For those who have been put in
prison, there is sometimes a great intensity about that experience. Living on
very basic food, with four bare walls round you, a straw mattress to sleep on,
a table and a chair - seems for some people bring about a a time of very
intense focus … think of the apostle Paul in prison, and the letter to the
Philippians he wrote there…. think about Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the famous
letters he wrote, or John Bunyan and his Pilgrim’s Progress written in Bedford
jail.
Or Terry Waite, held captive
in
for
all of these men, there were times of the deepest intensity and focus in
prison….
and
perhaps that’s what we see as John the Baptist’s experience too……..
When we read of him in the
gospel of Matthew, John had been put in prison, by King Herod. There, in that prison cell, he could no
longer preach, and was far from the quiet, and still desert places he loved. And it was there that he heard about Jesus beginning
His work. John’s followers, no doubt, brought him news, kept him up to date
with what was going on. Brought him news of Jesus.
But John’s response to this
news about Jesus is rather surprising.
His reaction is quite
unexpected. For you see, the gospel of Matthew records that John, rather strangely,
sends his followers back with a question for Jesus.
The question he sent through
them to Jesus was:
Are you the One who was to come, or should we expect someone else ?
Why is this a strange question ?
Well, it’s a strange question,
because John did not send a greeting to Jesus,
he
did not instruct his followers to say: ‘May
the richest blessing of the living God be and rest upon your word and your
work, Jesus’.
no,
John, through the followers he sent asks Jesus this question:
Are you the One who was to come, or should we expect someone else ?
it’s
a strange question,
because
John himself had baptised Jesus in the
So why did he ask
Are you the One who was to come, or should we expect someone else ?
Well, there is
a number of options:
John was perhaps aware that
his own life was threatened, and so wanted confirmation of some kind……..
but
more likely when John the Baptist asked
Are you the One who was to come, or should we expect someone else ?
he was trying to grasp what was happening in and through Jesus.
You know, spiritually, we can often
be very slow to understand…..
very
slow to grasp, Jesus once said to his
disciples,
how slow of heart your are to believe !.
and
that was after all that they had seen Him do, and heard Him say……
Paul’s prayer for the Church
at
I pray that you, being rooted and established in love may have the
power to grasp… how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ……..
You know, spiritually, we can
be very slow to understand…..
very
slow to grasp……….
when
John the Baptist asked:
Are you the One who was to come, or should we expect someone else ?
perhaps
he was trying to grasp what was happening in and through Jesus………
Or perhaps it has something to
do with the narrowness of John’s vision…….?
You see, John’s life and work were
shaped by the earlier prophets, above all the prophet Malachi.
And if you read the book of the
prophet Malachi
you
will see that one vision shapes all that Malachi writes….. one
driving force, one all consuming theme, and that is
the
renewal of the worship of God…….. in His
in
Malachi’s great vision, a day was coming
when the
Lord would come
to
purify the priests and the people, and the sacrifices of the
Malachi speaks of that day as
a day of fire, of refining purifying fire - purifying the
This is still a great vision –
is it not ?
Think of it
! Worship, the worship of God, our worship,
set
at the very heart of life, our life !
The foundation, the lynchpin,
the centre, the core,
the
living heart of each day in seven and every other day……… worship…..
at
the very heart of life …
still
a great vision……..
However, in John, this is
rather a stark vision – worship, purity, and holiness restored - yes, but in a
day of purifying, blazing fire and judgment……..
When the Pharisees go out to
see him in the desert they get short shrift – You snakes, shouts John, who told you that you could escape from the
punishment that God is about to send ?
And John’s vision of the One
who was to come reflects this starkness and judgment: the One who will come after me…..says John, has his winnowing shovel with Him to thresh out all the grain. He will
gather His wheat into His barn, but He will burn the chaff in a fire that never
goes out. John’s message is one of a threshing of the people, a
sifting out – the wheat kept, and the chaff thrown away.
Now, look at Jesus. ‘Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of
our faith,’
as
the writer to the Hebrews says……….
While John longs and looks for
priests, the worship and sacrifice
of
the
we
see Jesus with the outcasts, the sinners
with
a woman at a well whose life has gone hopelessly wrong,
speaking
unheard of news of the Father’s love and forgiveness.
Where John
looks for a threshing of the corn, a sifting out – the wheat set aside and the
chaff burnt.
We see Jesus, full of grace
and truth,
saying
to the woman who had committed adultery
Neither do I condemn you…….. go and sin no more…..
Are you the One who was to come ? or should we look for someone else ?
asks
John:
Jesus reply is this: the
blind can see, the lame can walk, those who suffer from leprosy are made clean, the deaf hear, the dead are
brought back to life, and the Good News is preached to the poor……..
What John seems to have been
confused by – is the precious and incomparable grace of Jesus Christ.
And perhaps this is why from
prison John asks:
Are you the One who was to come ? or should we look for someone else ?
Are you the One who was to come ? or should we look for someone else ?
If we look at Jesus we see a
new thing,
that
men and women could not have expected. The breaking in of the living God in
love and mercy and grace
We see the glory of the
who brings
grace, truth and eternal life.
Are you the One who was to come ? or should we look for someone else ?
I wonder is that not still a question
today ?
Are you the One who was to come ? or should we look for someone else ?
Are you the One who was to come ? or should
we look for someone else ?
There are even some Christians
who are tempted to ask that – should we look for someone else - to see if there
is something or someone beyond Jesus.
In John’s gospel, we read that
there came a point when many of Jesus’ followers turned back and no longer
followed Him, Jesus turned to the twelve and said…..
And you… do you want to leave to ?
Peter said simply:
Lord, to whom would we go……? You
have the words of eternal life - we believe and know that you are the Holy One
of God…..
You know, like John,
spiritually, we can be very slow to understand…..
very
slow to grasp……….
we are reminded this morning, in this season of Advent, that we have hardly begun to understand the riches, and the blessings, that are ours, the grace and the truth, that is ours in Jesus Christ.
May our deepest prayer be this
then,
that being rooted and established in love,
we may have the power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the
love of Christ….
that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God…..
AMEN.