1 When Jesus had finished giving instructions to His twelve disciples, He departed from there to teach and preach in their cities. 2 Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” 4 Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: 5 the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT 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 does not take offense at Me.”

Matthew has outlined the Introduction of the King (chs. 1-4) and the Character of the Kingdom (chs. 5-10). This last section finished with the preparation of the disciples for spreading the teaching about the kingdom (11:1). Now the focus turns to the Conflict and Withdrawal of the King (chs.11-18).

In setting the stage for this new section, Matthew includes a somewhat surprising parenthesis about the struggles of John the Baptist in prison. The herald of our Lord, once supremely confident in his identification of the Lord, had begun to doubt. The experience must have been quite harsh and unrelenting for a robust man like John to be shaken to the core of his faith. So he sends one of his own disciples to Jesus with a question about whether He really is the Messiah or did John get it wrong? As Joni Eareckson Tada, the well known quadriplegic, points out, “We believe in the light, but we are so quick to doubt in the darkness.” This was John’s darkness.

While on the one hand, we might malign John for his lack of faith, we must also recognize he took his doubts to the right place! The answer to John: follow the evidence where it leads. The prophets long before had laid down what the evidence would be for identifying the Messiah—the blind, lame and deaf would be healed (Isaiah 35:5, 61:1, etc.); Jesus was doing those very things! John would have known all this, but most likely just needed to be reminded and encouraged. While as the Baptist, he was larger than life, he was still subject to the feebleness of the human spirit. Suffering has a way of preying on faith; faith must be bolstered, but not just through words. Jesus didn’t give a verbal affirmation that He was the Messiah, to the chagrin of modern day skeptics. That would prove nothing. He demonstrated who He was by the evidentiary signs of His ministry among the people. That was enough for John, that should be enough for us. We too must follow where the evidence leads.

Lord, I want to always take my doubts to You when my Christian walk becomes difficult and I face persecution. Forgive me for doubting.