Matthew 11:2-3 ‘When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”’

Why in the world is St. John the Baptist asking this question? He has known since before his birth (!) that Jesus is the One, the Messiah that all of Israel has been waiting for. He experienced that shining moment at Jesus’ baptism when the heavens opened and God the Father spoke. He has heard about the “deeds of the Messiah”, the healings, even raising from the dead. Why the question, John? 

Jesus sends a gentle answer back, not a definitive “yes” or “no” (as is his sometimes-frustrating habit), but an invitation to compare his deeds with the prophecies: the blind shall see, the deaf shall hear, the lame will leap for joy—and draw your own conclusions, John! 

We are so often guilty of this thinking. We will pray that God will provide the solution for a problem and then give God a menu of just how he should proceed, and exactly what we expect. And God just laughs—and solves the problem in a way that is much better. An example from my life—we have been renting part of our land to the construction company working on the street project, and they recently finished and left. I was worried about replacing the income, prayed about it and gave God some possible solutions in case he didn't know what to do. Two days later, Jeff, from a house-moving company, appeared and said his company had a house that had been bought and paid for but needed to be stored until the purchase of its land was ready, and could they rent our front field? Yes! The developer is saved the cost of demolition, the house is saved and “recycled”, and the eventual buyer has a house at 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of a conventional building--a win-win-win!

Let's be open to receiving the real answer to our prayer, not blinded by our own expectations. Let's rejoice in the coming of our Savior, who instead of destroying our enemies, changes them into our sisters and brothers.

Jackie Halstead