Sermon Tone Analysis

Date: 2022-05-01

Audience: Grass Valley Corps ONLINE

Text: Matthew 11

Title: Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition

Proposition: God often does the unexpected

Purpose: Follow Jesus, not your expectations

Opening

Grace and peace

Illustration

In the second season of Monty Python’s Flying Circus they did a sketch which was set up as a 1912 period piece where a man came in and started talking about trouble at the mill.

The woman he was speaking to stopped him and asked what he meant, and he said, “I don’t know, I was just told to come say there was trouble at the mill.

I didn’t expect a kind of Spanish Inquisition!”

At which point three men dressed in medieval Spanish cardinal robes burst in and one of them roars, “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!”

And hilarity ensued.

The Pythons were known for taking otherwise ordinary things in unexpected, sideways to the customary way of things, directions.

What they probably didn’t realize, and you may not have either, is that they were simply following the pattern which had been demonstrated to them by the Creator of the universe.

Reference to proposition and purpose:

God very often does things that are completely unexpected!

And he always asks us to follow him rather than whatever it is we’ve decided ahead of time will be the right or proper way to go.

Reference to text:

We aren’t the only ones who find this idea unsettling or difficult to understand, by the way.

In fact, while Jesus was here, sharing the Word of God with people, he got a message from John the Baptist, who seemed a little concerned that he may have made a mistake

Transition:

Grab your Bibles and turn with me to Matthew, chapter 11, and you’ll see what I mean.

First Point/Passage:

Text: Matthew 11:2-6

2 John the Baptist, who was in prison, heard about all the things the Messiah was doing.

So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, 3 “Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?”

4 Jesus told them, “Go back to John and tell him what you have heard and seen—5 the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.”

6 And he added, “God blesses those who do not fall away because of me.” [1]

Explanation:

Remember that Jesus had sent out twelve of his key disciples to carry his message out to the region of Galilee, and after that he began to go and teach his way through this area as well.

John, meanwhile, had been arrested, and was imprisoned at Machaerus (meh-key-rus), an imposing fortress on a hill overlooking the eastern Dead Sea.

Herod Antipas would hold him there for about two years altogether after John had made an issue of Antipas’ illegitimate marriage.

Herod Antipas had divorced his own wife to marry the wife of his Brother, Herod Philip.

In addition to being wrong and illegal, it was also pretty weird, because they were all related in a freaky-royal-family-inbreeding kind of way.

So John was, like, “Dude, just… No. Stop it,” to Antipas, so Antipas had him tossed in the dungeon, but then didn’t kill him because he was pretty sure John was a prophet, and he didn’t want to mess too much with a guy who worked for God.

At this point, John had been locked up for a bit, but he’s patiently waiting for something, so he’s hanging in.

What’s he waiting for?

The Messiah.

He’s waiting for Jesus to kick some Herodian hiney.

John knew who Jesus was – he had from the moment he first encountered him.

Remember when Mary, mother of Jesus, had just been told she was going to have the Son of God?

She went to visit an older relative who the angel told her was also miraculously pregnant.

(Luke 1)

39 A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town 40 where Zechariah lived.

She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth.

41 At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

42 Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed.

43 Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? 44 When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy.

[2]

That baby was John.

Even then, he knew.

As an adult, preaching to thousands in the wilderness around Jordan, John knew the Messiah was coming and he wasn’t shy about telling people what was coming.

This is from Luke chapter 3…

15 Everyone was expecting the Messiah to come soon, and they were eager to know whether John might be the Messiah.

16 John answered their questions by saying, “I baptize you with water; but someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandals.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

17 He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork.

Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.”[3]

What did John expect?

He thought the Messiah was coming with FIRE.

Frankly it wasn’t just him.

Pretty much everyone was hoping for that.

Since the Romans had taken over Israel, almost a hundred years before, there had been a growing undercurrent of rebellion growing in the people there.

Rome’s rule wasn’t cruel, exactly, but it was harsh and brutal; deadly to those who pushed back against the overlords.

The teachers began to focus on those verses that said the Messiah would come to end oppression.

And they began to teach that this would mean and end to the world as it was.

Which people took to mean war.

They expected Messiah would come and raise an army, taking up a sword to lead his people, push the Romans into the sea, then bring Israel out to dominate the world.

Just like John would come to, they expected that the Messiah would come with FIRE.

But here’s Jesus.

43 “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy.

44 But I say, love your enemies!

Pray for those who persecute you![4]

Not exactly what they were hoping for.

And John, locked in prison, waiting for that Messiah to come and burn the collaborators, is starting to think he may have missed something or maybe just plain gotten it wrong.

Which is why he sent his guys to ask Jesus, “Isn’t it you?”

And Jesus sent them back with the message of what they had heard and what they had seen: Jesus was healing every hurt, he was even raising the dead, and he was preaching good news to the poor.

And that God would bless John and anyone else who holds on.

What is the message he’s trying to send?

It’s this:

Supporting Scripture:

3 With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands,

and encourage those who have weak knees.

4 Say to those with fearful hearts,

“Be strong, and do not fear,

for your God is coming to destroy your enemies.

He is coming to save you.”

5 And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind

and unplug the ears of the deaf.

6 The lame will leap like a deer,

and those who cannot speak will sing for joy!

Springs will gush forth in the wilderness,

and streams will water the wasteland.

7 The parched ground will become a pool,

and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land.

Marsh grass and reeds and rushes will flourish

where desert jackals once lived.

[5]

That’s part of the promise God made to send the Messiah.

It’s Isaiah 35:3-7.