2When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples 3to ask Him, “Are You the One who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”
4Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy[b] are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 6 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of Me.” (John 11:2-6, NIV) A young girl who was asked what she thought doubt does to us. She said that doubt pushes her down and makes it feel like she can’t do anything and takes her motivation away. We get clarity from the mouths of kids, don’t we? Doubt clouds what is true. And sometimes, in life, we treat doubt like the game of tag. We all are “it” – doubtful – sometimes, but we we’d rather not claim it. While in a prison John the Baptist came to the intersection of misaligned expectations and reality. Maybe it was the darkness, or the stark transition from yelling at Pharisees in all their perceived inability to being confined within immovable stone walls. Or it could be the painful recognition that his life was coming to an end. Whatever it was, John had gone from “behold the Lamb of God” (John 1:29) to “are you the one…or are we to wait for another?” This actually should give us great encouragement. If the cousin of Jesus, called to be the forerunner of the Lamb of God, baptizer of the Son of God and present at the Trinity’s involvement, has doubts – if he has moments where he can’t make sense of everything and “if” statements have replaced “this is the One whom I said” (John 1:15) – if John doubts, then just perhaps it will be alright in the life of a believer if we have some doubt too. Jesus could have dealt with John’s doubt in many ways. John’s disciples could have been misdirected and never found Jesus to ask John’s question. They could have doubted John’s credibility because of his doubt and left him to make it on his own. Jesus could have chastised John: “You are the forerunner; you should know the answer to these questions.” Jesus could have responded just by saying “Yes, it’s Me.” Instead, He did what was good for John and for everyone watching who can admit that doubt is a human possibility. Luke 7:21 tells us that Jesus performed miracles in that moment. He cured diseases, cleansed souls, and healed people who were blind. Then He turned to those disciples and simply told them to report to John what they saw and heard. Jesus sent to John more examples of His presence. Inevitably there will be moments in life where the outcome doesn’t align with our perceived expectations of the results. Doubt is a common response when the ironic processes of God occur. We may doubt His presence, but it does not make Him any less involved. The response in those moments is the same as any other moment. Look. Look again and again until you see God. Blessed are the ones who endure, even if they cannot make sense of it. Dear Jesus, thank You that Your presence is not predicated on our certainty that You are here. Help us, Jesus, to be disciples who look for You: the glorified, reigning, King over all creation in all glory. Amen. Comments are closed.
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