The Poor Have Good News Preached to Them

Gospel Reading: John the Baptist Asks Whether Jesus Is the Coming One

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now here's a message.

From Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew chapter 2 verses chapter 11 verses 2 through 15. Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another?

And Jesus answered them, you go and tell John what you hear and you see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear and the dead are raised, and the poor have good news preached to them.

And blessed is the one who is not offended by me. 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? No. What then did you go out to see?

A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold those who wear soft clothing are in kings houses. So what then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, behold I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way before you.

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. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.

For all the prophets in the law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it he is the Elijah who is to come. He who has an ear to hear, let him hear. In the name of Jesus. Alright, I gotta confess when I was doing my sermon prep on this text I actually nerded out.

It happens. Yeah, I found as I was reading this kind of a question I was having as I was trying to work through the text was, was John the Baptist having a moment of doubt? Was he really actually wondering if Jesus was really the Messiah?

John the Baptist’s Question and the Church Fathers’ Defense

And well, I started looking in the writings of the church fathers and what I found fascinating is in the sermons of the church fathers to a man they all defended John the Baptist and pointed to Jesus's statement where he says, did you go out into the wilderness to see a reed blown by the wind?

As proof that John the Baptist was not really asking this question for his own benefit. He was asking this for the benefit of the men that he sent. John was getting ready to finish his course by this time he's in prison.

And well, that sometimes happens when you are a repentance preacher and you tell the guy who's in charge of the land that well, the woman that he's sleeping with he shouldn't be sleeping with. Sometimes sinners don't like it when their idols are destroyed and so they, well, they react negatively.

So John finds himself in prison and true to John's form where he says, I must decrease, he must increase. He sends his disciples for the benefit of his disciples because he's about ready to die. And so the idea here is that he wants them to know for sure Jesus is the one I was always pointing to.

And I find that to be an interesting way of looking at the text and I find it difficult to argue with, especially given Jesus's words later. So with that we're going to work our way through our gospel text and we're going to braid into it, you know, kind of like what the women do with their hair.

We're going to braid into it our Old Testament text and we'll let James have the final say as we get to the end of our sermon today. So Matthew chapter 11 verse 2, when John heard in prison about the deeds of Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, Are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another?

Jesus answered them, You go and tell John what you see and what you hear. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news.

Preach to them. Now this particular list, you know, these are a list of the deeds that Jesus did and if you were noting what was said in our psalm today, a messianic psalm, Psalm 146 verse 8, the Lord opens the eyes of the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous, the Lord sets the captive free.

You see there was this ongoing litany, a list of things that the Israelites at this time were expecting the Messiah to do and you'll notice Jesus says the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, but notice Jesus doesn't quote that part of Psalm 146 where he says and the captives are set free.

He doesn't want word coming back to John that would give him any hope that he's about to get out of prison because he's not getting out of there alive. Something to keep in mind. But it's also important to note this, that these particular human malities, blindness, lameness, deafness, poverty, leprosy, are also used in Scriptures as well ways of describing our sinful condition.

Scripture says that we are born dead and trespasses and sins, that those who are following false teachers are the blind following the blind. Then over and again and even in this gospel text we hear Jesus use this refrain, the one who has ears to hear let him hear.

And so in a very real way we can look at this list and say that Jesus is still opening the eyes of the blind, those who are blinded by their sin, opening their ears to hear the gospel, cleansing them of their sins.

And we have to think of sins as a, well, leprous condition. And so there's a way in which you can understand these things. In fact, regarding poverty, remember what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5 verse 3 in the opening portion of the Sermon on the Mount, blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

And what exactly does it mean to be poor in spirit? This is the one who recognizes that because of his sinful condition or her sinful condition that they are spiritually bankrupt, they have nothing to offer God, they cannot pay God, well, any amount of money or any amount of good works that will spring them out of the clink, set them free from sin or earn them salvation.

The poor in spirit are those who say I've got nothing. And it's only the one who says I've got nothing that has an empty hand in which God can place everything. And that's what Scripture teaches. Now let me weave into this, you know, this theme of the blind, the poor, the lepers, all these things from Isaiah 35.

Isaiah 35 and the Coming New Earth

Isaiah 35 verse 1 says, the wilderness and the dry land shall be glad. Now this is an eschatological look at the future coming, the new earth, the new heavens, the new Jerusalem, the new Zion. The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad.

The desert shall be rejoiced and blossom like the crocus. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it. Majesty of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.

Strengthen the weak hands, make firm the feeble knees. So notice here in this opening portion of Isaiah, we have this again eschatological hope for the coming future, the second advent of Christ. And it's describing the new earth in such a way, well, it's as if the Garden of Eden has returned, overstepped its fence, and is now becoming, well, the whole earth itself.

So that we will no longer be able to look at photographs of the Sahara Desert. There will be no such thing. The whole earth will be lush and garden-like. That's a picture of the coming kingdom. And so because of all of this, we are told, strengthen the weak hands, make firm the feeble knees.

Say to those who have an anxious heart, be strong, fear not. Weak hands, feeble knees, anxious heart. Sounds like us, doesn't it? Sounds like me at times. Go through a difficult circumstance. One of those things you don't know what you're going to get out of.

Or wake up in the middle of the night with a start because you realize that you're going to die someday and stand before God. It's something that'll create anxiety like you wouldn't believe. But see, here these are comforting words of the gospel.

And God wants your weak hands, your feeble knees, your anxious heart to be comforted. And so we are comforted with these words, be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance and the recompense of God.

And He will come, not to judge you, to save you. His vengeance is saved up for those who persist in sin and unbelief. Those who continue to do the work of the devil and the devil and all of his demons themselves.

He will come with vengeance and get rid of them once and for all. None of their influences will have anything to say in the coming new earth. In the eyes of the blind shall be open, Isaiah says. The ears of the deaf unstop.

Notice the theme. Then shall the lame man leap like a deer, the tongue of the mute sing for joy. That's right, there will be no blindness, deafness, paraplegics, quadriplegics, anybody who needs a walker in the new kingdom.

The waters will break forth in the wilderness, streams in the desert, the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty springs of water, and the haunt of jackals where they lie, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

What a picture of the coming new earth. And a highway shall be there. It shall be called the highway of holiness. Now by way of a little bit of an interesting kind of sad bizarre story, ten years ago there was a group of charismatics associated with what's called the New Apostolic Reformation.

And one of their apostles, her name is Cindy Jacobs, she literally called a news crew up in Dallas and got them to come out to Highway 35 in Dallas. Now if you're familiar with this highway, it runs from Texas through Oklahoma on up to Minnesota.

You have to say it like that around here, people, you get what I'm saying. But and she literally had a film crew film her and her followers claiming that Highway 35 in the U .S. is the fulfillment of this prophecy and it's the highway of holiness.

No, it's not. And if you just pay attention to the details, it's like impossible. Last time I checked, there's a bunch of sinners from Texas all the way up to Minnesota. So this is not Highway 35, I'm just saying, okay?

So a highway shall be there, it shall be called the way of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it. You sit there and go, well that rules me out. Actually it doesn't. And here's the reason why. It's because you have come to the waters of baptism.

You've had your sins washed away. You've been brought to penitent faith in Christ and you are clothed in His righteousness. His sinless righteousness covers you much the same way this white alb covers the sin of your pastor.

And that's what this all visually represents. You have been made holy. Today you have heard the words of the absolution, I forgive you all of your sins. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Last week we feasted on the body and the blood of Christ and we heard these important words, broken and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. You see, you have been made holy. You have been made righteous.

All as a gift by our great God and Savior who wants words of comfort given to you so that you can know that when He comes He's not coming to judge you. He's coming to save you. So the unclean will not pass over it and you are among those who've been made clean by Christ.

It shall belong to those who walk on the way. What a fascinating passage of Scripture. It shall belong to those who walk on the way. If you know your Bible, what was the very first name given for Christianity?

It wasn't called Christianity, it was called the way. Yeah, yeah. You say, wait, can that mean? Yes, it does. See, it means that. It shall belong to those who walk on the way and you are those who are part of the way.

And it says this, even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. That's good news for me. Sometimes I behave very foolishly. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast come upon it. They shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there.

That's you. And the ransom of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing. That's you. Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

What a beautiful picture of what is coming. And all of this is because of God's great love and mercy to you and for you in Christ. And so then Jesus then continues in our Gospel text with these words, blessed is the one who is not offended by me.

The Offense of the Cross and the Wisdom of the World

Now there's this weird statement that people make from time to time in the church world, and that is they say something to the effect of, well, unbelievers really like Jesus, but they don't really like his followers so much.

And I understand what they're kind of getting at. I mean, have you ever run into a cranky Christian? They're kind of difficult to deal with, but I don't think that's really quite right. Because Jesus says, blessed is the one who's not offended by me.

And you think, well, what has Jesus done that's so offensive? Well, read your Bible. I mean, what were the people who were always grumbling and offended by Jesus saying, oh, he eats with sinners. I can't believe he's hanging out with the tax collectors and those prostitutes and that riffraff.

It was offensive. Well, see, the thing is, the reason why it would be offensive is because the person making such a claim doesn't realize that they too are part of that riffraff. They think that they're not, when in fact they are.

And so the offense of Jesus is the offense of the forgiveness of sins for all sinners. And so this is why Paul says in Romans chapter 1, starting at verse 16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. And the gospel truly is shameful for those who, well, are trying to save themselves.

For it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. Verse to the Jew and also to the Greek, for in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.

The Apostle Paul in 1st Corinthians chapter 1, starting at verse 18, talks more about this offense of the cross, the offense of Christ. And he writes, the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing.

You ever thought about that? It's folly. Seriously, you believe that the Son of God died for my sins? Really? You're saying that God is wrathful and that my bad deeds have to be atoned for in such a terrible way?

Well, yeah. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. So the word of the cross, well, it's folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it's the power of God. It is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.

Where is the wise one? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? Where's the self-help guru, the vision-casting leader? Yeah, the people who say, oh, it's really easy to live a victorious life, all you have to do is apply these three simple steps that I have discovered.

And then people will sit there and go, it worked for me. And if you sign up now, you can pay for this program with three easy payments of $99 .95 a month. We're always being sold these things. The wisdom of the world tells you, you can just be whatever you want to be.

Just try hard, follow our program, these three easy steps, and we'll even throw in a Vegematic free of charge and a pair of Ginsu knives to help. And everyone says, oh yes, this is the truth. But see, the word of the cross tells you, yeah, none of that ain't gonna work.

There's not a thing you can do. You are stuck. You need to be saved. And Christ has done it all for you. So has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of the world, the world did not know God through wisdom.

It pleased God through the folly of what we preach. Notice the cross. We preach this folly of the cross, and it's through the preaching of this folly that God saves those who believe. For Jews demand signs, Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified.

Total stumbling block to Jews, folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

And you'll notice here, God intentionally, according to this verse, has chosen a, well, to the world's eyes, something foolish, something silly, something dumb, something weak. And what is more weak than God nursing at the breast of the Virgin Mary, needing His diapers changed?

What is more weak than that? Oh, I know, God laying down His life and dying for our sins, rather than pulling out His flaming sword and lopping off the head of all the wicked evildoers. Jesus didn't do any of that.

He came in weakness. He came in foolishness. And the world expects power, money, prestige, wealth, and Jesus comes with none of that. He's from Nazareth, a town of like 50 people, poverty stricken like you wouldn't believe.

Can anything come good come from Nazareth? So God, the foolishness of God, is wiser than men. The weakness of God is stronger than men, Paul says. And he notes this at the beginning of chapter 2. When I came to you brothers, the Apostle Paul says, I did not come proclaiming you the testimony of God with lofty speech or with wisdom.

I decided to know nothing among you except for Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Nothing. There is nothing. That's the wisdom of God. That's the message that saves. The actions of our Messiah, who comes to earth born in abject poverty, goes to the cross with nothing and in shame and bleeds and dies for us so that we might live.

So Jesus again notes that blessed is the one who is not offended by me and believe me the cross is really offensive to the world. Then Jesus then continues. So they went away. John's disciples went away.

And so Jesus gives us a little bit of a note about John the Baptist. 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? Interesting statement.

Was John a reed shaken by the wind? If you want to know what that really is, think of the theologian or the pastor or the person who sits there and takes their finger, their theological finger, licks it, sticks it up into the wind.

And if the winds are blowing this way, they kind of lean that way. If the winds are blowing this way, they're kind of leaning this way, right? The person who has no spine. They like choose to blend in.

Was John the Baptist like that? Like not even close. You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee the wrath to come? I don't think you could say to yourself that Abraham is our father. That doesn't sound like a reed blowing in the wind.

Not at all. His message was repent. And if you weren't really all that interested in it, he'd spit a grasshopper leg in your face and then tell it to you again. So, did you go out into the wilderness to see a reed shaken by the wind?

No. And this is the reason why we know that John's really not doubting here. He was not that. So what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? No. John the Baptist looked like a homeless person.

I mean, we're not sure where he got his camel hair jacket from, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't Nordstrom's. And that belt? Yeah, I don't see that as any of like the fashionable accessories for this Christmas to be buying.

Nope, none of that. So no, he wasn't that. He says, behold those who wear soft clothing, they're in King's houses. Well, what then did you go out to see? And listen carefully. A prophet? Yes. And I tell you more than a prophet.

And that's what John is. He's a prophet and a little bit more. This is he of whom it is written, behold I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way before you. Now, to kind of show how John the Baptist was a prophet and more than a prophet, you kind of have to think of it this way.

This time of the year they have Christmas parades. And I always find it fascinating that all of the Christmas parades, the person of honor at the end of the parade, it isn't Jesus. It's always Santa Claus.

Now, if that doesn't seem backwards, upside down, and inside out, I don't know what does. But let's just kind of roll with this fact for a second here. And we all know how the parades work. You got the kind of the okay bands from that like weird school that kind of start the parade off.

And you got the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts. And as you get closer and closer to Santa Claus, the parade gets a little bit better. The bands start to have a little bit more skill. And the costumes get a little, well, better.

You know, they put some money and thought into it. And right before Santa Claus appears, I mean, the parade looks like, I mean, they spent a truckload of money. And so the guys who appear just before Santa Claus, they're the best dress.

But they're all kind of heralding the arrival of Santa Claus. John's kind of like that. You got the prophets. And then as you get closer, he's the prophet right before Jesus. And he gets to do way more than any prophet ever did.

Now, like I told you at the beginning of the sermon, I totally nerded out in my sermon prep. I found a quote from a church father that we don't even know who he was. We found this in a parchment and, well, the author's name was missing.

So we don't know who actually who wrote this. Was it Ambrose? Was it Augustine? Was it Irenaeus? We don't know. But listen to this. One of the church fathers writing on this said, where Jesus says, yes, I tell you more than a prophet.

He asked the question, now, it is the task of a prophet to foretell Christ, but was it also the task of a prophet to recognize God while he was still implanted in the womb? You think about this. The prophets of old, they pointed to Jesus.

But John the Baptist began pointing to Jesus, well, think of it this way. Y 'all remember your little babies, the first babies you brought home? What was the thing you were always fascinated with? Their cute little tiny fingers and toes.

Okay, so there's John the Baptist in utero, right? And his mother is now six months pregnant, and there's his tiny little fingers inside of his mother's womb, and Jesus shows up in the womb of Mary, and he's going, that's him, that's him, that's him.

Which prophet got to do that? Only John the Baptist. It was also the task of a prophet to recognize God while he, okay, it is the task of a prophet to receive prophecy in exchange for a worthy way of life, but was it the task of a prophet to be made a prophet before being made a man and before receiving any reward?

See, John the Baptist was set aside to be a prophet before he was even created. It is the task of a prophet to receive blessing from God, but is it the task of a prophet to confer the blessing of baptism on God?

Which of the prophets can say, I got to baptize God? John kind of protested at that particular task. It didn't even make sense. It is the task of a prophet to speak of Christ before his time, but is it the task of a prophet to stand face to face with Christ and point him out with his own fingers?

It is the task of a prophet to give prophecies about God, but is it the task of a prophet that God should make prophecies about the prophet himself? And you'll note this, that John the Baptist, a prophet, actually has a prophecy about him.

Which of the other prophets can say that? So he's a prophet and way more than a prophet. He was the one of whom it was said, behold I send my messenger before your face. So Jesus says, truly I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.

Yet, and listen carefully, the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven. Now Jesus flips eschatologically, fast forwarding to that day when Eden slips her bounds and takes over the whole earth and we are on the highway of holiness.

He says in that day the person who is the least in the kingdom of heaven, the least, and you sit there and go, I might qualify for that. Yeah, me too, right? The least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he by virtue of, well, the conferred righteousness of God.

So from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence. Indeed it has. Christians are persecuted to this day around the world. The violent try to take it by force, but you can't barge your way into the kingdom of heaven.

For all the prophets in the law, they prophesied, listen to this important word, all the prophets in the law prophesied until John. It's as if Jesus is saying, they've done their job. We don't need them anymore.

And that's right, we don't. Because the book of Hebrews begins with the words that in the past in various, in many ways, God spoke through the prophets, but now in these last days he's spoken to us by his Son.

See, all the prophets point to him and now that Jesus has arrived, we don't need them anymore. We don't. We have the complete Word of God, God himself completing the task through his apostles that he sent.

So all the prophets in the law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to ear, let him hear. And so in light of all of this and this theme, this theme of the coming great kingdom of God, where even the least of us is greater than John the Baptist, in light of all of that's coming, this arrival of our Savior, we'll let James, Jesus's half-brother, give us the last words of encouragement.

Patience, Suffering, and the Coming of the Lord

Be patient. Be patient, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth. And I must confess before coming to Kongsvinger, this was a very abstract concept for me, but some of you know exactly what this means.

You plant your seeds in springtime and you wait patiently and you pray for good weather. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it until it receives the early and the late rains.

You also be patient. Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged. Behold, the judge is sitting at the door.

Hmm. Notice, Jesus is right at the door. That door is about ready to open. Kind of an important thing. So in light of that, be patient, don't grumble against each other, and we have now an example. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord, including John the Baptist.

Notice the patience with which that they suffered for proclaiming the truth and proclaiming Christ. Behold, we consider those who remained steadfast, blessed. Indeed, we have. The one who finishes his course in the faith is truly blessed.

You have heard of the steadfastness of Job. Oh, that's quite the book. And you have seen the purpose of the Lord, and listen to these words, how the Lord is compassionate and He's merciful. Brothers and sisters, there's a new world coming.

Behold, Christ is making all things new. He's sitting at the door about ready to open it. The new world will be here before you can, well, blink your eyes, and Eden will return and overtake the whole new earth.

The highway of holiness, we will all be traveling on it and singing the praises of our great God and King as we go to that place, that new Jerusalem, to see our God and behold His majesty and worship Him in awe and wonder.

It is just around the corner. Be patient. Be steadfast, because our Lord is compassionate and merciful. Remain in His mercy. Remain in His grace. Continue to look to the future in hope, because you are in Christ.

You have been made holy. You are forgiven. In the name of Jesus,.

Amen. If you would like to support the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, you can do so by sending a tax-free donation to Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, 15950 470th Avenue NW, Oslo, Minnesota 56744.

And again, that address is Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, 15950 470th Avenue NW, Oslo, Minnesota 56744. We thank you for your support. All of our teaching messages may be freely distributed as long as you do not edit or change the content of the message.

And again, thank you for listening.