Managing Expectations

This post accompanies my video reading of Luke Chapter 7 published on the Circular Grace YouTube channel. You can watch it here.

Video Reading Luke Chapter 7

I have baffled over why John The Baptist asks Jesus for confirmation of who He is. On the face of it, it sounds preposterous, unbelievable. Has John lost his faith in Jesus? How could he when God Himself has revealed the truth to Him? I'm no theologian or scholar but after much thought I considered what I know about the nature of faith. I humbly suggest that our faith, a gift from God endures but our trust in our faith suffers from bouts of weakness. I'll sight one of my favourite apostles as an example, Peter!

40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:40-43 (NIV)

Poor Peter, struggling again but Jesus gave him the answer. I hear Him telling Peter that he is faithful but weak. He encourages Peter that he must seek God so that he can receive strength to overcome temptation. The very willing, John the Baptist seems to be experiencing temptation based on the weakness of his mortal flesh. He is the greatest prophet that ever lived but John is still, merely a mortal man with all of the weakness that brings with it.

John is the prophesied Messenger of God (Isaiah 40:3-5) who has already: announced the arrival of the Messiah (John 1:23), called Jesus the Lamb of God, baptised Jesus, heard God proclaim Jesus His beloved Son, witnessed the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descend upon Jesus... (Matthew 3:13-15). So why all of a sudden does he ask Jesus to confirm who He is?

My thoughts so far have gathered around a theme that seems to run through this chapter and that theme is Jesus rebuking people who are being guided by their own worldly, flawed and weak expectations. John the Baptist knows who Jesus is but he clearly has a few personal expectations of what the Messiah should be doing in his opinion. I imagine him thinking, if you really are the Messiah, shouldn't you be setting up your Kingship and overthrowing the Romans by now? Remember that John doesn't have the benefit of the whole Gospel at this time. He dies before the cross and therefore doesn't see Jesus's resurrection. God has told John who Jesus is but not how exactly Jesus will fulfil His plan of redemption.

I think Jesus makes a point by using John as an example. He seems to flip things around pointing out that most people wouldn't have expected the great prophesied messenger of God to have appeared or acted like John the Baptist. Jesus goes on to question what people's expectations were when they went out to see John preach. He confirms to them that despite whatever their expectations may or may not have been, John the Baptist was the greatest prophet ever born to a woman! (Luke 7:24-29)

People seem constantly tempted to mould Jesus into their own image based on their personal expectations of how He should act in this chapter. Jesus was not born to dance to the tune of mortals. Jesus is the Son of God and was born to do the will of God. Jesus was only interested in fulfilling the expectations of His Father in Heaven. Jesus will not dance to any other tune!

31 And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like? 32 They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept. (Luke 7:31-32 (KJV))

Later on in the chapter we see another example of Jesus not doing what was expected. Simon the Pharisee seems to be struggling to accept that Jesus is really a prophet because Jesus is allowing a sinner to wash and kiss His Holy feet. Jesus is not here to satisfy the consciences of the Pharisees or anybody else. Jesus is here to do the Will of His Father who sent Him. He's here to fulfil God's plan to save sinners! (Luke 7:36)

Having the theme of 'expectations' on my mind I was interested in what this commentary had to say about the Jewish leaders telling Jesus exactly who was worthy of His help. As we understand, none is worthy of salvation. Salvation is by God's Grace and Mercy and never based on a measure of personal merit or worthiness.

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Enduring Word Commentary

I am eager to hear how this commentary can shine more light on my understanding.

Here is a little clarity on the relationship between the Centurion and the Jewish leaders.

d. The one for whom He should do this was deserving: The Jewish leaders did this for the centurion because he was a worthy man. In contrast, we can come to Jesus directly without a representative even when we are unworthy; He justifies the ungodly (Romans 4:5).

As the commentator points out, the Jewish leaders missed the point. Jesus is here to save the unworthy sinners and not cherry picking out the righteous and godly. The Roman Centurion demonstrates a deeper understanding than the Jewish leaders. He honours Jesus and recognises his own unworthiness.

i. The centurion was a remarkable man. The elders said he was worthy; he said he was not worthy. They praised him for building a house of worship; he felt unworthy that Jesus would come to his house. They said he was deserving; he felt himself undeserving. Strong faith and great humility are entirely compatible.

The commentator makes the point that there are only a few occasions when Jesus expressed His amazement. This is one of them and Jesus is amazed that a Roman Soldier has greater faith than the Israelites He is encountering.

i. Jesus only marveled on a few occasions. He did so here, at the faith of the centurion, and also at the unbelief of His own people (Mark 6:6). Jesus can be amazed at either our faith or our unbelief.

We have the great blessing of being witnesses to Jesus defeating death in this chapter. I found it useful to hear clarity on the difference between resurrection and resuscitation. Those that Jesus brought back to life will face death again.

i. This young man was not resurrected but resuscitated; he rose from the dead only to die again. God promises that we will be resurrected and rise from the dead never to die again.

Now more about John The Baptist. The commentator shines a light on how in Johns eyes, Jesus is not doing what Jews expected the Messiah to do.

b. Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another? John 1:29-36 and other passages indicate that before this, John clearly recognized Jesus as the Messiah. His doubt might be explained because perhaps he himself had misunderstood the ministry of the Messiah. Perhaps John thought that if Jesus were really the Messiah, He would perform works connected with a political deliverance of Israel – or at least the deliverance of John, who was in prison.

We need to remember that John is in prison and so not able to witness what is going on personally. He has a limited view and is experiencing personal suffering during his incarceration. He will be relying on the testimony of his disciple's and they are very likely confused. They presumably love John and are wondering why Jesus isn't coming to his rescue.

. “John was already in prison, and things began to appear incomprehensible to him. He had expected that Christ would speedily destroy the powers of darkness and judge the unrighteous. But instead of doing this, He leaves him, His forerunner, helpless in prison.” (Geldenhuys)

Jesus seeks to reassure John and He does this by reminding John of the scripture he knows, understands and believes. The commentator helpfully provides a summary of the related scripture Jesus is pointing to.

a. And that very hour He cured many of infirmities, afflictions, and evil spirits; and to many blind He gave sight: This was the real power of the Messiah in action; yet performed in personal, even humble ways.

i. Most of these miracles fulfill some promise found in Isaiah.

· The blind see (Isaiah 61:1, 35:5).

· The lame walk (Isaiah 35:6).

· The deaf hear (Isaiah 35:5).

· The dead live (Isaiah 26:19).

· The poor hear the good news (Isaiah 61:1).

Alongside Jesus' compassion towards John The Baptist, there is a rebuke. There is a warning about being offended by the Son of God who is serving the Father in Heaven.

ii. “It is remarkable that the same word is predicated of John the Baptist and Israel concerning their response to Jesus – scandalized (skandalisthe; cf. Luke 7:23 with Romans 11:9 [cf. 9:33]). Israel was scandalized by Jesus, and we must take Jesus seriously in Luke 7:23 that it was possible for His audience to be offended at His nontraditional role, including John the Baptist.” (Pate)

Continue reading this very useful commentary for a deeper understanding.

https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/luke-7/

Bible Ref Commentary

I was hopeful for a clear summary from this commentary after being pulled into deep questions. I enjoyed the fresh perspective of looking at the structure of the chapter. The commentator describes a 'chiastic' structure and I had to look that up, I recommend Got Questions as they have a good explanation. I liked their example phrase, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”. It's basically a mirror structure, a sequence of related ideas, presented in reverse order. Another example, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27)

Here's how the Bible Ref commentator explains.

"Chiasms" group related stories in a pyramid form and are common in the Bible and ancient literature. The form for this passage may be:

A. The faith of the generous: the centurion (Luke 7:1–10).

B. The blessed powerless woman: the widow of Nain (Luke 7:11–17).

C. John the Baptist: doubt and encouragement for continued faith (Luke 7:18–23).

C' John the Baptist: the two reactions to his and Jesus' message (Luke 7:24–35).

B' The blessed powerless woman: the sinful woman (Luke 7:36–40).

A' The faithlessness of the generous: Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:41–50).

Personally, I found this concept of structure very interesting. Rather than attempt to elaborate further here on it, I'll leave the link. If you're interested it's a good read.

https://www.bibleref.com/Luke/7/Luke-chapter-7.html

I hope I've provided some food for thought on this deep and meaningful chapter. Every time I encounter this particular group of stories I add a new layer of understanding and I'm fascinated at how there is depth upon depth in all scripture. I'm sure there is much I've missed and a lot I only partially understand but I am excited to encounter these same stories next time to learn even more.

If you have found something I missed, please do share so that we can learn more together. In the meantime, God bless you for supporting my journey to know Jesus better!