I’ve grown uneasy with the word Christian. It’s meant to point to Christ, yet it’s often loaded with so much cultural baggage that it can obscure him. It might seem like a petty semantic argument to argue more for Christlike or simply, “of Christ,” but I’m finding it more and more important to remember that it is Jesus who defines what is Christian. In the end, Christian is a better noun than adjective. And we only know if that noun (a person) is a Christian or not based upon their reflection of Jesus himself.
Is he or isn’t he?
The story is well-known: someone asked an Amish man if he was a Christian. Without looking up from his work, he replied, “You’ll have to ask my neighbor.”
When John the Baptist’s disciples are sent to ask Jesus if he is the Messiah, Jesus does not answer. At least, he does not directly answer their question with a Yes or No.
This is an important strategy by Jesus.
It’s not that he doesn’t answer the question (he does - we’ll get to that in a moment). Rather, by not answering it directly, he seems to imply that the question is either the wrong one, or asked in the wrong manner.
Jesus rarely touches the subject of the Messiah, especially prior to the resurrection. He does say that he is the one (but only in the gospel of John). Rather, most times, he affirms the statement in others or simply deflects the question in a different direction (like in today’s passage).
It’s not about titles or labels or adjectives or even descriptive nouns.
The question is asked (verbally). And Luke tells us not that Jesus responded in kind (verbally), but that right then, he healed a bunch of people.
That’s the answer. That’s the determination of the presence of the Christ or not. It’s not a verbal argument, no matter how deep the wittiness or how often across a nation or platform. It’s not memorization of scripture. It’s not the church one attends. It’s not family lineage or denominational adherence.
It’s the action of one’s life as it reflects what Jesus came to do.
(Don’t forget the announcement of his platform, his mission statement in Luke 4).
So in today’s passage, after healing a bunch of people, Jesus does respond to John’s disciples: Report what you’ve seen and heard.
That’s it, brothers & sisters. Many will call Jesus, “Lord.” But only those who do his will, reflecting the character of his life-giving, freedom-bearing, destruction-liberating action are truly under his Lordship.
So don’t tell me that because someone is smart or sounds smart or can out debate all the atheists, they are a Christian.
Ask their neighbors. Particularly their wounded, sick, and poor neighbors.
Actually, better yet - remember yesterday’s passage, Luke 6:39-49, and let us not worry about determining if this or that person is a Christian. Let’s just go at living it as best as we know how.
Let’s live in such a way that if a stranger wonders whether we belong to Christ, our neighbors won’t have to guess.
Luke 17:18-23
John’s disciples informed him about all these things. John called two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord. They were to ask him, “Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for someone else?”
When they reached Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you. He asks, ‘Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for someone else?’”
Right then, Jesus healed many of their diseases, illnesses, and evil spirits, and he gave sight to a number of blind people. Then he replied to John’s disciples, “Go, report to John what you have seen and heard. Those who were blind are able to see. Those who were crippled now walk. People with skin diseases are cleansed. Those who were deaf now hear. Those who were dead are raised up. And good news is preached to the poor. Happy is anyone who doesn’t stumble along the way because of me.”
Psalm 107:19-21
So they cried out to the Lord in their distress, and God saved them from their desperate circumstances. God gave the order and healed them; he rescued them from their pit. Let them thank the Lord for his faithful love and his wondrous works for all people.
Prayer
God,
You did not prove yourself with apologetics or titles but by the healing of the broken, the lifting of the poor, and the freeing of the oppressed. Forgive us for the times we look for credentials, arguments, or clever words to measure faith, while missing the living work of your Son right before our eyes.
Teach me to recognize Christ not in labels but in the fruit of mercy. Shape my own life so that neighbors might glimpse your presence not by what I claim but by what I do: acts of compassion, justice, and quiet faithfulness. Make my testimony less about the right words and more about a life that reports what has been seen and heard.
By your Spirit & in Christ,
Amen.