John the Baptist Questions Jesus

We sometimes forget that the heroes of the faith were also human. John the Baptist, though a man hand-picked by God to announce the coming of His Son, was prone to doubt just as we are at times. He had been the one to baptize Jesus and the one to whom the sign of the descending dove had been given. He had heard the audible voice of God affirming the deity of Jesus and yet, about one year later, John was questioning whether or not Jesus was the Messiah. John had been imprisoned for several months due to his public opposition to Herod's marriage to his sister-in-law, so this could accurately be described as a low point in his life. It is often in these dark periods that we too, are prone to question who God is and what he is doing. We cannot forget that John was a Jew and like all the Jews of his time, he would have been looking for a Messiah who would rescue the Jewish people from the oppression of the Roman government. He would have heard about the healings and miracles that Jesus was doing and may have begun to question the direction of His ministry. No matter how certain we are of God, we are all vulnerable to disillusionment when the right conditions present themselves. But John should be an example to us of what to do when doubts surface. He confronted them openly and took them straight to Jesus. Jesus was neither critical of nor angry with John. Without saying it directly, Jesus did assure John's disciples that the kingdom of heaven was "forcefully advancing".

In another passage highlighting the "how quickly they forget" tendencies of mankind, Jesus denounces many of the towns in which he had performed miracles. It seems that while these towns were happy to receive the miracles of Jesus, they had not taken the true ministry of Jesus to heart. They were interested in Him only for what he could do for them. They were not interested in being true followers. The parallel to us today is obvious.

Tomorrow's reading: Luke 8:1-8, 19-21; Mark 3:20-4:20; Matt. 12:22-13:9