In Matthew we read, "Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to Him, 'Are You the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?'" (Matt 11:2-3) Now, if you know anything about John the Baptist, you know this. He was the guy. He was the prophet. Jesus said there was no greater prophet than John (Matt 11:11). He was the one predicted (Matt 11:10), the latest "Elijah" (Matt 11:14). John, when he saw Jesus at the beginning of His ministry, pointed Him out as "The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). John knew Who his cousin was (John 1:26-27). So how is it that John had to ask, "Are You the one?"
John, one of the greatest mouthpieces of God ("prophet") to have ever lived, had doubts in prison. I would suspect that if he did, so might we. What did John do about it? He did what we ought to do; he asked Jesus.
And what was Jesus's response? He told John, "O ye of little faith! Buck up, buddy! Walk by faith, not by sight. Faith in Me is opposed to reason and you just need to trust and obey." Well, of course, you can read the answer for yourself. That's not what Jesus said. He gave reasons for John to set aside his doubts.
Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by Me. (Matt 11:4-6)Jesus spoke of what could be seen and reasoned and what made sense. He spoke of truth -- that which corresponds to reality. He laid out the evidence and gave assurances. He gave a reason for hope (1 Peter 3:15). (Note: If you were paying attention, you would notice that Jesus's affirmations of John the Baptist that I gave up in the second paragraph occurred immediately after this exchange around John's doubts. Doubting doesn't necessarily disqualify you.)
I think we have some difficulties with all of this. "How could a prophet of God doubt? We surely shouldn't." The truth is it happens. The truth is there are answers. "Jesus always told them they had too little faith." He didn't. They had too little faith when they stood in the midst of the clear evidence and didn't trust. "Isn't faith in opposition to reason?" No, indeed. At least, Jesus didn't think so.
So, what can we learn here? Even the best can doubt. Don't worry about it; take it to Jesus. Ours is not a faith without evidence no matter what the world tells you. There are reasons and there is evidence and we should seek them. Faith is not opposed to reason; ours is a reasonable faith. Contend for it (Jude 1:3). Sometimes this "apologia" -- the defense of the faith -- is best used for believers. At least Jesus thought so. I think we should be "Christians" -- Christ-followers -- even in this.
2 comments:
I've also always see seen this as a counter to the statement of many today that if God would show up and tell me the way, they'd believe. John the Baptist had doubts. He surely was told all his life growing up about why his dad was mute. And how he jumped in the presence of Jesus in the womb. He had God speaking directly to him (he wasa prophet after all). And he still had doubts in his dark times. So, no, if God were to come speak to you directly, you wouldn't necessarily fully believe. We are great deniers of evidence if it's counter to what we want.
Interestingly, Jesus was alluding to Isaiah in what He said. John would have known that. You know, "the prophets" that Jesus said, "If they don't listen to the prophets, they won't care about someone who comes back from the dead."
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