Read Matthew 11:1-6
11 After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.
2 When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples 3 to ask him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’
4 Jesus replied, ‘Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy 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 the Baptist is discouraged. Jesus has not fulfilled his expectations. Liberation has not yet come in the way John expected and now he is close to death. He wants to know for sure that Jesus is who he thought he was. The people were waiting for The Messiah, the one who would liberate them from Roman occupation, but Jesus was not acting like The Messiah that they expected. Liberation would not come in the way they expected. Liberation was already happening but in a different way.
“The Christian community is both a sign and a promise of God’s coming liberation. We are the presence of God’s liberating kingdom in a broken world. We are the place where liberation can be found, offering a home for exiled people. We are to welcome the broken people to a community of broken people. We are the community among whom liberation is a present reality – the jubilee people who live with new economic and social relationships. We are the light of the world, a city on a hill. The challenge for us is to articulate Jesus’ message of a liberation in a way that connects with people’s experience and offers a place of liberation in the Christian community.” -Tim Chester, Good News to the Poor, 97.
For John, he would die in prison. He himself would not be liberated. How do you respond when life does not go the way you want it to? When Jesus fails your expectations! Are you willing to trust and obey and not stumble in times of doubt and pain?
What are some of the unreal expectations you have of God? Talk to him about them. Pray that He would give you wisdom and courage to see things from a Kingdom Perspective and live a life knowing you have been liberated from sin.
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