Draft submitted
12/12/16
3 Advent
Matthew 11:2-11
The Rev. Joel W. Huffstetler
11 December 2016
Some historical context is essential to get the most meaning out of this gospel
passage. A man called Herod Antipas was Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea during the time of
Jesus and John the Baptist. One theological dictionary defines tetrarch as, "A petty ruler of
a dependent state." Herod Antipas would not have liked that definition! A petty ruler of a
dependent state. Herod was a puppet of the Roman government. He ruled Galilee and
Perea strictly at the pleasure of the Romans. So to most Jews Herod Antipas was a
collaborator. He was a traitor because he had accommodated himself to Roman rule in
order to have just a small bit of political power. So this is the person who has John the
Baptist thrown into prison. Herod Antipas had left Galilee at one point and went to Rome.
And during that trip he seduced his brother's wife and brought her back to Galilee. John the
Baptist took exception to this and Herod did have enough power to put John in prison. So
the historical background of this passage is John the Baptist, this fiery, independent, selfconfident prophet is languishing in prison. Let's just try to imagine how frustrated, how
maddening it would have been for John the Baptist to be imprisoned by a person he
considered to be a traitor. So it's in that context that John the Baptist sent a message to
Jesus, "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" This passage is one
of the most substantive passages in the gospels, both historically and theologically. We get
a taste here of the political realities of the day. There is a puppet government in place that
maintains Jewish tradition but in reality it is only a puppet government. Rome is really in
charge.
There is something deeply theological about this question John the Baptist sends to
Jesus, "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" John the Baptist of
course had prophesied that Jesus was the Messiah, God's anointed one. And now John is
in prison, and Jesus is preaching, going from village to village, and John is wondering, ‘Hey
cuz, how about busting me out of here?’ ‘If you're really the Messiah, is my being in prison
part of a plan?’ This is a deeply theological question that John the Baptist gets to Jesus,
‘Are you who I thought you were, or should we wait for someone else?’ In the Greek text the
word for another is heteron. And heteron means ‘another kind.’ If the question were simply,
"Should we wait for someone else," the Greek word that would have been used is allos. But
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in the Greek text it is heteron, which can be translated into English as another one, or
someone else. But the deeper meaning in the Greek is, "Should we wait for another kind of
Messiah?" This is a heavily weighted question. This isn't just John's frustration with being in
prison. He's asking Jesus, ‘Are you really the Messiah? Because my vision of the Messiah
is a person who would bust me out of here.’
Jesus' answer is this: "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their
sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the
poor have good news brought to them." This is a reference to Isaiah 35. There's a little bit of
Isaiah 61 tossed in here but it is primarily Isaiah 35. Jesus' answer is not extended
theological rhetoric. He says to John's messengers, ‘Tell him what you see and hear.’ And
then he quotes Isaiah. What Jesus is saying to John is, ‘I am the one who is to come, but
my vision of the kingdom is different than yours.’ Jesus goes on to say, "And blessed is
anyone who takes no offense at me." The word for offense here in the Greek text is
skandalisthē from which we get scandal and scandalize. The most literal translation from
Greek to English of this would be, "And blessed is anyone who takes no scandal from me,"
"Blessed is anyone who isn't scandalized by me." One translation from the Revised English
Bible is, "And blessed are those who do not find me an obstacle to faith." And I love this
dynamic translation from N.T. Wright, "And God bless you if you are not upset by what I'm
doing."
Jesus' answer to John is, "I am the one, but my vision of the kingdom is different."
John's vision was of a political revolution. The traditional, conventional understanding was
that the Messiah would throw out the foreign oppressors and reestablish God's kingdom in a
political entity, a theocracy, the peace of King David reexperienced. This is what John was
expecting from the Messiah - revolution, judgement for the foreign oppressors, and the
restoration of a theocracy with the Messiah as its head. But Jesus' vision is more like that of
Isaiah - healing, good news to the poor, teaching, and ultimately, forgiveness. The kingdom
for Jesus is forgiveness of sin for all. Luke even has it from Jesus, "The kingdom of God is
within you." Jesus' vision of the kingdom was not for a political reality but for people to know
that their sins were forgiven, and that all people were equal in God's sight. It's a strong
answer here to a strong question, ‘Are you who I thought you were?’ ‘Yes, I am, but I have a
different vision than you about what the kingdom of God is like.’
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A scholar named Leon Morris has written a very fine, massive commentary on the
Gospel of Matthew. And Morris says about this passage, "Jesus was nothing like the
conventional understanding of the Messiah, and because of this people wedded to
traditional ways might be highly offended by him." Thus Jesus' teaching, "And blessed is
anyone who takes no offense at me." Jesus himself knew the traditions. He knew what kind
of Messiah people were expecting. His vision was different. Healing, good news to the poor,
mercy, not a political revolution. The kingdom was for all who would receive the good news
of God's forgiveness and love.
There's a similar passage in Luke that can help us interpret John's question. You
may be familiar with Luke 24, which includes what we call the Walk to Emmaus. On Easter
Day, Jesus in his resurrected form was walking with two of his followers back to their home
in Emmaus, which is seven miles outside of Jerusalem. But, in his resurrected form Jesus
was not recognized by his followers. And so they're walking along and the followers are
telling this mysterious figure all that had happened in the Jerusalem in the last few days.
And there is a rumor that their Lord had been resurrected but they can't really believe it. So
these disciples are crushed by the humiliation of the person they thought was the Messiah
having been crucified by the Romans. With their own leadership (Herod Anitpas) in
collaboration with the Romans. Nothing could be more humiliating for a Jew than for the
person you thought was the Messiah to be crucified by the Romans. And so, these followers
are crushed. They're on their way home, and they don't know that Jesus has risen. And they
say at one point to Jesus in Luke 24:21, "But we had hoped he was the one to redeem
Israel.” They are sharing John's conventional understanding. Luke 24:21 can also be
translated, "But we had hoped that he was the one to set Israel free." We see from these
two disciples on the road to Emmaus the same kind of thinking that John the Baptist held. A
vision of the Messiah being a warrior establishing an earthly kingdom. Jesus' vision was
very different. He's offering good news to everyone, forgiveness. And that forgiveness leads
to reconciliation with God. And that peace with God can then lead to reconciliation with one
another.
"Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" Jesus response in
effect was, ‘I am the one, but it's a different kind of kingdom.’
I'm going to close with two quotations, each just one sentence. Again from Leon
Morris: "Great though he was, John the Baptist belonged to the old order." This passage
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doesn't diminish the importance of John the Baptist. Jesus says he was "...more than a
prophet," but in the end, John is thinking in the traditional, conventional way. Morris puts it,
"He was of the old order." And then a quotation from William Barclay, "With Jesus, there
came into the world something absolutely new." I just want to leave us with that. “With
Jesus, there came into the world something absolutely new." In Jesus, we see the love of
God, perfectly embodied and offered to everyone. Amen.
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