Reflection on Luke 7:18b-23

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

A certain woman was once looking for a good birthday card for her husband. On entering a store, she came across a beautiful card that reads on the outside, “Sweetheart, you are the answer to my prayers.” Then she opened the card, and on the inside is written, “You are not exactly what I prayed for, but it seems you are the answer.” As John the Baptist sits alone in prison, something similar may be running through his mind. His ministry is centered on preparing the people for the coming of the Messiah; and when the Messiah finally emerges at the public scene, John testifies, “Behold, the Lamb of God” (Jn. 1:36). But in the course of his ministry, John had described the One coming after him in a graphic imagery, “His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire” (Mtt. 3:12). John’s expectation of the Messiah as a strict, stringent and punishing judge did not match with what he was hearing about Jesus of Nazareth. While John emphasized divine wrath and judgment with unquenchable fire, Jesus’ ministry was an outpouring of grace, favor, mercy and healing. While the tone of John’s message was harsh, that of Jesus was more friendly and lenient. These obvious differences caused John to send his disciples to Jesus with the message, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” 

When this inquiry is conveyed to Jesus, the good Lord does not respond theoretically, rather he points to things that are happening, “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.” Jesus did not give a yes or no answer to the question of John the Baptist, he let his actions speak for themselves. 

Through his words and deeds, the good Lord is showing us what is possible when God through Jesus Christ dwells among his people. As a miracle worker and healer, Jesus is repairing dysfunctional, broken and hurting world. He is not only interested in souls alone, but in bodies as well. That is why he ministered to the blind Bartimaeus, to the paralyzed man who was lowered through the roof and placed before him, and to the deaf and dumb man who he said, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be Opened”). And that is why Jesus brought back to life Lazarus, the daughter of Jairus and the son of the widow of Nain. In each of these miracles, Jesus demonstrates not only that he cares about the physical conditions of people, but that God has come. Yahweh has moved into our neighborhood and is fixing what human sin and dysfunction has broken.