“Wanting to know for sure”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation - Monday, May 20, 2024 Matthew 11: 1-6 (Forward, p. 22) CEV p. 995
I don’t blame John the Baptist one iota. Here he is, a child of the out-of-doors and of the wilderness, sequestered in a basement hellhole of a massive fortress, Machaerus, perched on the desolate eastern shore of the Dead Sea. His location was bad enough, but far worse, much worse, was his situation. He was here on the express orders of King Herod Antipas.
And what brought him here made his situation all the more tenuous, all the more precarious. He had ‘dared’ to publicly criticize something in the personal life of that oriental monarch. Critiquing something arising from the personal activities of a powerful despot is never a wise thing, but even less so when that monarch is not subject to the usual nuances and niceties of law and has life and death power over his subjects.
So, here he is, stuck here, thinking—and stewing. And double thinking—thinking overtime--and doubting. Quite naturally, given the time on his hands, he has opportunity to rethink his career up until this point. So, quite naturally, he has questions—and doubts. He had shaped his entire career around preparing the way for the Messiah, but had he chosen the right one. After all, he had not only prepared people but also singled out Jesus as the right one. What if he had been wrong! His whole ministry might have been in vain, been for nothing. And so, now He just had to know. So, he said messengers to Jesus to ask, “Are you the one we should be looking for? Or must we wait for someone else?” (verse 3). Perhaps he is thinking—should Jesus’ answer be the second—that there was still time for his followers to look elsewhere.
Interesting, and perhaps surprisingly, Jesus doesn’t answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’. He merely points John’s envoys to a prophecy of Isaiah and relates how He has indeed fulfilled them. Perhaps, this answer is far more than mere words, that a mere ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Firstly, it is words in action, actions providing His answer. And secondly, it is action expressly as mandated by the word of God, the prophecy of Isaiah in the Holy Scriptures. And so, His final words, “God will bless everyone who doesn’t reject me because of what I do” (verse 6)—which sound rather strange given what He’s just said—are perhaps an appeal to take His actions seriously, that is, to take them as precisely fulfilling God’s promises and purposes of long ago.
Forward notes: “When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’ (verses 2-3).
“How do we know that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, the Christ? Even John the Baptist, hearing about Jesus’s teaching and ministry, asks the question. In my mind, John’s question is one that is more hopeful than accusatory. In his time, there was no singular idea of the Messiah across Judaism. But one common portrayal of the future Messiah was as a military leader who would restore the kingdom of Israel, a distinct contrast with the lifestyle of Jesus of Nazareth. It’s no wonder John asks the question.
“Per usual, Jesus does not answer John directly. He gestures toward the prophecy in Isaiah 35 of what God’s intervention in the world looks like. The healing, liberation, and flourishing that Jesus’s ministry brings is reminiscent of the prophesied messianic era. Far from a military hero, Jesus’s ministry tells us God’s character and God’s will for the world.”
Moving Forward: “Imagine yourself as John, asking questions of Jesus. What would you want to know?