READ: Matthew
11
John the Baptist was in prison. He was there due to his message that the
Messiah had come and that repentance was required. He was preaching and not
everyone liked it – especially Herod’s wife. The reason she was so inflamed
about John was because John preached against sin. Herod and his wife had sinned.
Herod had taken his brother’s wife as his own. John spoke against this and was thrown in
prison. While he was there he sent a message to Jesus. He wanted to know if all
this suffering was really worth it. Could he just go a little easier on the
message? Could he be a little softer on sin? Or, even worse, had he gotten it
all wrong and Jesus wasn’t really the Messiah?
The beauty of this passage is that we see the humanness of John the
Baptist. Often we put Bible heroes up on a pedestal and forget that they may
have had a hard time hearing God, or ‘feeling’ forgiven, or knowing for sure
what the will of God was. We assume that everything was easy or easier for
them. However, in this chapter, we see the human heart of John… and he needed
to be sure, he needed reassurance.
Many of us would rush to visit John in prison or send a token gift. Perhaps
some of us would even apologize for all the pain and hardship he was suffering.
But Jesus doesn’t go visit His cousin. As a matter of fact, John never saw
Jesus again before he died.
Instead, Jesus sends back the exact words John needed to hear. First He
points to His fruit. Jesus tells John about the miracles He has performed. The
second thing Jesus says speaks directly to John’s situation. He wanted John to
know He would be blessed if he endured to the end. Those who are not offended
by Jesus will be blessed. This was enough to give John courage and strength to
remain true to the message he had been preaching. This should give us courage
as well.
Jesus had every opportunity to rescue John from prison. He knew John was
there. He knew John was suffering was because of Him. But He didn’t stop John’s
suffering. Instead Jesus spoke to John of blessing. Obviously this blessing was
not during John’s lifetime. This should give us both confidence and hope. When
tough times come it’s easy to expect God to rescue us or stop our suffering.
Yet Jesus doesn’t always do that. There are times He does (think of how He
calmed the storm when the disciples were on the boat), but not always. Jesus is
concerned with our long-term benefit and blessing. Too often we give up on God
or feel that He has abandoned us, when in fact He is trusting us to stay
faithful to Him through our hard times.
JOURNALING
AND PRAYER
1.
How have you been ‘soft’ on sin in your own life or in the lives of
others close to you because you either don’t want to admit a sin, or because
you don’t want to offend? Ask the Lord to speak to you about taking sin
seriously. Ask Him to give you His view of love toward you and others, while
also giving you perspective on sin. Ask Him for His love to fill you so that if you do speak up on the
issue of sin you can do it with His love instead of your own judgment.
2.
John needed to hear from Jesus. He sent a message because He wanted
reassurance. What are you going through right now that you need to hear from
Jesus on? What do you need reassurance for? Ask Him to speak to you the exact
words that you need to hear that will empower you to endure.
3.
How do you feel about the fact that Jesus doesn’t always ‘rescue’ people
out of their suffering? Ask Jesus to give you His perspective on suffering. Ask
Him to give you a passion and longing for eternal blessing.
