December 15, 2024 

Today's Reading: Luke 7:18-28, 29-35

Daily Lectionary: Isaiah 30:27-31:9; Revelation 3:1-22

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. 

It’s easy to overlook just how hard it is for most people to come out and say what they’re feeling. I hurt. I doubt. I’m dying here. We can bury an awful lot before it finally bubbles over into some kind of truth. “Are you the one who is to come, or should I look for another?”

John is in prison, doubting and trying to find the words because Jesus is the one who’s supposed to give sight to the blind, make the lame walk, cleanse the lepers, and free the prisoners… and John’s in prison, wondering where his help is. He did what he was supposed to. A voice cried in the wilderness to prepare the way of the LORD, but John’s still in prison. 

Is this not the guy? Is any of this stuff even real? More than a prophet, John still struggles. But we're afraid to. I don’t know how long it took John to finally send his disciples for an answer to his doubt or how often you grasp for the right words and come up short, but I know why it’s happening. Things don’t look like they’re supposed to here. You’re not the only one struggling for the right words.

Jesus pierces through what we mean to say and speaks peace—not just with signs and wonders but with the sure and certain word and promise of God. The poor have Good News preached to them. This can endure the poor still being poor, even when some of the blind can’t see yet and not all the lame can walk. John isn’t called to find comfort in the signs themselves but in the word and promises of God. Jesus saves sinners. 

He bears the cross for those struggling and doubting and dying. Blessed is the one who is not offended by Me. Not by how He saves. Or who. Or what it looks like while He does it. You're allowed to struggle with it. The poor need the Good News preached to them because they need Good News.  

Doubt isn’t good, but if we cannot by our own reason or strength believe in this stuff, then this is something that has to be answered. So Christ sends preachers. Even John's doubt in prison prepares the way of the Lord to answer it. This Word of the Lord unites our voices and gives us the words we can’t quite find. The Good News preached to you. God became everything we wish we weren't. Lowly. Sinful. Alone. Afraid. Dead. And in doing so, He saved you.  

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

What makes a church "good?" Come join the fictional family as they test out eight different churches in their brand-new town and answer this question along the way. Will the Real Church Please Stand Up? by Matthew Richard, now available from Concordia Publishing House.