Tag Archives: Matthew 11

The Great Omission

April 10, 2025 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”
Matthew 11:2-6 (NIV)

I have been working diligently on some upcoming messages of late. I have the honor this year of delivering the Good Friday message this year before my local gathering of Jesus’ followers. The story of Jesus climactic final day on earth is more dramatic than most people realize. It is a microcosm of the base conflict of the entire Great Story between good and evil, the Kingdom of God and the Prince of this World and the Kingdoms of the Earth. I’m looking forward to unpacking it for those spiritually trekking through Holy Week on the way to Resurrection Sunday.

I’m also working on a trinity of messages I’ll be delivering in May that will together form a unified whole. The first of those three messages is based on the episode in today’s chapter. Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist, is languishing in Herod’s prison. His crime? He was publicly critical of Herod’s incestuous marriage to his brother’s ex-wife, Herodius, who was also his niece. The playbook of those with earthly power was the same then as it is today: silence and suppress your critics. Thus, John sat silenced and suffering in Herod’s dungeon while Jesus was launching His ministry around the Sea of Galilee.

In the discomfort of his prison cell, John was growing impatient. What was he expecting? Luke tells us what John preached to his followers:

“The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

‘His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

John envisioned Jesus the righteous judge on the great “Day of the Lord” in the end times (see Revelation 20). John envisioned what everyone else had envisioned the Messiah doing: Wiping out all the bad guys (including Rome and the Herods), making sure they got their just desserts, and setting up a kingdom on earth from which He would rule the world. Sitting in the darkness of Herod’s dungeon, John couldn’t wait for Jesus to storm Herod’s fortress, free him from his chains, and punish Herod for all the pain and suffering he’d inflicted on His cuz. Then John would be right there by Jesus side as He reigned over all the earth.

While Jesus Himself proclaimed that Judgement Day will eventually come, He first had to fulfill His purpose as the suffering servant and the sacrificial lamb prophesied by Isaiah and others. Yet, this was hidden even from John. So, when John grows impatient, the shackles chafing his wrists and ankles, he begins to doubt. Jesus is disappointing him. This is not the Messiah John told his followers to expect. So, he sends his disciples to ask Jesus, “Hey cuz! Dude? What gives? Get me outta here!”

In His reply, Jesus alludes to the prophet Isaiah whom Jesus quoted in His first public sermon at his hometown synagogue in Luke 4:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free…”

But in His allusion to John’s disciples Jesus mentions proclaiming the good news to the poor and giving sight to the blind. He even adds that “the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised.” Jesus, however, omits from His report proclaiming “freedom for the prisoners” and “setting the oppressed free.”

Ouch. What a great and deliberate omission.

Jesus’ earthly mission on this go round will not look like John wants it to look. There’s a freedom that must first be proclaimed that has nothing to do with the physical shackles of a temporal world, but rather the spiritual chains of sin and their eternal realities and consequences.

“Sorry, cuz. I’m afraid that you must suffer as I must suffer. Believe me, your chains are temporary. Your reward is eternal. You can’t see it now, but you will. You’re almost to the finish line. Don’t stumble now, bruh.”

In the quiet this morning, I find myself thinking about the spiritual posture that Jesus is asking of John. It is a kneeling, open, and surrendered posture. It is the same that He has demanded of His disciples and anyone else who would follow, including me. Anyone who wants to follow must deny themselves, their expectations, their desires, and their demands. They must be willing to sacrifice and to suffer. The path to Life lies through death. There are no shortcuts, workarounds, or easy detours.

“Not my will, but Yours be done.”

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!

Chapter-a-Day

Two Guys Alone in a Mall

January 25, 2022 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
Matthew 11:2-3 (NIV)

When I was in high school, there was a recording artist named Steve Taylor who I avidly listened to along with almost all of my friends. He wasn’t an A-list celebrity. He was more of a niche artist. Some might even say that he was an acquired taste. Nevertheless, he was a “famous” recording artist and we devoured every song on every album. His stuff was edgy, counter-cultural, and he pushed at a lot of issues and causes in his lyrics that resonated with me and my peer group.

In college, I worked evenings and weekends at a bookstore in the local mall. Despite the category of “book store,” the store sold a lot of music and gifts.

One Saturday in January, the mall was completely dead as is normal for shopping malls in the frigid midwest after the holidays. On this particular Saturday, Steve Taylor was scheduled to spend the afternoon signing albums for fans in my bookstore. I was the only person on duty in the store that day. I seem to remember that only one or two customers came into the store that afternoon. It was just me and Steve Taylor standing around and hanging out for an entire afternoon.

Steve Taylor wasn’t what I expected. He wasn’t as good-looking as the album covers made him out to be. He was witty and right-brained, but he didn’t have the cynical, even caustic spirit I expected him to have based on his lyrics and music. He had less ego than I expected for someone who, in my estimation, was a famous artist. I expected him to be annoyed that no fans showed up wanting to see him and have him sign their albums. He seemed not to care at all. He just hung out with me. We talked, we laughed, and we got to know each other a little bit. It was two guys spending an enjoyable winter afternoon in the quiet bookstore of an abandoned shopping mall.

Like many children of my generation, I grew up going to Sunday School every Sunday and going to Vacation Bible School every summer. All of those experiences taught me about Jesus from the perspective of the United Methodist Church’s institutional education system. I learned a lot of the stories that I continue to read in my chapter-a-day journey. A lot of what I learned was helpful and instructive.

I was 14 when I asked Jesus to come into my heart and life. In a simple, fumbling prayer I personally surrendered my life and asked Him to be Lord of it. At that moment, I had a divine experience. In a way, it was the first time I personally met the Jesus I’d heard so much about. Like any relationship, it has been a process of learning, knowing, and being known. There were even some things I had to unlearn. There were things that were taught me by the institutional education system, all with the best of intentions, that gave me false perceptions of who I’ve found Jesus to be in my relationship with Him.

In today’s chapter, I found it fascinating that even John the Baptist questioned whether Jesus was the Messiah. Jesus certainly wasn’t immediately ushering in the Judgement Day that John had prophesied to the crowds. It was clear that Jesus’ teaching and ministry had not met John’s expectations or preconceived notions. John had to send his disciples to ask, “Did I get this all wrong?”

In the quiet this morning, I find myself looking back on a 40-year relationship with Jesus. The Jesus I’ve come to know as I’ve spent nearly 15,000 days asking, seeking, praying, searching, listening, obeying, and following is so much more than the two-dimensional character on my Sunday School handout. Like any relationship, I continue to peel back layers of knowing and being known. There have been moments when I foolishly and proudly thought I fully knew Jesus; There were moments that I thought I had Him “nailed down” (pun intended). If even John the Baptist had moments of needing a realignment of knowing, why wouldn’t I?

From my current waypoint on the journey, I’m quite convinced that I haven’t even scratched the surface. The more I jettison preconceived notions and approach the chapter each morning with an open heart and mind, the more I receive, the more I find, and the more I experience the door opening to new discoveries.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Faith, Faery, and The Artist’s Way

March 22, 2017 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
Matthew 11:25 (NIV)

Many years ago I picked up a book called The Artist’s Way and embarked on its path. The Artist’s Way is a course designed to help anyone tap into spiritual, creative flow. It was a life-changing journey for me, and God is still leading me back to its principles over and over again.

There are two foundational activities required of pilgrims on The Artist’s Way. The first is called morning pages, and it’s the simple act of waking each morning, immediately sitting down and writing three pages, long hand, stream-of-consciousness. Morning pages help empty the mind and spirit of all the crud that we didn’t even realize were gumming up the works. The second required activity is called the artist’s date. It is quite simply letting your adult self recapture the act of playing; Giving yourself permission to indulge, explore, imagine, touch, smell, taste, and see whatever it is your spirit finds fascinating. As the morning pages make way for fresh flow, the artist’s date begins to “fill the well.” It is a simple two-step process. And, it works.

This morning I was reminded of The Artist’s Way as I read the chapter. Jesus reminded His listeners that the things of God are hidden from the “wise and learned,” their minds gummed up with important things; Their spirits shriveled and sucked dry by the urgent cares and anxieties of the world. The things of God are revealed to children and to the child-like spirits whose minds are open and tapped into God’s flow, their willing hearts open to the wonders of faith.

I’m also reminded that the learned and wise C.S. Lewis first experienced what Jesus was talking about one day after a walk and conversation with his friend and colleague J.R.R. Tolkien. What was the subject of the conversation that led to Lewis’ conversion to Christianity? Tolkien’s belief that Faery stories are “real.”

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Matthew 11

April 4, 2011 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

sad boy — Image by woodleywonderworks via Flickr

“How can I account for this generation? The people have been like spoiled children whining to their parents….” Matthew 11:16 (MSG)

Before I read the chapter this morning, I was writing my “morning pages.” I was letting pen fly over the paper, jotting down what was on my mind. A lot of mornings, my stream of consciousness chronicle of inner monologue becomes a dialogue with God somewhere along the way and my morning pages become a letter to God. That happened this morning.

When I got to the verse above, and read Jesus’ description of His generation, I had a sudden pang of conscience. The words I’d just written in my morning pages were a whole lot of whining. I whined about this and I whined about that. “God, why don’t you…. God, why haven’t you…. God, I wanna….” Whine, whine, whine.

I think God is a loving Father and cares intimately about my feelings. He is not surprised, nor does He mind me pouring out my whining heart to Him. I am His child and He loves me. But, I also know that every parent hits a point where they get sick of the whining. It doesn’t get anyone anywhere when there’s plenty of things that need to be done.

Thanks for the reminder, God. Today, I’m choosing to stop whining and choosing to turn my focus to the things I know must be accomplished.