Not So Sure

John the Baptist said that Jesus would baptise with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matthew 3).

Now imprisoned, he is not so sure.

John sends his disciples to ask Jesus:

Are you the one who is to come, or have we got to wait for someone else? (Matthew 11).

John was humble.

He didn’t know God’s ways as well as he thought:

God knows what my greatest happiness is, but I do not. The ways of perfection vary very much. The ‘medicines’ necessary for our souls are very different from each other.

God leads us by strange ways. We know he desires our happiness, but we know neither what our happiness is, nor the way.

We are blind. Left to ourselves, we take the wrong way. We must leave it to God (St. John Henry Newman, Hope in God, 1848).

Time to open our eyes and ears:

Tell John what you hear and see. The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, the Good News is proclaimed.

Matthew is placing before us this reality:

Jesus’ teaching is healing, Jesus’ healing is teaching (Byrne, Lifting the Burden).

Amen.