A Sermon for
Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church
Sunday 16 February
2025
Luke 7.18-35
Introduction
There is something deeply human
about John the Baptist’s question to Jesus in today’s passage:
“Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” (Luke 7:19).
Here is John, the great prophet,
the one who had proclaimed the coming of the Messiah,
who had baptized Jesus,
who had declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God” (John 1:29)
—and yet, now, in prison, he finds himself uncertain.
He is left wondering whether he was right after all.
But John’s doubts—or at least his desire for reassurance—are understandable.
He had preached a message of repentance and judgment,
warning of the coming wrath,
calling people to prepare the way for the Lord.
But Jesus wasn’t quite fitting the mould.
Instead of fire and fury, Jesus was healing the sick,
restoring sight to the blind, welcoming sinners,
and preaching good news to the poor.
Instead of overthrowing the oppressors,
he was moving among the outcasts.
Instead of breaking John out of Herod’s prison,
he was dining with tax collectors and sinners.
It is easy to sympathise with John.
He, like so many in Israel, had expectations of what the Messiah would do
—and Jesus was not fulfilling those expectations
in the way they had imagined.
I think this raises a crucial question for us:
How do we respond when God does not act as we expect?
Do we, like John, find ourselves asking, “Are you really the one?”
And if so, how does Jesus respond?
This story of John’s moment of doubt
invites us to reconsider our expectations of Christ,
and to hear his answer not in a theoretical explanation,
but in the reality of what he is doing in the world.
It challenges us to open our eyes and see the presence of the Messiah
—not necessarily in the places of power and dominance
where we might instinctively look,
but in the work of healing, restoration, and grace
that continues to unfold before us.
I. John's Question: A Moment of Doubt or Clarification?
John the Baptist is one of the characters in the gospels
who, in my opinion, doesn’t always get the attention he deserves.
He is mentioned in all four gospels,
and is consistently associated with the start of Jesus’ ministry.
But the effect of this is that he is often demoted
to being a prophetic fore-runner to Jesus.
A kind of messianic warm-up-act.
Whereas the reality seems to be that his ministry was complementary to Jesus’s,
with the actions and teaching of Jesus
arising out from the prophecies and baptisms of John.
And so in today’s passage we meet John the Baptist,
in a passage not often read in church.
And here we find him towards the end of his life,
but still unwavering in his prophetic calling.
This is the man who had been the very definition
of the voice crying out in the wilderness,
channelling the prophet Isaiah in his call to ‘prepare the way of the Lord’,
challenging people to repentance and baptism,
and warning of the coming judgment.
John, we are told, had recognized some of Jesus’ uniqueness from the very beginning,
so much so that even in the slightly surreal nativity story
we’re told that in his mother’s womb he leapt at Mary’s greeting (Luke 1:41).
He had baptized Jesus in the Jordan,
witnessing the heavens open, and hearing the voice from heaven declare,
“You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22).
And yet, now, John is in prison.
Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee,
had locked him away for speaking truth to power,
for condemning Herod’s immorality
in marrying his brother’s ex-wife Herodias (Luke 3:19-20).
Sitting in the darkness of his cell, John must have wondered:
If Jesus is the Messiah, why is this happening?
Where was the axe
that he proclaimed had been laid at the root of the trees (Luke 3:9)?
Where was the winnowing fork
that he had claimed would clear the threshing floor
and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire (Luke 3:17)?
Had he misunderstood?
Had he prepared the way for someone else?
This is where John’s question comes from:
“Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
(Luke 7:19).
It is a question of uncertainty, but not necessarily of complete disbelief.
John is not rejecting Jesus—he is seeking clarity.
He had proclaimed a Messiah of judgment,
but Jesus was bringing mercy.
He had expected a political upheaval,
but Jesus was healing the sick.
John’s question is not a loss of faith
but an honest grappling with the ways in which God’s work
is unfolding differently than expected.
I suspect that many of us can relate to John’s experience.
We, too, can find ourselves in situations
where the faith we once held with certainty now feels uncertain.
When life does not go as we had hoped,
when justice seems delayed, when prayers seem unanswered,
we might find ourselves wondering: Is God really at work?
Like John, we might long for reassurance.
And in Jesus’ response, we find both an answer and an invitation
—to look again, to see where the kingdom is breaking in,
and to recognise that God’s ways
are often different from our own expectations.
II. Jesus' Response: Demonstrating the Kingdom's Power
So John’s disciples repeat his question to Jesus:
“Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
(Luke 7:19).
It is a direct and urgent inquiry
—one that Jesus could have answered with a simple yes or no.
But instead of a straightforward response,
Jesus points to the evidence of his ministry:
“Go and tell John what you have seen and heard:
the blind receive their sight; the lame walk;
those with a skin disease are cleansed;
the deaf hear; the dead are raised;
the poor have good news brought to them.”
In this answer, Jesus is quoting from Isaiah,
echoing prophecies about the coming of God’s reign (Isaiah 35:5-6; 61:1).
He is saying, in effect: Look at what is happening.
The signs of the kingdom are all around you.
Rather than engaging in a theoretical debate about his identity,
Jesus invites John—and us—to discern the truth
in the lived reality of his actions.
This response is significant.
It tells us that Jesus’ identity as the Messiah
is not proven through titles, declarations, or political revolutions
but through the tangible transformation of lives.
The power of God’s kingdom is being revealed
not through conquest but through healing.
It is seen in restoration, in liberation,
in the lifting up of those on the margins.
Jesus’ final words in this response
—"blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me” (Luke 7:23)—a
re particularly striking.
He acknowledges that he is not what many expected.
His way is not the way of earthly power
or immediate political deliverance.
John may have anticipated a Messiah
who would overthrow the Romans
and bring judgment upon the wicked.
But instead, Jesus brings healing to the broken
and good news to the poor.
And his message to John is clear:
Do not be offended or discouraged
because I do not fit into your expectations.
See what I am actually doing,
and trust that this is the work of God.
There is a challenge here for us, too.
How often do we, like John, expect God to act in a particular way,
only to find that God is working differently than we imagined?
How often do we look for signs of power and control,
when the true signs of the kingdom are acts of love, mercy, and justice?
Jesus’ response invites us to re-examine our assumptions
and to recognise that God’s work is often unfolding
in ways that may surprise us
—but which are no less real, no less powerful, and no less transformative.
III. Challenging Preconceptions: The Nature of True Greatness
After sending John’s disciples back with his response,
Jesus turns to the crowd
and asks them a series of rhetorical questions about John:
“What did you go out into the wilderness to look at?
A reed shaken by the wind? 25
What, then, did you go out to see?
Someone dressed in soft robes?
Look, those who put on fine clothing and live in luxury are in royal palaces.
26 What, then, did you go out to see? A prophet?
Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.” (Luke 7:24-26)
Jesus is asking them to reflect
on why they were drawn to John in the first place.
Did they expect someone weak and indecisive,
like a reed bending in the wind?
Of course not—John was no wavering figure,
shifting with public opinion.
Did they expect someone powerful and wealthy, dressed in royal robes?
No—those kinds of figures live in palaces, like Herod,
the very man who imprisoned John.
Instead, they had gone to see a prophet
—a fiery voice of truth who stood outside the centres of power,
calling people to repentance.
And yet, Jesus says, John was even more than a prophet.
He was the messenger foretold in Scripture,
the one sent to prepare the way for the Lord (Malachi 3:1).
Among those born of women, Jesus declares,
no one is greater than John.
That is a staggering statement
—John stands above all the prophets of Israel,
the very pinnacle of human faithfulness.
But then Jesus says something even more surprising:
“Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
(Luke 7:28)
His point here is not that John himself is diminished,
but rather that the kingdom of God redefines greatness.
The old categories of status, achievement,
and even prophetic authority are being overturned.
In Jesus, the kingdom is breaking into the world in a new way,
and those who participate in this unfolding reality
—who embrace the ways of grace, healing, and radical inclusion—
are part of something even greater
than the prophetic tradition that came before.
This is a challenge to our assumptions about what matters most.
We live in a world that often equates greatness
with power, success, wealth, and influence.
Even within religious circles,
we can be tempted to admire the most prominent leaders,
the most eloquent speakers, the biggest churches.
But Jesus upends all of that.
True greatness is not found in status or recognition;
it is found in participation in God’s kingdom
—a kingdom where the last are first,
where the outcasts are welcomed,
where love is the measure of all things.
The challenge for us is to recognise
where we are holding onto worldly ideas of greatness
and to allow Jesus to redefine them.
If John, the greatest of the prophets,
was pointing beyond himself to something greater,
then we, too, must learn to set aside our own expectations
and trust that God’s ways are often different
—and far more beautiful—
than we could ever have imagined.
IV. Recognising the Messiah in Our Midst
Jesus’ words to the crowd about John the Baptist
lead to a deeper question:
Do we recognise the Messiah when he is right in front of us?
In Luke 7:29-30, we see two contrasting responses to Jesus’ ministry.
Luke tells us that
“And all the people who heard this, including the tax collectors,
acknowledged the justice of God,
having been baptized with John’s baptism.
30 But the Pharisees and the experts in the law,
not having been baptized by him,
rejected God’s purpose for themselves.”
The division is clear
—those on the margins, those aware of their own need for grace,
receive Jesus with joy.
But those who see themselves as already righteous, already knowledgeable,
struggle to accept what God is doing.
Jesus then compares this generation
to children playing in the marketplace (Luke 7:31-32).
They call out to one another:
" We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
- we wailed, and you did not weep."
In other words, no response was ever good enough.
They rejected John because he was too austere,
too ascetic, too radical.
And then they rejected Jesus because he was too welcoming,
too open, too willing to feast with sinners.
They dismissed both, not because of any real flaw in them,
but because they were unwilling to accept what God was doing
in ways they did not expect.
This is a warning for us.
It is easy to miss the presence of Christ when
we have already decided what he should look like.
If we expect Jesus only in the places of power,
we will not see him among the poor.
If we expect him only in the halls of influence,
we will not recognise him in the company of the outcast.
If we expect him only in the grandeur of religious tradition,
we may miss his presence in the simple acts
of kindness, justice, and mercy happening around us.
Jesus challenges us to open our eyes.
Where is the kingdom breaking in today?
Who are the people and places that reveal God’s presence,
even if they do not fit our expectations?
Are we willing to embrace a Messiah
who does not always come in the ways we imagine?
As Jesus concludes,
“wisdom is vindicated by all her children” (Luke 7:35).
That is, in the end, the truth of Jesus’ identity
is revealed not in words alone
but in the fruit of his ministry.
The blind see. The lame walk. The poor hear good news.
The kingdom is here—if only we have the eyes to see it.
Conclusion: Embracing the Unexpected
So, as we conclude…
John the Baptist’s question
—“Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”—
is one that echoes through the ages.
It is not just John’s question; it is our question too.
In times of uncertainty, suffering, or disappointment,
we may find ourselves wondering
if Jesus is really who we thought he was.
If God is truly at work,
why do things not look the way we expected?
Jesus’ response to John and to us
is both a reassurance and a challenge.
Jesus does not fit neatly into human expectations.
He does not conform to the world’s ideas of power and greatness.
Instead, he brings healing, restoration, and good news to the poor.
He turns our assumptions upside down,
revealing a kingdom where the least are greatest,
where justice is done not through conquest but through compassion,
and where the presence of God is found
not in the palaces of the powerful
but in the lives of the broken and the outcast.
The challenge for us today is to open our eyes
and recognise the Messiah in our midst.
Where is Christ at work in ways we have not expected?
Where is the kingdom breaking in, not through dominance,
but through acts of mercy, justice, and grace?
Are we willing to let go of our preconceived ideas
and embrace the way of Jesus
—the way of love that is often surprising but always life-giving?
John asked, “Are you the one?”
And Jesus replied, “Look and see.”
May we, too, have the eyes to see, the hearts to believe,
and the courage to follow the Messiah
who is always more than we imagined,
yet exactly what we need.
Prayer: Gracious God, open our eyes to see your work in unexpected places.
Grant us the humility to embrace your ways,
even when they challenge our preconceptions.
May we, like John, seek understanding,
and like Jesus, extend grace and healing to all. Amen.
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