Today’s passage: Luke 7:18-35
Helpful thoughts:
- John the Baptist wanted to know if Jesus was the Messiah.
- Jesus confirmed this and also confirmed that John the Baptist was the fulfillment of Malachi 3:1.
- Jesus said, “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” Then when he preached good news to the poor, some were glad and others were offended (Verses 29-30).
- When people do not repent and become followers of Christ, it’s not because the message isn’t relative enough or because it wasn’t sweetened enough for them to hear. When people do not repent it’s because they don’t want to follow Christ.
Questions to consider:
- Why did Jesus do these miracles to strengthen John’s faith when He told the Jewish leaders, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” (Matthew 16:4)? What was different about John the Baptist’s request of confirmation and the request of the Pharisees and Sadducees?
- What do these miracles prove? What do they also represent? In what ways were we blind, lame, unclean, deaf, poor and dead?
- What is the good news preached to us? Why is it so good? Why are people offended by it?