John the Baptist was locked up under Herod’s palace. It was
not the massive European palace of the middle ages with tens of rooms and a
view over a flowing river. It was smallish, stone and mud and fit well into the
hillside along Jerusalem. The story goes that John was held in the jail under
the palace. John was cared for by his disciples; those who hung on his every
word. Many of whom probably thought John was the Messiah, the one who is to
come.
John sent his disciples to Jesus with one question. Are you
the one? Are you, if you will, the one who was to save Israel, from itself?
Jesus sent the disciples back, not by sending back with a
simple yes, because that might have been questioned. Jesus said, Matthew 11:4-5 continues
the dialogue “Go and 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.”
To me it is simple. Jesus could very well of said, yes, I
am. But he didn’t. Why? I think it is because if he had simply said yes, it
would have been one more story, mind you a convincing one, but really just one
more story of God’s work in the world of which there are volumes. No, Jesus
said, you tell John both what you see yourselves and hear about. Tell him the
blind see; the deaf hear; the dead are raised; and, the poor have good news
brought to them; and the lame, well they are leaping like deer. That answer is experiential; it is verifiable.
That answer enabled John to meet God face to face with the
understanding that the long awaited savior, the Messiah, had arrived.
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