The Message for us Today.

 

Jesus rarely gives the kind of answer we expect. For instance, when John was in prison, and sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (Luke 7:19), I would have expected Jesus to say, “Go and tell John, ‘Yes, I am the one.’”

But he did not.

Instead, he gives what strikes us as a rather roundabout answer. First, he healed many people, cast out evil spirits, and gave sight to the blind. Second, he tells these messengers to report back to John what they have seen and heard, “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me” (Luke 7:22-23). 

What kind of answer is that?

It’s a very biblical answer.

Rather than simply saying, “Yes, I am the Messiah,” Jesus instead tells them:

(1) Pay attention to what I am doing.

(2) Read what the Scriptures say will happen when the Messiah comes.

(3) Draw the only appropriate conclusion.

You see, Jesus is alluding to Isaiah 35, where the messianic kingdom is pictured as a place where reversals abound: deserts blossom, the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame leap, and the mute sing. That is precisely what Jesus is doing.

What Jesus told John’s disciples is still the message for us today. You want to know who Jesus is? Watch what he does. Compare it with how the prophets described the coming Messiah and his kingdom. There’s your answer.

Jesus did not simply show up making claims; he came fulfilling the Scriptures. So to those Scriptures—to the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings of the Old Testament—let us give heed. Here are the words that lead us to only one conclusion: “Yes, Jesus of Nazareth is the Anointed One of God.”