March 18: Go Tell John

Jesus and John the Baptist

Luke 7:18-35

Matthew 11:1-19

Sinful Woman Anoints Jesus’ Feet

Luke 7:36-50

Women Accompany Jesus

Luke 8:1-3

Jesus and Beelzebub

Mark 3:20-30

Matthew 12:22-45

Luke 11:14-26

Let’s look at John the Baptist…

- His parents were old and should not have been able to have a child.

- In his mother’s womb, he was filled with the Holy Spirit.

- Miracles surrounded his birth.

- He was given the responsibility of proclaiming the Messiah’s appearance.

But things didn’t quite turn out how you might have expected…

- His parents died while he was young.

- He lived in the desert eating insects and wearing clothes made of camel’s hair.

- He did proclaim the soon-coming of the Promised One.

- He baptized Jesus, giving credibility to his own ministry.

- He continued his boisterous preaching, calling people to repent for the Kingdom of Heaven was coming soon.

- He lost a few disciples to Jesus; and soon, his crowds diminished – they were listening to and following Jesus. That was fine; he even said of Jesus, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

But then things just got worse…

- He preached a message on divorce and remarriage, and the wrong person heard it, Herod Antipas, the son of the man who had tried to kill Jesus when He was a baby.

- This Herod got involved with his brother’s wife. He divorced his wife and took his brother’s wife from him. The Jewish religious leaders said nothing to Herod about any of this, but to the Jews this was incest. You weren’t to sleep with your brother’s wife.

- John continued his preaching against sin, namely this sin of Herod; so Herod threw him in prison.

After being in prison for over a year, John must have been thinking, “This is not what I expected.” And maybe, just maybe, a little doubt set in.

Are things not working out quite like you thought they would? Is your life not exactly what you had expected? We are laying claim to Jesus’ promise in John 10:10 that we would receive the FULLER LIFE that he has for us. But I must temper of all this with the understanding that God – in His infinite wisdom – will do whatever He wants to do. Just remember that the abundant life that God has for us may not look exactly like what the abundant life would be if we could decide for ourselves.

Selah (meaning “think on these things”).