“Something Greater”
Luke 11:29-36
October 25, 2026
I’m guessing that most of you don’t know the name Otto Rohwedder. I’m also guessing that almost all of you have referenced his claim to fame. Rohwedder was an inventor and in the late 1920s he invented a machine that began to be used by the Chillicothe Baking Company in 1928. If his invention had arrived a few years later they would have said it was the best thing invented since sliced bread. Except his invention was the bread slicer! He’s the man who developed the machine that changed the baking industry, enabling the standardization of other machines like the toaster and making all our lives easier.
Rohwedder is in a long line of people who came up with “something better.”
When Jesus was on earth, the people were fascinated by His teaching because He spoke with authority. And they were amazed by His miracles, because, “who can do something like that?” But as is the nature of humanity and our fleshliness, they weren’t satisfied with Jesus, His teaching, or His miracles. We know that His teaching and miracles were designed to authenticate His claim to be the Messiah (beginning in His very first teaching, 4:17-21). But they wanted something more. They wanted someone more impressive, and they wanted a greater guarantee of the authenticity of who He was.
So to assert their desired for someone greater than Jesus and something greater than what He did, after Jesus healed a demoniac who made the man he possessed mute (11:14), some in the crowd attributed His work to Satan (v. 15), and others said, “give us a sign from Heaven” (v. 16, as if what He had just done wasn’t “heavenly”). Jesus responded to the first objection in vv. 17-28 (which we saw last week); He dealt with the second objection in vv. 29-36, which teach us —
Don’t just be amazed by Christ. Be transformed by His Word.
This section and the last portions of Luke 11 are about the rejection of Christ. While intrigued by Christ (v. 14b), the crowds are largely opposed to Christ. They don’t want Him. They want something more. Listen to what is revealed about Christ and His message, and learn two lessons from Jesus’ correction of the crowd:
- Don’t be a Sign Seeker (vv. 29–32)
- Be a Scripture Follower (vv. 33–36)
Download the rest of this sermon on Luke 11:29-36.
The audio will be posted on the GBC website by Tuesday.
