Matthew 11:2-11
Come, Lord Jesus!
It never ceases to amaze me! You would think that those who were blessed with the opportunity to see and to hear Jesus and maybe also witness his miraculous healings and feedings would have absolutely no difficulty in believing that Jesus was the Messiah of God. You would think! But that wasn’t the way that it worked then and it is not how it works now.
This isn’t the time of the year when we hear the stories of Jesus’ resurrection, but for the moment think about some of those resurrection stories. Jesus appeared again and again to his Disciples and on almost every occasion there was this subtle expression of doubt. Most of the Disciples did not recognize Jesus, but there was always one of them (usually just one) who would hesitantly announce that it is the Lord and then another disciple, usually Peter would perform some act that showed he believed, but the truth is they did not necessarily believe all of the things that were said about Jesus as the Messiah of God, for the most part they believed only that the person that they were seeing was Jesus. It was not certain that the Disciples fully believed that Jesus was God’s Son and our Savior, at least not until the Holy Spirit appeared to them and gifted them with the Spirit’s gifts of faith and wisdom and healing and speech and more.
I’m amazed every time I read those resurrection stories, but it was not just the Disciples who struggled with belief. John the Baptist who was the man called upon by God to prepare the way for the Messiah, wasn’t so sure. He had made some outstanding statements of faith regarding Jesus as the Messiah, before Jesus’ baptism, at the time of his baptism and right after his baptism. At those times he had no doubts that Jesus was the one for whom he was preparing the way, that Jesus was the Messiah of God. He even directed some of his own Disciples to go from him and follow Jesus. And, if the birth stories in Luke’s Gospel are correct, John the Baptist may well have known Jesus, he was a part of his extended family; he even seems to have witnessed to Jesus as the Messiah of God before he and Jesus were born. But today, in our Gospel reading, the great John the Baptist, the man who was sent to prepare the way for the Messiah, who proclaimed Jesus the one who comes in the name of the Lord, was not so sure. John was at this time in prison; I guess, having so much time to think and maybe contemplating his own death, he just wanted to make sure that he had not failed in his God given mission. Well, John sent a couple of his remaining disciples to Jesus with a most direct question, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another.” In other words, give me the answer, plain and simple! A simple yes or no, would have been preferred, but Jesus doesn’t give such simple answers, and maybe it would not have been right to do so. Those who were to believe would all have to look at the same evidence, the same events, messages and experiences and believe or not; John was no different. Jesus, in his answer, went back to the prophets, to Isaiah in particular comparing them to his own life and activities. Jesus’ answer was as follows: “Go and tell John what you hear and see; the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me. John, knowing the Scriptures would have heard in Jesus’ response the voice of Isaiah and understood that Jesus was answering, that the prophesies of Isaiah were being fulfilled in him, Jesus. And so, the answer, yes. John certainly lived on knowing that he had fulfilled his ministry and John faced death without regret.
If Jesus were to have his way, John the Baptist would be remembered as a great man. With John’s disciples gone from him, Jesus turned his attention to the crowds and spoke to them about John. Again, Jesus doesn’t speak plainly, but speaks in the words of Isaiah about John. “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.” John the Baptist was the prophesied messenger. But in stating this Jesus was also telling them who he was. Jesus was the one for whom the messenger, John, was preparing the way. You wonder, all these people heard Jesus’ message; crowds of others heard Jesus preach, saw Jesus heal the sick, some received the fulness of a meal from him and yet when it came time to standing up for Jesus, they were no where to be found. They once seemed to believe in Jesus; maybe they did believe in Jesus at those times, but they did not have the strength of faith to stand up for Jesus and to share his word after his arrest. There is an old saying, and maybe it answers why people so easily fall from faith; the saying is “what have you done for me lately?” It seems that the Disciples faith wavered after Jesus was arrested. It seems that John the Baptist’s faith wavered when Jesus was arrested. And it seems that the faith of the people who once followed Jesus wavered after Jesus was arrested.
The challenge for us is different. Our faith is not built upon experiences of Jesus as he walked among us, talked to us and performed great deeds before our eyes. Our faith rests on the words and experiences that we relate to Jesus. Yet, I see Jesus, not physically, but I see him working in each of your lives and through each of your lives. But, can we each of us sustain our faith when confronted with struggle, or illness, or grief? Jesus is always with us, but when he seems far away, then we need to reach out to him, just like John the Baptist did; ask for words of reassurance; listen to Jesus’ response whether in your heart or brought to you by messengers. You, like John the Baptist, will not be disappointed and your faith will be restored stronger than ever.