The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – Luke 7:18-35 (day seven)

[…] yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. Luke 7:28b

How can the least in the Kingdom be even greater than the greatest man born of a woman? Simple, John was only born of a woman. He was not born again under the New Covenant. We know that John was filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb, but due to his death preceding the death of Christ, He was unable to fully participate in the New Covenant; and thus, he was fully unable to experience regeneration as we are able to through Jesus’ death, resurrection, and baptism in the Holy Spirit. This is not a knock on John. Jesus was explaining that we are going to get something so much greater than anyone who lived under the old covenant, even those filled with the Spirit.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3

As born again believers, we get to experience a Living Hope. We get to experience His Kingdom here on earth. We get to taste Heaven now.

Re:Verse passage – Luke 7:18-35 (day six)  

One of Luke’s consistent emphases is that news about Jesus did not stay contained. It spread quickly, widely, and almost uncontrollably. From the earliest chapters, Luke tells us that fear, wonder, and word about Jesus moved through towns, synagogues, and households (Luke 1:65; 4:15, 36–37; 5:15; 7:16–17). This is simply the nature of the Kingdom of God. When God’s reign breaks into the world, it unsettles the status quo. People talk. Questions surface. Expectations are challenged.

John the Baptist heard these stories too. Sitting in prison, he sends messengers to Jesus with a question that feels surprising: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” Hadn’t John already seen the Spirit descend at Jesus’ baptism? Hadn’t he proclaimed the coming kingdom? And yet, like many in Israel, John may have expected a different kind of Messiah.

Luke invites us to notice an important distinction. John’s question is not dismissive skepticism; it is sincere seeking. He brings his confusion honestly to Jesus. That posture stands in sharp contrast to Jesus’ hometown, whose familiarity bred contempt rather than faith. Luke reminds us that the Kingdom spreads not only through miracles and proclamation, but through honest questions brought humbly to Jesus—questions that keep us listening rather than closing ourselves off.

Re:Verse passage – Luke 7:18-35 (day five)  

This week we see the honesty and the vulnerability of the scriptures. The heroes mentioned in the Bible have flaws and weaknesses. John the Baptist is no exception. He is portrayed as he really is. Fiery. Finite. Faith-filled. Fallible.

So how do you go from being full of conviction to being consumed by questions?  Maybe it’s the wrong question. A better question might be, “What do you do when you question (even doubt) the goodness and character of God?”  (The doubts and questions will probably come to all of us in some form or fashion.)  John the Baptist gives us a good example to follow. He engages Jesus. He seeks and searches for Jesus. Doesn’t internalize. Doesn’t start debates with others. He reaches out in honesty and humility to the Christ. And Jesus in return, is just as tender with John as he is with the blind and the lepers. Jesus then teaches John (and us) to recall and consider what Jesus has done (is doing), and to reflect on our own experiences and encounters with Jesus rather than our current circumstances. Celebrate and take notice of the things Jesus has done in us and around us. To remember. To rejoice in what we’ve already seen and experienced. To make and then revisit our own “ebenezers”
Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither by thy help I’ve come. (The Ebenezer is a reminder of a time and place we have felt and witnessed God’s love and grace.)

Re:Verse passage – Luke 7:18-35 (day four)

There was always evidence that Jesus had been to a particular place. When Jesus passed through a town or a household, he didn’t “leave it like he found it.” He left evidence everywhere he went. It was not trace evidence, either. The blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is preached to the poor. Jesus left unmistakeable, radical life change behind him everywhere he went.
This tells us several things. It tells us that the Kingdom of God is not some pie-in-the-sky, eternal concept that is unattainable to us. The Kingdom of God is here and now and has immediate impact in this earthly life. As we continue to minister in the name of Jesus and seek to establish the Kingdom of God on earth, there will be this kind of evidence. This also tells us that Jesus, the Jewish man born in Bethlehem, is the one we’ve waited so long for. In him we find the fulfillment of the law and prophets. In him we find God made flesh. In him we find the lamb slain for our sins. Jesus reminds us, just as he reminded John, that the evidence is clear: God has won the victory.

Re:Verse passage – Luke 7:18-35 (day three)

And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’” v. 20

Throughout Luke’s gospel account, he highlights that people were actively waiting (by being obedient) for the Lord to move. He shows us that with Simeon and Anna. They were waiting for the Lord’s promises to be fulfilled, expecting it to happen. We see that again here with John and his disciples.

To this point, Jesus had not been publicly announced as the Messiah. His disciples had not yet had the opportunity to see Jesus raised from the dead or even observe many miracles or hear Jesus’ many teachings. This truly was a moment of faith confirmation for John’s crew of “Are you really who they say you are?” We know from their question that they were actively looking for the Messiah. Much like Simeon and Anna, they were expectantly looking and waiting for God’s promises to be fulfilled. When all of them saw evidence of the Lord moving, they went closer to be sure.

Are you actively and expectantly looking for the Spirit of the Lord to be moving in your life today? Are you “in tune” with Him enough to look around and say, “That’s the Lord!” Before you go any further today, you might need to take time to pray and ask the Lord to help you see and know His Spirit better. Expect God to answer you and be looking.

Re:Verse passage – Luke 7:18-35 (day two)

For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ ³⁴ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ v. 33-34

At the beginning of our passage this week, John’s disciples ask the question of Jesus that continues to follow him today. “Are you the long-expected one?” Jesus’ declaration of his Lordship also came with a warning: The Messiah will never be what you expect him to be. With John he was too ascetic; Jesus was too worldly. People will say they are looking for something, but their criteria is often too narrow. How can you conceive of a savior? A King who welcomes all to redemption. Is there a man holy enough, or one who will connect with every sinner? We will get it wrong every time when we try to construct God in our image. It can’t work; and if we are honest with ourselves, we wouldn’t want it to work that way. Jesus continued to meet people, to love them, to call them to righteousness through himself. Jesus is the only one who never disappoints. The long wait is over. Jesus has come.