When John the Baptist heard in prison of the works of the Christ,
he sent his disciples to Jesus with this question,
"Are you the one who is to come,
or should we look for another?"
John had already declared that Jesus was the lamb of God and some of his own disciples began to follow Jesus even then. Yet some of John's disciples seemed to have remained with him. Where they committed to John himself but not convinced by his declaration that Jesus was the lamb? Especially if this were so, these disciples who desired to stay with John might have begun to lose heart and despair seeing their master imprisoned. Such a fate did not seem fitting for a mighty prophet who was to prepare for the coming of the Messiah. It would have made the one that whose way John said he had come to prepare to be even more suspect in their eyes. Perhaps John was already struggling to convey the fact that Jesus was the Messiah to those with rigid preconceptions of who the Messiah was to be.
Fortunately, John was apparently still be in the loop regarding the works of Christ, even from his prison cell. This would hardly have been grounds for any doubt on the part of John, for the works of Jesus, although not military conquests, were miracles such as had never been seen before, and teaching unlike any ever given. It was more likely that John sent his disciples to Jesus for their own sake, to give voice to their own doubts about Jesus in the face of the fate of their master.
Jesus said to them in reply,
"Go and tell John what you hear and see:
the blind regain their sight,
the lame walk,
lepers are cleansed,
the deaf hear,
the dead are raised,
and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.
Jesus responded to their question of whether he was the one who was to come with something more powerful than a simple 'yes'. His answer was rather that his actions demonstrated that he was undeniably the fulfillment of the prophetic hope about which we read in today's first reading from Isaiah.
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,
the ears of the deaf be cleared;
then will the lame leap like a stag,
then the tongue of the mute will sing.
Jesus answered them as though the question was from John himself, and certainly the stories of what John's disciples heard and saw for themselves would have been powerful testimonies to strengthen John for his own struggles. For Isaiah this prophecy was meant to strengthen "the hands that are feeble" and to "make firm the knees that are weak", to give confidence to "hearts that are frightened" commanding them, "Be strong, fear not!" And the reason this command was not only possible but powerful was because the one who was to come was God himself: "Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you." The allusion to this prophecy as fulfilled ought to have given strength to John and his disciples, and indeed to all of those who took no offense at Jesus. Jesus assured them that he was indeed the one who was to come but that he was more, not less, than they hoped or imagined. It might be easy to take offense at such a claim made by one who to all appearances seemed to be a man like any other. The Pharisees for their part often took offense. After all, who but God alone could forgive sins (see Mark 2:7)? Rather than argue with persuasive words, the testimony of Jesus was to let his actions and the words of Scripture speak for themselves.
"What did you go out to the desert to see?
A reed swayed by the wind?
Then what did you go out to see?
Someone dressed in fine clothing?
Those who wear fine clothing are in royal palaces.
If John was indeed a prophet then perhaps it was not surprising after all that he was imprisoned. As a prophet he did not sign up for the easy life of palaces. Nor if he was a true prophet could his words be changeable and adaptable in order to not displease those in authority. He was persecuted as had been many prophets before him. This was not the proof of the failure of his predecessors. Neither was it the proof of his own failure. Indeed it was more like confirmation that he really was a prophet and that his words were really hitting home with those who heard them.
Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;
he will prepare your way before you.
John prepared the way for Jesus throughout his entire life, even from prison, by helping his own disciples to recognize the lamb of God. Even the death of John as testimony to the truth of God prepared the way that the Master himself would follow.
For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice (see John 18:37).
John himself stood on the threshold of the kingdom, but even he had to wait for the Master to go before him and open the doors that had been barred since the exile from the Garden of Eden. Only Jesus was able to make the deserts of this world bloom by the living water that poured forth from his wounded side, the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The desert and the parched land will exult;
the steppe will rejoice and bloom.
They will bloom with abundant flowers,
and rejoice with joyful song.
We who still mostly see desert landscapes in this world must be patient for the early and the late rains of Spirit with which God, according to his own timetables, waters the earth. James wrote, "Make your hearts firm, because the coming of the Lord is at hand". We can call to mind all of the ways in which Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament as part of our strategy to strengthen our hearts. We can also receive the encouragement of the cloud of witnesses (see Hebrews 12:1) of saints that have gone before us, and those who still surround us today. We can even hopefully recognize the ways in which our own hearts have in some measure been brought to bloom by Jesus himself where before there was only desert. Rejoicing in these works of the Lord will help us live patiently and well as we await the coming of our blessed hope, and to keep watch without undue servile fear for the Judge who is even already at the gates.
Behold, the Judge is standing before the gates.
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