Matthew 11:1-6 NASB95
When Jesus had finished giving instructions to His twelve disciples, He departed from there to teach and preach in their cities. [2] Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples [3] and said to Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” [4] Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: [5] the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM. [6] And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.”
When John heard of the works that Jesus was doing, he sent some of his disciples to ask Jesus if Jesus was the actual Messiah they had all been waiting for. After responding to John’s question, Jesus made a general statement that a blessed life is one that doesn’t get offended with Him. Jesus was basically saying that John was offended with Him because Jesus wasn’t doing what John expected Him to do. When John was baptizing, and he saw Jesus (who was his cousin) approaching him, John declared, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” John’s expectation was that Jesus would take away the sins of the world, and yet, instead of doing that, Jesus was performing all kinds of miracles. John was the last of the Old Testament prophets, and his message was one of repentance, pointing out people sin. I believe he expected Jesus to continue to do the same. Instead, Jesus was confronting people with the grace love of the Father, expecting an encounter with God’s love would bring about true surrender and repentance. All the law can do is condemn with the purpose of convincing people that without God’s unconditional grace, they are hopeless. Pointing out people sin never brings about change, but bringing people into an encounter with God’s grace always ruins them to not settle for anything less than more of God. Jesus sent the message back to John that cleansing lepers, healing the lame, causing the deaf to hear, and the dead to be raised up was all about taking away the sins of the world. He was demonstrating the power of grace to change a life. JESUS WAS PREACHING THE GOSPEL TO THE AFFLICTED.. Any time we, in Jesus name, minister the grace of God to people, either by proclaiming eternal forgiveness over them or healing the sick, the lame, or the brokenhearted, we have preached the gospel to them. Grace changed the world.