How to Become Greater than the Greatest

I love how gnarly John the Baptist always looks in art!

My very good friend, Branon, called me to talk about John the Baptist and Jesus.  What a wild relationship they must have had.  Cousins who grew up together, shared the same dedication to the Law of God, and anxiously anticipated the Kingdom of God brought by the Messiah.   At the end of life, from King Herod’s prison cell, John sent disciples to Jesus to ask if he is the one they’ve been waiting for.  You can read about this in Luke 7:18-33.  Jesus’ answer is short and like many other sayings of Jesus—it sounds like it avoids the question.  What Jesus really does, is reframe the question to carefully reveal the Kingdom of God.  Jesus answers in vv 22, 23, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”

Branon pointed out that Jesus was referencing Isaiah 61 in which the Messiah (the Hebrew anointed one) described the mission for which he was anointed.  At the beginning of his public ministry, Jesus stood in the synagogue to read from Isaiah 61.  With boldness he finished his reading, rolled up the scroll and said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled.”  (Lk 4:21).  What sort of Messiah would Jesus be?  He began his ministry by pointing toward the Anointed One of Isaiah 61.  When asked by John’s disciples, Jesus recalled the work he had done as a witness to his anointedness.

Branon also keenly noticed that in Jesus’ reply to John’s disciples he left out a segment of Isaiah 61:  “To proclaim liberty to the captives.”  If there was a part of the Messiah’s job description that was most relevant  for John, it was the release of prisoners!  Why did Jesus leave that part out when it is precisely that work that would ease John’s troubled mind?  For another thing, why didn’t Jesus start this part of his ministry by setting John free?

We were sensitive to John’s questioning if Jesus was the Messiah.  We thought if we had lived a life like John’s we would also have an end of life crisis.  He spent his adult life on the margin of society—living in the desert, wearing camel hair clothes, and eating locusts and honey.  Just before Jesus came on the scene, he started acting much like a prophet.  The problem with being a prophet is that speaking the word of the Lord usually results in people hating you and wanting to take your life.  In one episode near the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, while John was baptizing people, the baptizer stopped what he was doing to point and say, “Look, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”  With confidence John witnessed to Jesus.  At the end of his life, John sat in a prison for calling out the angry King Herod.   With time to look back at his life he must have wondered if it was worth it.  Were all of his efforts to prepare the way of the Lord worth it?  Did he spend his life on the wrong person?  Was Jesus the Messiah?  If so, his life was well spent.  If not...

Another phrase from Isaiah 61 that was missing from Jesus’ response to John’s disciples was “To bind the broken heart.”  Certainly in the midst of an existential end of life crisis, John’s heart would be mended to hear the words from Jesus.  Jesus assured him that he was the Messiah.  John could suffer in peace knowing that his life had meaning.

Still, what is with this omitted “release for the captives?”  While Jesus’ ministry was full of amazing miracles, he did not release people from prison walls (especially not John).  The activity of the first disciples involved dramatic jail breaks, but not Jesus’ life.  Yet as I look back at the significance of some of Jesus’ miracles, prisoners were released.  Think of Mary Magdalene who lived a life imprisoned by social stigma, shame, and objectification.  Her encounter with Jesus set her free.  Or the lepers who after their encounter with Jesus were free to re-enter society.  Think of Zacchaeus and Matthew whose greed kept them bound to be hated by their fellow citizens.  To spiritualize this “release of the prisoner” even more, the Christian tradition insists that in the Resurrection Jesus broke the chains of sin and death.

Check out the busted chains and locks.  Talk about release for the prisoner.

 Prison walls were never broken, and justice systems were never corrected.  The rioter and murderer, Barabbas, went free while the Anointed One was punished.  John the Baptist was imprisoned and eventually beheaded while Herod lived in luxury. 

It was not for lack of love that Jesus did not release John from prison.  For in Luke 7 he spoke highly of him as a prophet of God, and even said in v 28 “I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John.”  Excellent right?  Well Jesus didn’t even stop for a breath before continuing: “I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”  The one who is least in the Kingdom is actually greater than the greatest?  Jesus must have been carefully revealing the kingdom again.

We see at the end, Jesus spells out the impossible situation the cousins found themselves in.  They said of John that he didn’t eat or drink wine so he must be possessed by a demon.  They said of Jesus that he did eat and drink wine so he must be a drunkard.  They were both rejected simply because they spoke of a backward Kingdom of God that was subversive to all the power structures.  To be part of the Kingdom of God does not result in a life of luxury, but a life like John’s or Jesus’.  It may be filled with faithfulness and love, but it will also result in suffering and in their cases, death.  Could John have been released from prison and saved? Sure.  Could Jesus have been released and saved?  Sure.  But the Kingdom is such that suffering is salvation.  John found the meaning of his life through suffering.  Jesus brought about the salvation of the world through his suffering. Suffering is not only a natural result from living Kingdom values, it is essential to Kingdom life.  Luke wrote about this incident to a suffering church.  In the midst of persecution a life of suffering needs meaning.  Who is greater than the greatest in the Kingdom?  The least.  The more one suffers, the greater one becomes in the Kingdom of God.