Sermon: The Deeds of the Messiah Matthew 11:1-6
Truth Taught- Jesus is the Messiah proven by His Words and Deeds.
Introduction
Our Gospel now turns from Jesus’ instructing the twelve and sending them off back to His ministry. Jesus picks up where He left off preaching, teaching and doing all the amazing deeds He did before.
As He travels through the cities fulfilling His mission He encounters some of John the Baptist’s disciples being sent by John with a very important question.
Now, John is in prison in Herod’s Temple.
Here is a case where one of God’s prophets stood up to an evil tyrant. Because of John’s fame and being very popular with the people Herod couldn’t let him keep saying what he was saying about him and his sin so Herod had John arrested. On the other hand, because the people loved John so much Herod couldn’t kill John that would make him very unpopular.
Luke 3:19–20 (ESV)
19 But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, 20 added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison.
Matthew 11:1–10 (ESV)
11 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 disciples 3 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.”
1. Are You the Messiah?
11 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 disciples 3 and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”
John was very spirited and committed to his mission and his faith. At the same time when you take someone like John the Baptist and put him in prison it can have a very negative affect on him.
For John who has been taken out of the action and made to sit in prison doubts begin to take hold. He knows who Jesus is and what he has said about Him…
Matthew 3:11–12 (ESV)
11 “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.”
John 1:15 (ESV)
15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”)
John 1:29–34 (ESV)
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
John knew all these things. He had seen Jesus. He had been a participant in His baptism. He saw the Holy Spirit descend, heard God’s voice and was there when Jesus began His ministry…and yet one’s thoughts can take over when your in prison.
Why hasn’t Jesus executed His overthrow of all His enemies? Why hasn’t Jesus set up His Kingdom and made everything right? What John had missed, as did many of Jesus’ followers, was the fact that He will do all these things but not until He returns at His second coming.
John’s confusion was probably along these lines…Jesus has authority to cast out demons but why does He not do anything about evil people? Where is the condemnation of the wicked and setting up God’s righteous kingdom? For John, there was a misunderstanding of the timing of these events and this brought him doubt.
John’s question really goes something like this in the original…
We hear what You are doing; should we interpret this as the ministry of the Messiah that I predicted?
2. Tell John What You Hear and See
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.”
It’s evident with a closer reading that John had already heard about the ministry of Jesus.
2 Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ
However, what he needed was confirmation and a theological arrangement or we might say a systematic theology concerning Jesus’ actions in word and deed.
John’s question whether Jesus was the Messiah needed a summary answer that the deeds of Jesus were things only the Messiah could do.
Sometimes, beloved, we can read God’s Word and certain things may escape our attention. It’s such a wonderful blessing from God that He has raised up for the Church leaders and scholars who can explain the Bible and help put things in an order we can grasp. We do need discernment because not all would tell us the truth but we can rely on some who have a proven track record in profitable commentary of God’s Word.
Something else I’ve noticed is that people often have difficulty in applying Scripture. This is where John the Baptist was struggling. He was having some trouble in connecting the dots from Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah and what He would accomplish to Jesus and what He was doing to his own belief and faith in Jesus as the Messiah.
I love this passage because it teaches us so many very practical points…
John the Baptist was not superhuman. He had his human frailties like we do. He was concerned and a little confused about whether or not Jesus was the promised Messiah. What did John do?
John went straight to Jesus. He was in prison and couldn’t go himself but He sent two disciples to find out straight from Jesus the truth. Rather than speculating he got the answer from Jesus. This is a great lesson for us, go to Jesus for truth and for answers. Don’t speculate or worry go to the source and find truth. Great lesson for us.
Another practical application is Jesus is patient with John and his disciples. Our Lord doesn’t get at all angry or frustrated but shows love and compassion when asked a question that perhaps they should have known the answer to. Jesus is loving and kind when we ask questions in prayer. He’s not short or frustrated, He wants us to ask.
This issue of whether or not Jesus is the Messiah is not a small matter. Did you know that the destiny of John’s soul depended on Jesus’ answer and John’s belief on this very matter? Did you know that ours does too?
Let’s begin by looking at a few OT Scripture passages. These are the predictive passages. These are the ones Jesus is referring to when He goes through His list with John’s disciples. These are the passages that explain what the Messiah will be doing and how it is He can be recognized.
Isaiah 26:19 (ESV)
19 Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.
You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!
Isaiah 29:18 (ESV)
18 In that day the deaf shall hear
the words of a book,
and out of their gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind shall see.
Isaiah 35:5–6 (ESV)
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.
For waters break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
Isaiah 61:1–2 (ESV)
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;
It is vital that we see Jesus as the fulfillment of all the passages that tell us what the Messiah will do and say. His miracles were not just miraculous deeds but they were signs that pointed to who He is…
John 20:30–31 (ESV)
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John wants his readers to be persuade that Jesus is the Anointed/Christ/Messiah. A similar emphasis is found in the Synoptic Gospels. Matthew, Mark and Luke all highlight Simon Peter’s declaration: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matt 16:16; Mark 8:29; Luke 9:20 has the briefer statement, ‘The Christ of God’). Not only does Peter’s affirmation that Jesus is the Anointed/Christ/Messiah mark an important turning point in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, but the opening words of both Gospels introduce Jesus as the Christ (Matt 1:1; Mark 1:1).
The culture surrounding John and his disciples was a culture that had expectations of the Messiah King being a Warrior King. This is going to happen at Jesus’ return but that time has not come yet.
Within a culture that associated the coming of a Jewish king, descended from the line of David, with military and political domination, Jesus was concerned that He might be misunderstood. With good reason, he told Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). Jesus did not come to establish his rule through military power, but by giving his life as an atoning sacrifice for the sin of His people. He challenged his hearers to embrace his teaching of love towards enemies. Even when the people greeted him as “the son of David” on his entering Jerusalem, Jesus rode on a donkey, not a warrior’s horse (Matt 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-10; Luke 19:29-38; John 12:12-15).
Against a background of confusing messianic expectations,14 Jesus re-educated his disciples regarding their understanding of the concept of Anointed/Christ/Messiah, clarifying the messianic hope set out in the Old Testament. This process is reflected in the parables of the kingdom in Matthew 13. The parable of the wheat and weeds implies that Jesus has not come at this time as royal judge to root out the wicked (Matt 13:24-30, 37-43). Good and evil will coexist until a future judgment. In the present, the kingdom of God will grow surrounded by evil. The parables of the mustard seed and of yeast imply that the kingdom of heaven will not be established through earth-shattering events (Matt 13:31-33). The kingdom will grow slowly, almost unnoticed.
So we also see that Jesus didn’t answer John’s disciples question by simply saying yes I am the Messiah. There were others popping up claiming that so rather than saying yes I am, because anyone could make the claim. What did Jesus say?
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.”
Go tell John that the Messianic prophecies in the Book of Isaiah are coming true right before your eyes…
I’m sure that once John the Baptist heard this amazing news His doubts were erased and his faith strengthened. There’s a part of us that wants to hear more about what happened when John’s disciples went back and told him Jesus’ answer. The Bible is not about John the Baptist is it? It’s about Jesus. So, Matthew and the other Gospel writers often stop short so they can refocus our gaze upon our Lord.
God has come to His people as He had promised.
One day when the Messiah returns, He will come in great and mighty glory not riding a donkey as He did in the Gospels as He entered Jerusalem but He will be riding a Kings horse.
Are you ready to meet King Jesus? Are you fully convinced that He is the Messiah sent by God to save His people? Have you trusted Jesus as Lord and Savior? And King?
*Resources Used:
Matthew by D A Carson in the Expositor’s Bible Commentary
A Theology of Matthew by Charles Quarles
A Gospel of Matthew by France
Matthew by Craig Bloomberg
Matthew by Doriani
Matthew by Charles Price
Matthew by Leon Morris
