Matthew 11:9-10 “Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare the way before you.’”

We go to see a prophet. Sometimes people hear the word prophet and they think “fortune teller,” predictor of the future. It is true that some of God’s past prophets predicted future events. But telling the future was incidental to their main assignment.

God called John the Baptist, “my messenger.” It was clear whom John the Baptist served, and it wasn’t popular opinion or the highest bidder. His heart and his voice belonged to the Lord. If that drew a large crowd, then God be praised. If that offended people and drove some of them off, then God be praised. If that got the prophet arrested and killed, then God be praised. But John wasn’t going to change the Lord’s script just because someone didn’t like it.

John’s message and mission could be summarized with the words, “who will prepare the way before you.” This applied to John in a special way because he was the last of the Old Testament prophets. He appeared right before Jesus to prepare the nation spiritually to recognize and believe in their promised Savior.

But in a wider sense, this job description applies to every prophet, every preacher of God’s word, from the beginning until our own day. There are two main tasks in preparing people to receive Jesus as their Savior. First, the preacher has to convince us of our need. What do I need someone to save me for if I’m not in any trouble? What would you say to the lifeguard if you were swimming laps, in no distress, getting a great workout, when all of sudden the lifeguard wraps his arms around you and begins dragging you out of the pool? “Have you lost your mind? Leave me alone! Go back to your stand. I don’t need you.”

We never run out of need for Jesus to be our Savior. We can become fuzzy on what that need is. We go to the prophet, the preacher, to have our sins exposed like we go to the dentist to find the plaque between our teeth and the cavities that need to be filled, or the doctor to tell us why we haven’t been feeling so well. I need him to tell me what’s wrong with me.

Then we go to see the prophet, the preacher, to present the Savior himself, to introduce us to Jesus all over again. This is the Lamb of God who takes away my sins. This is the perfect life that satisfies God’s demands for me to love and obey. This is the innocent death that serves the sentence for my sins and settles all my accounts with the Almighty. This is always where preaching is supposed to lead. Jesus’ saving love is the main event in preaching that deserves to be called “Christian.” For those who get themselves, and get Jesus, it is what they go to see.

A lot of people watch the Super Bowl just to see the commercials. The game itself? Not so much. There are other things we can go to see at church: musical performances, friends and family, meals and activities. Jesus reminds us to come and see him in the words of a preacher, a prophet, preparing his way.