Column: Are You the One, or Should We Look for Another?

Greetings in Christ on the Third Sunday of Advent. In our Gospel today, we hear about the fascinating account of an imprisoned John the Baptist sending his disciples to Jesus. John, of course, is the forerunner of the Messiah and the one who would prepare the way of the Lord. He is the last of the Old Testament prophets and the pivotal figure between the Old and New Covenants. He was a man who lived in the wilderness regions near the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. I’ve seen this part of Israel with my own eyes and can attest to the difficult life that John chose to live on behalf of his mission to proclaim the coming Messiah. He boldly called the people of Israel to repent of their sins and turn to God. He is also the one who baptized Jesus declaring, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (Jn. 1:29) Jesus, himself, describes John the Baptist as a man of whom “there has been none greater.” (Matt. 11:11)

With this background in mind, John the Baptist’s words and actions in our Gospel today may seem a bit out of character. John sends some of his disciples to ask Jesus if he is “the one who is to come?” (Matt. 11:3). John had found himself in a very difficult situation as he was imprisoned by Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee, for speaking out against his illicit marriage to his half-brother’s wife Herodias. We know, looking ahead to Matthew 14, that Herod will have John the Baptist beheaded at the request of Herodias and her daughter, Salome. Considering the circumstances in which John finds himself, it is completely understandable that he would send his disciples to verify for certain that Jesus is indeed the long-awaited Messiah. After all, he was pointing others to Jesus, but he personally had not been a witness to the signs and wonders that Jesus had been performing around Galilee. Now, with his own life on the line, John is seeking assurance about Jesus and his true identity.

We will likely have similar moments in our own journey of faith. We may be doubting God’s plan and providence for our life because of the challenges we are facing. We can suddenly find ourselves in a kind of prison, wondering where God is and asking ourselves if he is listening or if he even cares. The silence we may experience at that moment can be deafening. We, like John the Baptist, may be waiting for a word of assurance from our Lord. Jesus replies to John that the “blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.” (Matt. 11:5) Jesus points to the undeniable reality that God is always at work in the world and in the lives of his people, even when it may be hard for us to see it. Similarly, St. Paul reminds the baptized that Christ himself “is before all things, and in him all things hold together” and that nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God.” (Col. 1:17, Rom. 8:39) It is absolutely true that God is always with us, sustaining us with his love at every moment. In fact, we would cease to exist without him. It is also equally true that pain and suffering is the universal experience of every human being. Today Jesus invites us to have faith in him and to put our trust in him, even in our darkest moments. Like John the Baptist, may we be counted among the “blessed… who takes no offense at me.” (Matt. 11:6)

This post appeared in the December 11 issue of the St. Michael Catholic Church bulletin.