In chapters eleven and twelve of Matthew, several familiar names are mentioned. And it just happens that names can be a wonderful help when you are studying the Bible for yourself.

Names are clues. If the names are familiar, it may be very simple to follow the name and find additional information that helps explain the passage.

If the name is not familiar, then it might still deserve a little extra attention. But this time around, we’ll work with more familiar names.

Some will lead us to people, and other names will take us to places.

At the beginning of chapter eleven, barely a verse or two into the chapter, John the Baptist comes back into the life and ministry of Jesus.

So let’s stop for a moment and take a look at John.

John was a prophet who was announced in the Old Testament book of Isaiah. The gospel of Luke could tell us about the angel that announced John’s birth in much the same way that an angel announced Jesus’ birth.

So we know that he was very important.

But John was also a man of rough clothing and harsh conditions. He was tough enough to oppose important people when they came to be baptized without understanding the need for repentance.

John spoke of the Messiah to come, the one who would baptize people with the Holy Spirit. In the gospel of John, John the Baptist sent his own disciples to Jesus, calling him the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.

John’s whole ministry was to prepare people for the Messiah.

But in chapter eleven of Matthew, John sends a few friends to Jesus to ask, “Are you the one?”

“Are you the Messiah? Are you the one we’ve been waiting for?”

With all his toughness, John gets caught up in the same indecision that plagues everyone. Is it real? I haven’t seen the end result yet, so am I really investing in the right thing?

Apparently, faith is tough. And ministry is even tougher. Especially for someone serving out on the edge of the known world. Think of the stress of living every day in front of crowds of curious people.

Think of spending every day calling people to repentance. And try doing that with few friends to lean on for support.

If we give this all a little thought, we might be able to come up with some reasons—or at least some possibilities—why John may have found himself in a place of uncertainty.

First of all, let’s ask whether this is really a crisis on John’s part, or if he is just asking Jesus to confirm his ministry. A lot of people were confused about what Jesus was doing. He was making some very important claims.

So John may just have needed some explanation.

Or he might have been worried. He was far from newspapers and television, where it would be easy to lose track of what was happening.

This may be the voice of a tired pastor or an exhausted missionary. This may be the same question ordinary Christians ask every day, when we don’t see the results of our faith as quickly as we would like.

What keeps a Christian going when faith gets weak?

Notice what Jesus said.

Go back and tell john that the blind receive their sight, the lame can walk, the sick are healed, and the dead are raised to life again.

This happens to be a perfect proof of the ministry of the Messiah, which should answer John’s question. But it is also proof of the work of God, which should answer that other question that faith asks, is it all worthwhile.

There is another important piece to add to the story of John the Baptist. Matthew will tell the whole story in the next couple of chapters. John has been arrested, and he will later be killed.

Matthew says that John is sitting in a jail cell at this moment, when he feels this doubt about whether Jesus will do what he said he would do. That would explain some of his concern.

Even before his arrest, John may have felt pressure from the authorities. His very honest preaching was the very thing that got him arrested. So he probably offended a few people.

As the disciples of John make their way back to their boss, Jesus talks about the ministry of John. And he makes a great point in verses 16 to 19. I can paraphrase it:

“You didn’t like John, because he was rough and scowling and stern. You thought he was too plain, too odd, too unconventional.

“But now I come, and I sit with you and laugh with you and eat with you. And you don’t like me either. I’m too common, apparently.

“Face it. You just come up with excuses, no matter who God sends to you. But you will be accountable for what you have heard, no matter who the messenger happens to be.”

This may explain another pressure on John. He wasn’t popular. In spite of the crowds who came to him to be baptized, there were others who didn’t care. Many others, apparently.

But even if they didn’t come, the people would be accountable to God for John’s ministry. Speaking of accountability, look at verses 20 through 24.

There are names here, but they are names of towns or counties or something. You can find more information about each place by looking at a map, but I want to mention just one of the names.

I don’t know much about the other places off-hand, but there is one name that I remember. Sodom. The names of Sodom and Gomorrah have become famous because of what happened there in Abraham’s time.

They were destroyed.

Notice what Jesus said. If the people of Sodom had seen the miracles of Jesus, they would have changed their lives, and the city would not have been destroyed. That’s a big statement, because Sodom was an evil place.

God looked for just a few righteous people in Sodom, and he couldn’t find any. None! Zero! That’s bad!

But Jesus isn’t dredging up old gossip about Sodom. He is talking about the cities in Israel where he had performed miracles. These people in Israel had seen amazing things, and apparently they weren’t convinced that Jesus was who he said he was.

That ought to tell us two things.

One—the Jews were given a fantastic opportunity. Jesus didn’t go to Sodom. They had to obey the word that was given to them. But Israel had so much more. They saw the Son of God on their doorstep. They saw the miracles.

And two—that opportunity carries a heavy responsibility. The people who saw Jesus should have followed him. And when they didn’t, the resulting judgment would be severe.

Before we walk away from this passage, let’s just take a moment to think about the name. Sodom. It was an evil place. Easier for Sodom, Jesus says, than for the city—or the person—who ignores the Son of God.

It says something about Jesus. He is not someone who can be ignored. People have to make a decision, and this is a very, very important decision to make.

Let’s pick up another name that should be fairly familiar to everyone.

Let’s talk about Jonah. This is chapter twelve, verses 38 through 45.

The topic of signs and miracles comes up again. This time it is the Pharisees and teachers of the law who demand a sign.

“We want to see you do something really cool! Let’s see a miracle!”

Jesus has some very strong words for them. He is not pleased. He will give them a sign. But it will be, as he calls it, the sign of Jonah.

There are two significant parts to this sign, as Jesus explains it.

The first is the sign itself. Jesus will spend three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, just as Jonah spent the same time in the fish.

If you remember the story of Jonah, you will remember that he was an angry prophet, and he ran away from the job that God had for him. The fish was his punishment. It was a smelly, ugly, depressing three days for Jonah, and he cried out to God for deliverance.

This will be the same. Sin will take Jesus to the cross. Not his own sin, but mine. Yours. The sin of the people who would not hear the Son of God when he came.

Poor Jonah refused to obey God because God was about to pardon the enemies of Israel. The grace of God was about to fall on a terrible people who lived outside the gates of God’s special people.

And Jonah couldn’t accept that.

So Jonah suffered so that others could be set free. He didn’t do it willingly, but that is the story of Jonah.

Jesus is saying:

“The cross will be your miracle, and even though you try to prevent it, the grace of God will fall on all sorts of people who are not a part of your little circle of special people! How do you like that for a miracle?!”

I said there were two parts. This first part is enough, but Jesus goes on to say that the residents of Ninevah would stand at the day of judgment and condemn these people of Israel, because the people of Ninevah repented.

And Israel did not.

To be honest here, some did. But many did not. A lot of people stood around and said, “We’re the lucky ones, the special ones, and nothing bad will happen to us.”

They were lucky. That part was true. But they were also accountable, more than anyone else.

They should have welcomed the Son of God. They should have taken the message of Jesus to everyone near and far. That was the purpose of the people of God.

At the day of judgment, the people of Ninevah will stand up and say that they heard the word of God and obeyed.

When that day comes, what will we say?