Jim Street

"When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, 'Are you the one who is to come or are we to wait for another?'" (Mt. 11: 2-3)

We do not know why John asked sent his disciples to ask the question of Jesus.  Matthew does not tell us.  Indeed, Matthew doesn't even seem interested in knowing. 

However, that does not stop us from wondering and speculating.  As a teacher once told me: "We believe in the maxim 'where the Bible speaks we speak and where the Bible is silent we are silent.'  However, we also apparently believe in the maxim 'where the Bible speaks we are silent and where the Bible is silent we speak.'"

I know my own doubts and uncertainties.  And, as a pastor, I often hear others express theirs as well.  Sometimes life can be so hard that doubting is the best we can do. I read this text with those doubts rolling through the back of my mind.

I do not know whether John doubted or not.  I do not know whether uncertainty crept into his dank cell or not.   It may have been that John saw his destiny written on the prison wall and sent his disciples as a way to quell their doubts about the identity of Jesus.  Perhaps John was engaged in a bit of "succession planning."

Whether it was because of his own doubts or because of the questions of his disciples, John did send them to Jesus with that question: "Are you the one who is to come or should we wait for another?"

My guess is that it is very hard to see the inbreaking reign of God from within the walls of a damp prison or as you are perched precariously atop a three-legged stool and straining to peer through a tiny, barred-up window.

I recognize the dangers of going beyond the text.  Anything I say about John's motives in asking that question would be "arguing from silence."

However, I also recognize what happens to us when we are cut off from the world, imprisoned (if only for a time) in the darkness of doubt, shackled in the chains of despair, and fettered by fears.   What seemed so clearly the case in the carefree daylight is lost in the shadow of the terrifying moment.

"Are you the one who is to come or should we wait for another?"

John had heard what Jesus was doing.  (Note: Matthew says that John heard what the Messiah was doing!) But John heard about it in prison.

Perhaps from his own vantage "what Messiah was doing" was not what John thought the Messiah would or should be doing.  Given his wilderness sermons, John may have imagined something more...earth shattering.  After all, John had drawn terrifying word pictures of the ax being laid the roots and of days of wrath coming over the horizon.

Jesus did not say "I AM the ONE" to John's disciples.  Jesus appealed to the words of the prophets, to the images of Jubilee and to the songs of Israel: 

"Tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the poor have good news brought to them." (vs. 4-5; NRSV)

Tell John that miracles abound but also tell him who the recipients of those graces are: the blind, the deaf, the dead, and the poor.  The overlooked, the outcast, the forgotten are being seen, brought close and remembered.

And all of them...these poor...are hearing good news.

God is at work-perhaps in unexpected ways -but working nonetheless.  Look closely and listen...you are locked for a time in your cell of despair but your experience is not the breadth and depth and height of God's working.  The kingdom is breaking through and things spoken of by prophets, indeed the words of John are coming to pass...the world is being turned upside down as the kingdom of God breaks through in Jesus.

We don't know what the disciples of John did after that.  We don't know whether they returned to John or not.  We don't know whether John was satisfied by the reply of Jesus.

However, I cannot help but wonder: Did it cross John's mind what Jesus did not say? Did it strike him that Jesus did not say, "and the prisoners are set free"?

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For resources related to the season of the church year or the Revised Common Lectionary go here.

For a series of questions for personal reflection/small group discussion on the RCL texts for the week go here.

One of the young ladies in my church came in a few weeks ago sporting an abolitionist t-shirt she had gotten at school and talking excitedly about a boy in her school who spoke in assembly about slavery and human trafficking.  She talked about how much money this kid had raised and how all that money had gone to help eradicate slavery.

At the time I had just been boning up on the topic of human trafficking and slavery myself.  I was interested in what she was saying but hadn't made the connection about who it was she was talking about.

I have since learned that she was talking about Zach Hunter, a young abolitionist who began his own campaign a few years ago when he was uh...12.....yep....12. 

Zach's in the 9th grade now, is the youth spokesman for The Amazing Change Campaign, and founder of "Loose Change 2 Loosen Chains," an organization that enlists kids to raise money to help eradicate slavery and human trafficking.  

Only a few years ago, Zach struggled with anxiety attacks.  Now he travels around in his "spare time" speaking to thousands of young people about the issue of slavery. 

He's also a published author.   I read his book, Be the Change, tonight.  The book is an inspiring collection of stories about people who have made a difference in the world. It includes thought provoking questions designed to get people, young and old, thinking about how they might make a difference in the world.  As I read the book I kept thinking about how when I was 15 (oh about 41 years ago) I was trying to figure out how I could get into the Beatles...not the music- the band!

This kid is a marvel.  When I get really sick of being an adult (and believe me I'm pretty close!) I want to be just like him!  (You know us adults...we're smart enough to know that people can't do what this kid is doing.  "In the adult's mind, there are few possibilities but in a kid's mind there are many.")

If you'd like to see Zach's interview on Good Morning America...(yeah, he's done that too!) just go here and be inspired.

I recommend that all parents get Zach's book, read it with your kids and resolve to "be the change" together as a family.

Just for good measure, here's an interview with Zach from Christianity Today.