Three Ways of Reading the Bible. Which One Are You?

CONSECRATE Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.  Jesus, I belong to you. I lift up my heart to you. I set my mind on you. I fix my eyes on you. I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice. Jesus, we belong to you.  Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.  HEAR Luke 7:20–23 ESV And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’” In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you 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.” CONSIDER One of my favorite movies growing up (and I still love it) is Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Here's the movie in a single line: "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it" (Ferris Bueller). By now, we know the story of Jesus moves pretty fast. Gospelling is the act of stopping and looking around as much as possible so we don't miss it.  Luke 7 is another fast-moving picture with extraordinary contrasting images. We open with the account of the Roman centurion (ancient precursor to the Navy SEALs) and commander of an elite force of one hundred (century) soldiers. With respect to Jesus, he's the ultimate outsider. He sent some of the Jewish elders to ask Jesus to heal his servant who was near death. Then this:  He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: "Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed." (Luke 7:6–7) For once, something actually astonishes Jesus. And he apparently says "the word."  When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well. (vv. 9–10) We can hardly give honorable mention to the next story in the queue—only the Elijah-like raising of a widow's son from the dead! Jesus is the unbelievable, inconceivable, unrepeatable miracle of God—just like you—okay, becoming like you.  And all that is just the setup. Here's the shocker. Meanwhile, back at the jail, John the Baptist (still enjoying his head) is apparently running the revival from his prison cell. He sent a posse to Jesus with this stunning message: "Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” Everybody (sans the religious establishment) is over the moon about Jesus except the one we might expect to have been the most over the moon about him: his cousin, John. I have my thoughts about why but I am more interested in yours. Clearly John was getting updates on the unfolding Messianic movement. Clearly he was not impressed; or at least Jesus was not what he expected. It's a head-scratcher for sure.  Nevertheless, I absolutely love Jesus's response to the emissaries. But notice how he didn't answer the question. For the past hour, while these men watched, Jesus performed a hundred miracles (my estimate).  And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: . . ." And I like to slightly paraphrase the report for effect: Blind see! Lame walk! Lepers cleansed! Deaf hear! Dead raised! Poor blessed!  I hear it in the tone and tenor of my grandmother's oft-used exclamatory question: How do you like them apples?!  There are at least three ways of reading the Bible we see in today's text alone. We can read it with John the Baptist. We can read it with the Pharisees. Or we can read it with Jesus. All three will come away with the same basic biblical mission: to spread scriptural holiness across the land. But the way they read will determine how they go about it. John's band was filled with zealous revivalists—taking back the nation. The Pharisees band was filled with legalistic religion—reclaiming the temple.  Jesus was all about the holiness of love for people as the power and purpose of God—recovering the glory of God.  Let's give Ferris Bueller the last word today:  "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." PRAY Lord Jesus, we declare your powerful words with prophetic love over our hearts, homes, churches, and cities:  Blind see! Lame walk! Lepers cleansed! Deaf hear! Dead raised! Poor blessed!  Come, Holy Spirit, and empower us now to go out today and fulfill these declarations of yours that are already fulfilled. Thank you that it is still today. We pray it all for your glory, for others' gain, and for our good and in your name, Jesus. Amen.