Commentary on Luke 7:18-35
When messengers of John the Baptist come to see if Jesus is who he says he is, Jesus responds with a litany of miracles indicating the kind of redemption the Messiah brings:
Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them, And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me. (Luke 7:22–23)
After sending the messengers on their way, Jesus then addresses the crowd with sharper words in order to distinguish himself. Jesus is not a reed easily shaken by the wind. He does not wear soft robes or live in luxury. He resembles a prophet, not unlike John the Baptist, who wears camel’s hair and lives off of locusts and wild honey (Matthew 3:4). Yet as hardcore as John the Baptist is—no one born of woman is greater than he—John the Baptist is nothing compared to the least in the kingdom of heaven, and Jesus has humbled himself before all as the Son of Man.
Recognizing who Christ is requires bearing witness to his miraculous healing. It requires separating who Jesus is from power as it is typically understood, as acquired and yielded through wealth, status, and aristocracy. It demands appreciation for the austerity and radicality, the zealotry, of prophets and forerunners such as John the Baptist.
In Luke 3:7–9, John the Baptist calls the crowds who come to be baptized by him a “brood of vipers.” He is disgusted by their sense of entitlement: “Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor.’” In Luke 7:31, Jesus parallels the rebuke of John, chiding the crowd for thinking that just because they ceremonialize and ritualize messianic hope, that doesn’t mean they truly get how the salvation of God actually approaches in person.
Acquiring wisdom to recognize the salvation of God in the flesh—to see Jesus for who he, the Christ, really is—means letting go of associating faithfulness to God with religious dignity and respectability. Contrary to what one might envision or even want, locust and wild honey eaters draped in camel hair are indeed the best of the best in terms of whom God calls. Against customary expectations, one who has the appearance of a glutton and a drunkard performs never-before-seen miracles with tax collectors and sinners that indicate the real presence of God.
Wisdom is indeed vindicated by her children.
What would it look like to reorient, from your pulpit, what we mean by Christian wisdom? Whose voices also ought to be included, not only as points of reference within a sermon, but perhaps also as proclaimers and live conversation partners within worship? What kind of possibilities open up if we consider that maybe those in public service, such as firefighters, police officers, school teachers, and community advocates, have gospel messages worth sharing with the assembly?
Or, in addition to welcoming the housing insecure and/or addicted to worship, what might be gained from foregrounding their testimonies of faith? What might the church learn from them about who Christ is?
Who are miracle-workers, agents of redemption, or even Jesus in the flesh whom we do not recognize or hear from enough?
Asking questions like the ones above and finding homiletic ways to address them will position us to discover and learn from the children of wisdom. Creating space for alternative, overlooked, and even despised voices of Christian hope will help us live into the humility Jesus demands in Luke 7:27.
Practically speaking, maybe part of putting a passage like Luke 7:18–35 to work sermonically involves preaching seriatim—one after another.
Perhaps you as the preacher could frame an interpretation of the passage similar to, in conversation with, or even digressing from the reflection I have offered above. Then invite other “preachers” into the preaching moment with you. Those could take the shape of prerecorded homiletic testimonies that riff upon your introductory remarks. Or you could assemble something like a preaching panel before the assembly. If what I’m suggesting sounds out-of-the-box, consider that Alistair Stewart Sykes, in his book From Prophecy to Preaching, asserts that the earliest forms of Christian proclamation occurred with several consecutive speakers sharing a word as they were touched by the Spirit.
Today, in some African American contexts, something like preaching in seriatim already occurs with “Seven Last Words” celebrations on Good Friday. But why wait until then? The interactions between Jesus and the followers of John the Baptist, and the pulsing line of questioning in the passage regarding who the Messiah authentically is, lend themselves to profound group proclamation in post-Epiphany and discernment from the assembly as they listen for whether or not the folks addressing them are the real thing in Christ.
Whom do you want your assembly to see, hear, and weigh as witnesses of who Jesus is for us yesterday, today, and tomorrow?
Resources
Alistair Stewart-Sykes, From Prophecy to Preaching: A Search for the Origins of the Christian Homily. Supplement to Vigiliae Christianae 59. Leiden: Brill, 2001.
For more on interview style preaching, see “Interview Style Preaching of Online Preaching: Why and How”
PRAYER OF THE DAY
God of mystery,
Just as the crowds wondered about Jesus, we too, wonder about you. Who are you to us? Are you the one? Show us that you are God, mysterious, wonderful, mighty. Amen.
HYMNS
On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry ELW 249, Gather 418, H82 76
Prepare the way of the Lord (Taizé) Gather 400
Come now, O Prince of Peace ELW 247
CHORAL
This is the record of John, Orlando Gibbons
Prepare ye the way, Michael Wise
February 16, 2025