WISDOM
Luke 7:18-35
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Proverbs 1:7)
John the Baptizer had doubts. He was receiving all sorts of reports from his disciples, very likely coloured by expectations and opinions rather than “what you have seen and heard”. He could not know the situation first-hand as he was in prison. What is happening? And so he took action by going right to the source: Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?
John was not in doubt that it was Jesus who was pointed out to him. He was just unsure as to whether he is the Messiah. And in simple faith, he asked him.
Jesus’ response was instructive. Whether he is the one is revealed by God’s Word. And the Truth of God’s Word is revealed in “time and space”—in what actually happens. Biblical truth is located in real life and not in fine philosophical arguments. “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard.”
Jesus then asked those around him, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” What are your expectations and how do they colour what you see? John comes like a prophet and people say he is mad. Jesus comes like a regular guy and people say ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ These people interpret what they see according to their expectations and points of view. They are not serious seekers of the Truth. They are like children playing a game. God’s Truth will be received by those who truly seek to know.
But those who are children of wisdom, who truly seek to know God and be taught by him, they will be the evidence for others to find him and know Him as well. These will be “greater than John” because in finding their way into the Kingdom of God, they would have been born of the Spirit, not just of woman. Their lives will point to Jesus and be proof that indeed Jesus is the one who was to come.
“But wisdom is proved right by all her children.”