Matthew 11:2-11
Jesus Is The Messiah”
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, Oh Lord, Our King, Our Strength and Our Redeemer! AMEN
A warm welcome to everyone...
before the God of my heart I greet you!
Today's gospel message deals with an important period in the ministry of Jesus. People were coming out to see Jesus as they learned about him and his teachings and John the Baptiser sent some of his disciples to enquire of Jesus whether He is the Christ - the anointed of God!
John who announced that Jesus (his cousin) was 'The Lamb that takes away the sins of the world'.had been in the Wilderness preaching Repent! For the kingdom of God is near.Known today as John the Baptiser,as he baptised many in repentance of sin, preparing the way for Jesus the Messiah who himself came to John to be baptised. John was like a good gardener that prepares the soil for the Owner. When Jesus came up out of the water, God,the Father spoke from Heaven,This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
From then on Jesus' Ministry began. Our gospel today takes us to the time when John was in prison,and when he heard what Jesus was doing he sent his disciples to Jesus for them to ask of Him if He was the one to come or to continue to wait for another.
Could we be like this at times? Not sure of our standing with God? Wondering why we personally are not seeing spiritual results at this time? Why aren't all our prayers answered?
Have you noticed that Jesus does not answer John's question directly?
He does not go through the scriptures and prove by all the fulfilled prophesies that He is the Messiah. He does not send back an erudite message to prove His superior Godly intellect.
No, what Jesus does is point John to what He is doing! He sends back this message....
Mat 11:4 Jesus told them, "Go back to John and tell him about what you have heard and seen -- 5 the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor. 6 And tell him: 'Blessed are those who are not offended by me. '"
Look to Jesus and see what He is doing TODAY. Jesus IS working in the Church.
Things may not be happening right where you are but look around – Things are happening!
And what you see Jesus doing elsewhere He can bring where you are if you exercise faith, so don't get offended if you have not seen it in your area yet! Just keep looking to Jesus and learning and growing in faith. Remember faith comes from, “hearing and hearing, from the word of God”, - Jesus.
The next thing that Jesus told the crowd should be a great encouragement to you. He said...
Mat 4:11 "I assure you, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the most insignificant person in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he is!
John, Jesus said, was the greatest prophet thus far, but anyone in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he was! That means you and I! As we are told in Colossians 1:13...
Col 1:13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
We are in the kingdom now and while we are not yet walking in the gifts that God has for us, as we look on Jesus we see the potential that we have in this world! As Jesus said in John 20:21...
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
Jesus sends us with power and authority.
We are all disciples. The commission given by Jesus was to make disciples! So you have the same potential as Peter or Paul or John!
So, let's look to Jesus and as we learn and grow in faith let's live up to his example and “heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead and cast out demons” , like He told us to, when they come into our path!
If we don't try we won't do but as we grow in faith we WILL try and we WILL do!
God believes in us which is why He called us.
Surely it's time for us to be believers also!
Amen.
Janetta.