Who is Jesus?

Toby Artis takes us through Matthew 11:1-15 as we continue our advent series. Toby invites us to reconsider the question, “Who is Jesus?” through the experience of John the Baptist, who moves from confidently proclaiming Jesus to doubting him while isolated in prison. Like John, many of us know moments of deep closeness to God as well as seasons of confusion and abandonment, and Advent becomes a space to ask those questions honestly again. Jesus responds to John not with rebuke, but by pointing to the signs of God’s restoring work promised in Isaiah: the sick are healed, the poor are lifted up, and sinners are welcomed. In doing so, Jesus confounds expectations of judgement and instead reveals a kingdom shaped by mercy and grace, challenging us to value all human life equally and to recognise our shared need for God. Jesus affirms John’s faithfulness while redirecting him to see God at work in unexpected places, asking us whether we are looking in the right ways too. Christmas, then, is not just a comforting story but an apocalyptic inbreaking of God’s kingdom - more than a sign, it is an invitation to encounter the Jesus who has come for us and is always at work.