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Welcome to today’s Daily Scripture Reading and Meditation covering Matthew 11:2-6 wherein we find a companion in John the baptist and are moved to humility before our perfect Lord.
Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
You’ve gotta love John the baptist. Here is a man who did the extraordinary work of preparing people to receive Jesus, even getting to be the man to baptize the same One who would in turn baptize others with the Holy Spirit and fire. This is the guy who confidently shouted about the approaching Messiah, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Doubts? Certainly not this incredible insect-eating prophet! But then comes imprisonment in return for all his truth-telling; yes, then comes a debilitating trial in the midst of his faithfulness. “Something is wrong with this picture,” John must have been thinking. Maybe he had gotten it wrong with Jesus. Or maybe Jesus had just forgotten about him and needed a little reminder that it was time for the King to exercise a little authority and free the captives. Jesus actually responds to both of those musings.
The disciples of John, men who themselves had experienced frustration over Jesus’ growing ministry and the baptist’s declining one, perhaps shared John’s frustrations and questions. “Take a look around,” was Jesus’ instruction to them. All that Jesus had been doing pointed to the fact that He was indeed the Messiah, but He actually doesn’t even come out and say that He is the One. He instead leaves it to John to make that decision based upon the evidence. John was to remember the prophesies, to think back on what he was so confident of before his troubles came. In essence, He was telling his elder cousin, “You know who I am, John; just take a step back and look at what is going on.” Jesus then brought what probably came as a gentle rebuke to John: blessed is the one who is not offended by me. Like you and I, the prophet had expectations for who Jesus should be and how He should go about things…prison doesn’t usually fit into those expectations.
Our baby girl got sick about a year ago and ended up in the hospital to be treated for pneumonia. The night before we took her in, I remember sitting up with her, almost delirious from the accumulated lack of sleep since her birth, crying out to the Lord that He would open up her lungs and bring rest to her tiny body. It was scary, and I was, quite frankly, a bit ticked off at God for not doing immediately what He would do the next day through the hands of the doctors. I can identify with John, at least a little bit, through such an experience. In other words, his questions for Jesus don’t surprise me; in fact, they encourage me a bit. John was just a man with expectations…like me. Here’s the deal: Jesus has already proven Himself and made promises that He has kept and will keep, none of which include giving you and I whatever we think we need when life feels difficult. O, how we need to take care that we are not offended or put off by Jesus as if He has done too little. O, how we need to cozy into His loving arms according to the way that they are already extended. Let us worship Him for all that He is in perfection today.
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