong current flowing here. And what are they doing? ἁρπάζω (harpazo) – laying hold of the kingdom, taking it by force or advancing it? Destroying it or building it?
Context might give us a clue. Jesus is addressing the crowd about John. He is positive about the Baptist – saying that he is in a very small club – he’s an actual prophet. He was one of the greats alright. But now he’s in jail. So how do we view John as a result of that? Has he lost credibility because he is doing time?
Perhaps Jesus is saying the actual kingdom of God is being subjected to the raids of violent non-kingdom people (like Herod) for their violent non-kingdom purposes? John was not one to dress up and live in a nice palace (like Herod), and now his life is on the line because of his kingdom convictions.
Violent political activity was a feature of the times. The zealots (one of whom became a disciple of Jesus [Mt 10:4] and who never seemed to lose his nickname! [Acts 1:13]), were a group who responded to Roman occupation through the use of military force and covert action. They would be called a terrorist group today, or at the very least dagger-armed assassins. Again, violence is not the way of the kingdom that Jesus is bringing.
Wrap-up
The question for you, crowd, is this: Who are you going to listen to? Whose message will you be willing to accept? Are you prepared to endure the actions of violent kingdom-raiders in order to bring my kind of kingdom to the world?