A Reed Swayed By the Wind

What did Jesus mean when He said “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind?”

Jesus said this in Luke 7:23, in response to two disciples whom John the Baptist had sent from his imprisonment by King Herod. John had sent them to ask “’Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’”

This occurred just after Jesus’ powerful teaching in His “Sermon on the Mount” and in the midst of a wide variety of miraculous signs and wonders. Jesus told John’s disciples “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: 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.”

Before his imprisonment, John had lived out in the wilderness, far from the sophisticated urban centers and seats of power, so that the very act of hearing his message required a certain amount of humility in coming out to see him. And come they did, not looking for a watered down, man-centered message, a “reed swayed by the wind” of ideological fashion, but the very truth of God, unrelenting and hard as nails.

John’s mission was to prepare the hearts of people to hear Jesus’ good news, preached to the “poor in spirit” as Matthew’s gospel reads. John’s message was one of law, of the conviction of sin, and of the need for repentance, in preparation for Jesus’ message of forgiveness and reconciliation, the “good news” of God’s amazing grace. This good news Jesus preached only made sense in the context of John’s bad news of our sin and our need for forgiveness.

So it was with this understanding that I spent some time preaching John’s message to a young man named Andy in a parking lot outreach conversation. Andy had minimal church background but some spiritual curiosity, expressed in his interest in various religious videos he’s watched on YouTube. But their message would be fashionable and watered-down, and I knew Andy needed to hear the “hard as nails” truth of John the Baptist.

Andy had also stated “I want to believe, but I just can’t” and we talked about the purpose of some of Jesus’ miracles, such as the raising of several people from the dead.

“Did God make a mistake in allowing them to die in the first place?” Andy had asked.

I explained how Jesus’ miracles were recorded in order to demonstrate his identity and authority as the Messiah, and I gave the example of the paralyzed man brought to Jesus, whose sins were forgiven first, but then Jesus also healed his body as a demonstration of His authority to forgive sins.

Like Andy, John the Baptist, languishing in prison, also experienced doubts as to Jesus’ identity and authority. Jesus responded by referring to his miracles, and then to the good news preached to those who would humbly receive it.

As we receive that good news and then respond by going out to proclaim it to others, let’s not forget to tell it in the context of both John’s message of repentance and our need for forgiveness, and Jesus’ demonstration of His authority to bring that forgiveness, especially seen in his triumph over death and the grave.

And let’s proclaim it not as a “reed swayed by the wind”, but with the unashamed confidence and authority that people need to hear.