Reformation Sunday: Gospel: Matthew 11:12-19                       

Matthew 11:12-19

Open your Bible, read this passage and then jump into the commentaries. What you will find is a passage that has garnered much attention through the centuries from both East and West. The Greek Fathers, the Latin Fathers, the “Medievals,” the Reformers and on it goes. Now, this is not to disparage great scholarship, the attention the learned or the “deep dive” into the text. But these statements from our Lord about the Kingdom, those who engage it and John the Baptist have been considered beyond consideration nearly since their being written.

Neither am I dismissing that it takes effort to draw water from this well. Where I would like to move, though, is in just a slightly different direction. the discussion swirling around verse 12 empties into the following verse where we read:

“For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John” (Matthew 11:13).

John bursts onto the scene proclaiming what has been given him from above to speak. And he comes fulfilling a role. That of the revered Elijah. This isn't the reincarnation of a person, but it is the perpetuation of a message. John is crying out with increased focus on the Messiah of Israel, not with more fervor than his famous predecessor, but with closer proximity, perhaps. And whereas the law and prophets moved God’s people faithfully to this point in history, God “raises the curtain” with promises fulfilled and transformation of faith to sight. Not all mysteries have yet been revealed in detail, but the mystery has thundered impeccably and undeniably in our midst with skin, and feet, and a beating heart. The Kingdom has arrived in a Person. It is indeed a new day.