Matthew 11 Don’t Stumble Tired and Cranky!

1 When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.

2 Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples3 and said to him, "Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?"4 And Jesus answered them, "Go and tell John what you hear and see:5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.6 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me."

7 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?8 What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.9 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.10 This is he of whom it is written, "'Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.'

11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until  John,14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

16          "But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates,

17          "'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;

                             we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.'

18          For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.'19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds."

20          Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.21 "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.24 But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you."

25          At that time Jesus declared, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children;26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Matthew 11 You Can Be Greater Than John

Don Carson writes "How many of you, in the last month, have gotten up in the morning and looked in the mirror, and said to yourself, "You are greater than King David." Or, perhaps, "You are greater than Abraham." You haven't said that? What's the matter?

John the Baptist is said to be greater than all who came before him, and the least in the kingdom is greater than John the Baptist. So the least in the kingdom is greater than John the Baptist, and John the Baptist is greater than all who came before him. Are you one of the least in the kingdom? Jesus says you're greater than John the Baptist, and Jesus says John the Baptist is greater than Abraham or King David. So that means you are. Why don't you tell yourself that once in a while? Now clearly, this needs some unpacking, because no one in his right mind would accuse Don Carson of being greater militarily than King David or a greater prophet than Isaiah or a greater patriarch than Abraham.

But Jesus says you are greater than John the Baptist, and John was greater than all the rest! 

Your looking glass looks a whole lot better now hey!? It may show you better than you ever thought!!

BUT I get ahead of myself.

Do you ever get tired and cranky?  I both like and dislike the Oak add for chocolate milk: I love chocolate milk!  But there is that teddy bear with a bad mood about hungry thirsty!  Do I ever feel tired and cranky? Ask Lorelle!

I wonder whether John the Baptist had a long fit of hungry thirsty tired and cranky. 

He has been in a terrible prison that sits on the other side, the back side, of the Dead Sea for standing up to Herod for the sake of righteousness. And he had been there maybe a year!  And it isn't going to end well.

6 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me." Stumbling is from skandaliz, which originally referred to the trapping or snaring of an animal. It was used metaphorically to signify an entrapment or stumbling block and carried the derived meaning of causing offense.

You can be offended

Matthew 4: 12 Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee.13 And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali,14 so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

"Go and tell John what you hear and see:5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

Isaiah 61  The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;  

Isaiah 35  4 Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you." 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6 then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.

"Go and tell John what you hear and see:5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

That is, "You tell John I'm on schedule. You tell John I am fulfilling Scripture. You tell John that I am doing exactly what the Bible says I would do. Yes, I'm the Messiah." And then He said, "And tell John something else"—verse 6: "You tell him this—tell him, 'Blessed is he [who's] not offended in me.' (Matthew 11:6) Now, John, you're in prison:"—He didn't tell him this, but He could have told him—"It's going to get worse. You're going to have your head cut off. You're in prison. You're in trouble. But, John, if you're in prison, and I don't get you out of prison, it's not because I don't want to, or am not able to, or I don't care about you. It's just, John, I have a better plan and a higher plan. And, frankly, John, you couldn't understand it if I told you, because my ways are not your ways and my thoughts not your thoughts. As the heavens are high above the earth, so are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8–9) "Who hath known the mind of the Lord? …who hath been his counsellor?" (Romans 11:34) How inscrutable are the ways of God!

They get down in a dungeon, and when they get down in a dungeon, when problems come, heartaches come, trials come, difficulties come, persecution comes, they begin to doubt God. And, my friend, I want you to learn this straight—learn it big, learn it plain, and learn it, I hope, for good: God has not promised to keep you out of trouble—okay? He came to get into trouble with you. Christianity is not the subtraction of problems from life; it is the addition of power to meet those problems.

God has not promised to keep you out of the fiery furnace. God has not promised to keep you out of the lion's den. God has not promised to keep you out of the valley of the shadow of death. And God has not promised to keep you out of the dungeon.

It is what the Lord Jesus had just told his disciples in Matthew 10

Problems and Persecutions Cause People to Get Offended at God

Matt 10:22 and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next,

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows… And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.

Now, if you think everything is going to be Health Wealth and Prosperity , you're going to get a grudge with God. You're going to say, "Where's God? Is He really the Messiah? Is that Christ that he preaches, is He real? Why isn't it working for me?" Why didn't it work for John the Baptist?

Friend, I want to tell you, there wasn't a better man that ever lived than John the Baptist. You say, "How do you know?" I know. Let me tell you how I know there wasn't a better man than John the Baptist. Let's just read what the Lord Jesus said here. Look in verse 7, as we continue to read this chapter. Notice what He says here:

7 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?8 What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.9 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.10 This is he of whom it is written, "'Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.'

Why is that the greatest compliment? Number one, He who gave it; and, number two, what He said. Jesus said it, and He said, "There hasn't been a greater person born of woman than John the Baptist." You can't get better than that, can you? Jesus said that of John the Baptist. And yet John the Baptist doubted. Yet John the Baptist had a moment of doubt, and that moment of doubt turned almost into an offense at God, a grudge against God. And Jesus had to warn the great John, "John, blessed is he who's not offended in me." Don't get a grudge with God, even if you don't understand what He does and why He does it. You let God be God. But aren't you glad that Jesus didn't mistake the moment for the man? Jesus knew that wasn't the real John. Jesus knew that John had a lapse of faith. And, "though we deny Him, He'll not deny Himself; He abides faithful" (2 Timothy 2:13)—and I thank God for that.

People Can Cause us to Get Offended at God
John knew of the Essenes      John and Jesus may have known of the Dead Sea Scrolls of the Essenes
The Essene view of soon judgement may have controlled John's view of the Messiah

Why was John offended? Not only was it not working out for him right then, it wasn't working out according to what John the theologian thought was going to happen. John may have been part of the Essene community who looked particularly for the Messiah to come and destroy the Romans.

Beginning in the 1950s, many scholars found "parallels" between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament, the Gospel of John, and the letters of Paul. The relationship between John the Baptist, the Essenes, and/or Qumran, in particular, intrigued New Testament scholars, leading many to conclude that John may have once been a member of the (Qumran) Essene community, or, at the very least, that there must have been some form of direct contact between John and the Essenes.

Josephus tells us he delivered persuasive "sermons" (A.J. 18.118). In both Josephus and the Synoptics, John is the Baptist/Baptizer.  He is "a good man" who preaches virtue and calls to baptism and righteousness but whose popularity led Herod to put him to death. According to Josephus, John taught that virtue, righteousness, and piety and were prerequisites for baptism's efficacy before God (A.J. 18.117). Josephus also describes the crowds as "aroused to the highest degree by his sayings" for he had an "eloquence that had so great an effect on men" ( A.J. 18.118).  Finally, Josephus portrays John as a political figure whose arrest and execution were political decisions made by Herod Antipas out of fear of John's authority over the people (A.J. 18.5.2). The geographical site of John's baptism in the Judean desert seems to have been remarkably close to Qumran. According to Luke, John belonged to a priestly family but was raised "in the desert" until his appearance or manifestation in Israel. Similarly, the Qumran group seems to have been a priestly wing of an Essene movement (Josephus, B.J. 2.120). Each of the Gospels uses Isaiah 40:3 to explain why John was in the desert— that is, to "prepare the way of the Lord" (Mark 1:3; Matt 3:3; Luke 3:3- 6; John 1:23).  Similarly, the Qumran group used Isaiah 40:3 to refer to their activity in the desert (1QS 8.12– 16).87 Like the Essenes, John was not married and seems to have been a priest. He is reported to have eaten locusts and wild honey; the Damascus Document (CD) describes how to prepare locusts for consumption (CD 12.13– 14). Like Jesus, John criticizes the Pharisees and the Sadducees (Matt 3:4- 10; Luke 3:7- 14), but not the Essenes. Like the Qumran texts and group, John also anticipates an imminent eschatological judgment.

12. For he will heal the wounded, revive the dead, and proclaim good news to the poor. (4Q521 2 ii 1– 2, 5– 8, 11– 12) 4Q521 and the Jesus saying in Matthew 11:4- 5 // Luke 7:22 that Isaiah 61 is expanded with a statement about the raising of the dead.

 

Matthew 3: "I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

He expected a Messiah, in other words, who would come with a kind of authority that would revolutionize everything, empower the people of God with God's Spirit, but bring about judgment, too, and destruction where there was iniquity. Instead, what's going on, for goodness' sake? It's John the Baptist who confronts Herod. Jesus, meanwhile, is preaching his nice sermons and getting big crowds and acclaim throughout the land, healing people and doing all kinds of nice … Where's the fire? Where's the winnowing judgment? You have to face the fact that when we hear the words "the Christ," we hear it differently from the way those first disciples heard it. When we hear "the Christ," we already know how the story ends up. We know the Messiah, the King in David's line, would also prove to be the suffering servant who would go to the cross and rise from the dead.

John knew his job  -Isaiah 40:3-6  A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;  make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level,  and the rough places a plain.  And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, …the LORD has spoken."

Malachi 3:  1 "Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

Malachi 4 For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts,. 5 "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.

"Go and tell John what you hear and see:5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

Acts 1:6 So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"7 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

"I tell you the truth," Jesus says, "among those born of women, there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist, yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." This next verse is very hard to translate. I'm not going to give you all the options and defend my particular one. Let me just tell you what I think it means. "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing."

"And forceful men lay hold of it." The two words that are used there, "forceful men" and "lay hold" are both words that are full of rapacity and evil and attack and rape. The idea is, from the days of John the Baptist, when Jesus started with his announcement of the dawning of the kingdom, preaching the coming of the kingdom, the kingdom has been forcefully advancing in the ministry of chapters 5, 6, and 7, and the great miracles of chapter 8, even in the trainee mission of chapter 10.

The kingdom has been forcefully advancing, but instead of a big bang and everything's over at the end, at the same time, rapists, theologically speaking, evil people, exploiters, have been trying to domesticate it, to control it, to belittle it, to capture it.  Right to the end there will be powerful advances for the gospel, matched by powerful persecutions for the gospel.

Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent.21 "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

There is the end time judgement!  There is the wrath to come that John heralded! It is real! But its main thing is the wrath of God comes on those who reject Jesus as the Messiah!   It is about Jesus!

You Can Be Greater Than John When You Keep The Main Thing The Main Thing

 See Jesus More Clearly

 See Your Job Clearly

 Invite people to Jesus

25 At that time Jesus declared, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children;26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.

27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

The gospel is forceful.  It is powerful! It works what God intends for it to work. That's why the Chinese Communist Party can't eradicate it!  That's why in the middle of the Iran Israel war muslims by the millions are coming to faith in Christ!  Nothing can stop the force of the gospel!!

Therefore in spite of persecutions, inspite of failing expectations, in spite of people:

INVITE PEOPLE TO JESUS 
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

The criteria for greatness in the kingdom of God is not only that we see Jesus clearly for who He is, but also our witness of Jesus.  We point him out to others. What makes us great is not just that we have the privilege of being Christians but that we bear witness to Christ with greater clarity and immediacy than all those that came before us, including John the Baptist, just as John bore witness to Christ with greater immediacy and clarity than all those who came before him.  Greatness in the kingdom of God is about seeing Jesus for Who He is and witnessing to others of who Jesus is.

There Is No Greater Purpose Than Presenting Christ
 John 3: 29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.30 He must increase, but I must decrease."

The book of Matthew concludes with

18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

"We go and make disciples of all nations because our very identity as Christians, our very significance in God's sweeping purposes is bound up with the fact that we can bear witness to Jesus more clearly, more immediately than any who came before the coming of the cross."