What a delightful Savior we find displayed in Luke 7. His interaction with the Centurion who asked for help (and had great faith to receive it) and the widow of Nain mourning her only son who did not ask for help (and yet received it) are some of my favorite events in the life of Jesus.
The news of what Jesus did for the Centurion and his servant, and the widow and her son eventually made its way through Judea. Some of John the Baptizer’s Disciples heard what Jesus was doing and told John, who was in prison. [Luke 7:21-30]
John then sent two of his disciples with a question. “Are You the One who is to come, or should we look for someone else?”
Those disciples went to Jesus with John’s question and rather than just give them a verbal answer, Jesus told them to go back to John and report “the things you have seen and heard.” Those things “seen and heard” were the blind receiving sight, lepers healed, the deaf hearing, the dead raised, and the poor hearing the Good News.
There is much speculation as to why John sent his disciples to Jesus with that question. He was languishing in prison, that we know. I think he knew Herod was never going to free him and only death awaited. Was he doubting his ministry, or that Jesus was “the One who is to come?” I do not know.
What I do know is that John pointed his followers to Jesus. I have always wondered if after John’s death they became disciples of Christ. I think they must have. Who else did they have to turn to?
This portion of Scripture always reminds me that when we mentor people, we often fail to turn their attention and dependence away from us and onto Christ Jesus. We must remember that the answer to John’s question is and always will be … there is no one else to look for, Jesus is the One and Only.
