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1 Now it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples, that He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities. 2 And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples 3 and said to Him, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?" 4 Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: 5 The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me." ~ Matthew 11:1-6
Today, we transition into Matthew 11 where the Lord Jesus had just concluded instruction for His disciples about how we go deeper in our walk with Him. After the training of the disciples on discipleship, the Lord Jesus departed. Very subtly here we are given a very important insight into the ways of God. Very often our Lord allows us to be drawn into the darkest of moments so that we may see Him most vividly. With the departure of the Lord after discipling the twelve, He went further away from John who was in prison. This is quite the metaphor and given John the Baptist's status at the time, it reveals that God very often works in our lives through the most unexpected and the most unwanted means.
In v.1-3 of today's passage we read, "1 Now it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples, that He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities. 2 And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples 3 and said to Him, 'Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?'"
After the Lord Jesus finished commanding the disciples, He departed. Given our fallen state, we struggle with being told what to do. We struggle when our understanding of God's will is insufficient. Oh, we are okay with His will when it is producing the type of blessing that is pleasant but when the blessings that appear to be curses come, we struggle. This is why humility is so important. Augustine once said, "Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance." It is very wise of us to approach each day with the resolve to know and welcome the will of God for us no matter what it might be.
We all understand believing doubt or doubting belief. We believe but often we discover that our faith is weak due to our lurking doubts. Amazingly this is exactly where John the Baptist was in today's passage. This one whom the Lord Jesus identified as the greatest prophet of all, we discover struggling with doubt. John had questions that his theology could not answer. Like John, most do not understand the important role that doubt plays with the development of our faith in the Lord. Doubt is different than unbelief.
I find it quite comforting that the Bible makes a clear distinction between doubt and unbelief. Doubt says, "I struggle to believe" while unbelief says, "I will not believe." Doubt is honest while unbelief is obstinate. Doubt looks for light while unbelief is content with darkness. We should not be surprised by this question of John the Baptist. The faith of John is seen in the fact that he sent his disciples some eighty miles to where the Lord Jesus was ministering. If the greatest man who ever lived had doubts, then maybe it's understandable that we have some doubts as well. And, I am finding that doubt is the shadow cast by faith.
Our doubts come from our inability to deal with the unwanted circumstances that we face, especially when we think we deserve better. Like John the Baptist, our doubts come when we have been faithful and we think we have checked all the right boxes, only to find ourselves in the unexpected. When we think God has not delivered on His promises as we thought He should, we struggle with our faith in Him. It is not bad to wrestle with doubt, as long as it does not become our finishing point. John's problem wasn't his doubt, though, it was his lack of understanding the revelation God had given him to that point in his life.
In v.4-6 of today's passage we read, "4 Jesus answered and said to them, 'Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: 5 The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.'"
No sooner had John's disciples uttered John's question did the Lord Jesus respond by performing many miracles right before their eyes. Like John the Baptist, we wrestle with understanding God's ways and that is ok. We must not let our poor theology and our wrong expectations of God cause us to stumble in our pursuit of Him. John the Baptist was soon beheaded before the Lord Jesus died and rose from the dead. He never heard much of what the Lord taught and he never saw His greatest powers on display. And when he died, his disciples came to tell the Lord Jesus because He was John's Messiah. Not all of John's questions were answered before he was murdered. The kingdom, however, has not been thwarted. According to God's timetable things are going just as planned. Even though it's not yet in its final form, the kingdom is still in place and you and I are in it. And yet, we still struggle strategically with our doubts. It is through such that our understanding of God and His ways are being developed.
Today's passage ends with, "And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me." The Greek word translated "offended" here is the word from which we get our English word "scandal." The Lord Jesus promises a blessing for those who are not knocked off the path of following Him as He brings about His will in our lives. He didn’t come to forgive our sins so that we could keep committing them. No, the Lord Jesus came to forgive our sins and to free us from the power of sin. He didn’t come to make us feel good about ourselves; He came to offer us a personal and an intimate relationship with Him through which He is changing us from the inside out. He didn’t come to rescue us from every unpleasant thing we face. No, He came to give us eternal life and to raise us from the dead, so that our growing relationship with Him might herald His goodness to others. And, I am finding that when I follow God's will for my life, I will see how yesterday's trials prepared me for today's challenges and tomorrow's blessings.
