John the Baptist

Isaiah 35: 1-10. More rousing prophetic writing from Isaiah, predicting a dramatic in-breaking of God into the world with the result that cleansing, refining, completeness and joy will result. The word that encapsulates that state is salvation or peace. In Hebrew and Arabic cultures, Shalom and Salaam are common greetings while in our culture that is now only really heard in liturgical blessings and in the celebration of “the Peace” on Sundays.

James 5: 7-10. For James, patience seems to be synonymous with suffering, and actually patience can be experienced as a kind of internalised suffering when you think about it. Patience doesn’t come easily to many people and is more often imposed rather than sought. James implores his readers to be strong during the time of waiting, assuring them that their final salvation is nearer than they think and not to lose discipline in the meantime,

Matthew 11: 2-11. From the fiery and confident John we heard about last week we now meet John in prison suddenly wracked with doubts. Is Jesus really the Messiah? The reason for his doubts is that he is hearing what Jesus is doing. John was a fierce denouncer of sin, and so surely the primary task of the Messiah should also be “to take an axe to the root of the trees that do not bear fruit”, but he hears that Jesus is reaching out to the poor and marginalised and restoring health to the afflicted so John is a bit confused. Jesus is not turning out to be the kind of Messiah John was expecting!

John the Baptist is a strange idiosyncratic figure. The Bible hints very strongly that he must have been a very uncomfortable figure to be around. His very appearance, clothed in camel’s hair and eating locusts and wild honey and located in the wilderness breathing fire and brimstone against the sins of the people must have been at once a bit frightening but also as is the way of these things, obviously exerted a strange attraction for his perceived integrity and assurance that he was speaking the word of God.

John drew people out into the wilderness to hear what he had to say because people recognised him as a prophet. And prophets can make us feel uncomfortable.

But today we encounter a different John. He is now in prison because he upset Herod by denouncing his affair with his sister-in-law – another example of his fearlessness and puritanical opposition to sin.

Obviously in his mind, he thought that Jesus as the Messiah should be cut from the same cloth as him, only bigger and better.

But we hear in the opening verses of our gospel reading today that John is receiving reports of a different kind of person, and it is because of this that John is confused and it puts doubts in his mind and some of his disciples are sent to ask Jesus

“Are you the one to come, or should we expect another?”.

What prompts this question?

John hears in prison what Jesus is doing, presumably acts of healing and mercy.

Now to John, a fierce denouncer of the sins of the people, surely Jesus must also be a denouncer of the people and his task should be to carry out the final judgement, cutting down the rotten trees that don’t bear fruit.

What he hears is a man who preaches in the synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and heals every disease and infirmity.

John is confused because Jesus is not what he was expecting.

But his question gives Jesus the opportunity to reply in referencing two texts from Isaiah (35: 5-6, 29: 18-19) and saying to them. See what I’m doing for the blind, lame deaf and poor.

Yes there is judgement but his primary role is the restoration of the needy and the giving of life to the lifeless.

John has to re-assess his expectations of the nature and will of God.

He and we and all believers are invited to come to a new assessment of God and his purposes, one where judgement is a feature but where the primary concern is to save everyone. Jesus hopes that this new understanding doesn’t upset too many people and says “Blessed are those who take no offence at me”.

Unfortunately, there are many today who think that Jesus’ main concern, like John the Baptist thought, should be the condemnation of sinners, rather than offering a helping hand to the lost.

Then the focus changes to Jesus’ assessment of John. Jesus says that he is a prophet, more than a prophet, preparing the way for him, and yet, one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John.

Why? Because when you accept the true nature of God, Jesus and the kingdom, knowledge of the surpassing character of the kingdom is greater than John’s misapprehension of the nature of God.   

This isn’t belittling or disparaging John but is an acknowledgement of the surpassing character of the new revelation of the truth about God.

The sinfulness of mankind is a given, and a cornerstone of Christian doctrine about the truth about humanity, but the hallmark of the kingdom of God is repentance and forgiveness, grace and mercy. God came into the world to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15).