I seldom listen to music during the day. Oddly, music interferes with my thinking, lol! But, for some reason today I chose to listen to a favorite song from years ago while folding laundry: “Go Tell John” by Keith Lancaster/Acappella Company. You find it on Spotify or can listen to a sample here .
The song tells the account from Luke 7 – John the Baptist is in prison. John is sure his death is imminent.
Had he wasted his life? Was he wrong about Jesus? Were the things he prophesied out in the desert even true? Was he or was he not the Messiah, the one they had been waiting for?
Don’t we all wonder about this at times? Have we wasted our life with mistaken endeavors?
Jesus sends back this declaration. Feel the power in those words!
“Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them.
Luke 7:22
Every time I listen to this song, I imagine my older sister, Vickie, lame from birth, leaping and running to her Savior.
I imagine my blind friend, who I helped finish lessons with her braille machine, looking deep into the face of her Savior.
I remember my deaf college friend. We rode our bicycles throughout downtown Norfolk – maintaining balance with one hand while animatedly signing with the other. I imagine her face lighting up as she hears the words of her Savior for the first time.
WHAT A JOY to learn today that a translation work of the entire Bible, begun in 1981 by Duane King (my Sign Language professor from years ago at NCC) is finally complete. Click here to read the amazing story.
I’m sure there were doubts along the way, just as John doubted while in prison, and as we doubt when we evaluate our own ministry and calling in life.
I don’t know about you, but I can hear Jesus proclaiming for all to hear –
“Go tell John (or Duane and the team who worked on this project) … the blind can see, the lame can walk, and NOW the deaf can hear the Good News!”
Getting the Gospel message out for all to hear, to see, and to experience is an endeavor worth dying for. Just ask John!!
Photo credit: Christ healing the Paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo .