Matthew 11:1–6 (ESV)
Messengers from John the Baptist
11 When
Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.
2 Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he
sent word by his disciples 3 and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” 4 And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and
see: 5 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. 6 And blessed is the
one who is not offended by me.”
There are several schools of thought on what is going on in today’s reading. Obviously, John is in prison.
I think could be expected that he is having doubts as to if Jesus is the Messiah. I think if I were John, I could easily get caught up in the poor-pitiful-me and wonder “why am I here?” It would be hard to watch Jesus walking about
freely and not coming to my aid. The other school of thought is that John knows that Jesus is the Messiah, but he is teaching his disciples that Jesus really is the Messiah. They ask him: “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we
look for another?” Hey… it is a valid question. Jesus doesn’t give them a blatant yes or no. He teaches them by telling them to report back what they hear and see. Jesus shows them the fulfillment of scripture by
healing the blind, the lame, healing lepers and the deaf. He even raises the dead. Jesus also preaches the good news to the poor. His “yes” is through his actions.
I pray: O Lord, there are times that doubts creep in to our minds. Help us to trust you and to see the fulfillment of scriptures through your life, death, and resurrection. Amen.