Matthew 11: Taking the Kingdom by Force (1)
Pray Psalm 40.11-13.
Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O LORD;
Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me.
For innumerable evils have surrounded me;
My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up;
They are more than the hairs of my head;
Therefore my heart fails me.
Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me;
O LORD, make haste to help me!
Sing Psalm 40.11-13.
Dix: For the Beauty of the Earth
Keep Your mercy not from me; let Your love and truth prevail.
Evil and iniquity make my trembling heart to fail.
LORD, be pleased to rescue me! Let my shelter with You be.
Read Matthew 11.1-6. Meditate on verses 2 and 3.
Which “works of Christ”?
Prepare.
1. Why do you think John sent these disciples to Jesus?
2. What did Jesus tell John’s disciples to tell him?
Meditate.
I do not agree with commentators and preachers who see in this passage an indication that John the Baptist’s faith was faltering. John was simply doing, by a different means, what he had been doing from the beginning of his ministry: directing people to Jesus.
During his time of imprisonment, prior to his murder by King Herod, some of John’s disciples remained with him. We would expect that. But John must have known that he had come to the end of his journey, and he wanted all his disciples to connect with Jesus. So he sent two of his disciples—who would no doubt have heard about Jesus and His works—to hear from Jesus Himself whether He was the “Coming One”.
I suspect that this question was not lingering in John’s mind; rather, I believe it must have been troubling the minds of those disciples who were still attached to him. John chose a strategy he had used from the beginning, as he sent two of his disciples to “come and see” Jesus for themselves (Jn. 1.29-39).
Jesus turned John’s disciples into messengers of the Kingdom. He sent them back to John to report on the things they had seen and heard. This is just what He did with His disciples. Here he made two men messengers, and sent them back to John to tell in their own words and from their own observation what Jesus had done. Can’t you see the pleased smile emerging on John’s face as these brothers excitedly reported, in the presence of John’s remaining disciples, what they had seen and heard? Like those disciples on the road to Emmaus, these two would have had their hearts warmed and assured; their voices would have been charged with conviction and passion. And the other disciples of John who heard them would have wanted to beat a path to Jesus, post haste.
Precisely as John intended.
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
John the Baptist’s faith was not faltering.
This was a man who lived in the desert, who wore camel’s hair clothing, ate locusts and wild honey, and called everybody to repentance. This was no shrinking violet. His was not a pampered lifestyle.
He confronted Herod about his adulterous relationship and was now facing death due to his courageous stand for righteousness. No, this was not a man whose faith was faltering.
When John first began his ministry, priests and Levites came out to the desert to ask him a few questions.
“Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent to us? What do you say about yourself?
He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Make straight the way of the LORD’” (Jn. 1.22, 23).
John was merely employing the same tactic that foisted him forth into his own ministry.
The questions he had his two disciples pose to Jesus were equally as effective:
“Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”
Jesus answered them,
“Go and tell John the things which you hear and see:
The blind see and the lame walk;
the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear;
the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me” (Matt. 11.3-6).
Now John was turning his disciples and ministry over to Jesus.
He was not trying to keep his own ministry afloat after the fact.
He was putting all he had and did into the hands of the One
for Whom he did the work in the first place.
God is quite capable of raising up new leaders.
And this change-over was essential—as the message was changing from,
“Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matt. 3.2); to
“Behold, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn. 1.29).
And then the filling of the Holy Spirit (Jn. 16.7-14) which brings all into full Kingdom living:
Here and now and there and then.
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them” (Ez. 36.26, 27).
John fulfilled his work of preparing the way of the LORD (Lk. 1.76). That was his calling.
He finished well by sending his disciples on to a fuller and more complete Gospel in Jesus.
And his disciples’ words back to him must have been a great encouragement to him.
When, knowingly, the axe was about to fall, John saw that his work was worthwhile.
May we finish as well—never faltering in our faith—giving and sending all to Jesus.
Reflect.
1. John was always pointing to Jesus. How can you point the people in your Personal Mission Field to Jesus?
2. Whom will you point to Jesus today? How will you do that? How should you prepare?
3. What do you risk by pointing people to Jesus? What do you gain?
John asks this not because he is ignorant but to guide others who are ignorant and to say to them, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Jerome (347-420), Commentary on Matthew 2.11.3
Pray Psalm 40.1-10.
How will the Lord use you today? Let these verses prepare you for the day ahead, so that you go into it as a faithful messenger of Jesus Christ.
Sing Psalm 40.1-10.
Dix: For the Beauty of the Earth
I waited patiently for God; He inclined and heard my cry,
lifted me up above the sod, set me on a Rock on high!
New songs in my mouth He gave; may He through me many save.
Blessed are all who trust in You, turning both from lies and pride.
Countless wonders, LORD, You do, and Your thoughts with us abide.
LORD, Your worth who can declare? None with You can e’er compare.
Off’rings You do not require—open now my ears, O LORD!
What from me do You desire? Firm delight to do Your Word.
Take my life in ev’ry part; write Your Law upon my heart.
LORD, Your truth will I proclaim to Your people gathered ’round,
nor will I my lips restrain—let Your precious ways resound!
Of Your saving grace and Word I would speak, most loving LORD.
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
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Other columns of interest: This week: The Read Moore podcast continues readings from our book, The Kingdom Turn. Our Crosfigell teaching letter presses ahead in a series on the state of the Church in Europe at the time of the Celtic Revival. The ReVision column begins to examine the hope for the church, especially struggling churches. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
