Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?

 Now it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples, that He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities.  And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of is disciples and said to Him, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John the things which you hear and see:  The blind see 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.  And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me." 

- Matthew 11:1-6

Throughout chapter 10 of Matthew's gospel, Jesus has chosen the twelve and is preparing them for their first mission.  In yesterday's reading, He told them:  "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth.  I did not come to bring peace but a sword.  For I have come to 'set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law'; and 'a man's enemies will be those of his own household.'  He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.  And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.  And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.    He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.  He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.  He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward.  And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward.  And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward."

Now it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples, that He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities.  And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of is disciples and said to Him, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?"  According to the Church Fathers, John the Baptist asks this question in order to guide his own disciples to Jesus.  My study bible says that undoubtedly, John's own faith was strengthened through the response given by Jesus (in the verses that follow).

Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John the things which you hear and see:  The blind see 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.  And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me."  Jesus names the signs predicted by Isaiah which would accompany the coming of the Messiah (Isaiah 35:5-6, 61:1).   Jesus performed these miracles in the presence of John's disciples (Luke 7:20-21), my study bible says, so that they could see with their own eyes works that only the Messiah could do.

John the Baptist's self-stated mission has been to prepare Israel for the coming of the Lord.  He is the one who first made the statement, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" (see this reading).   Jesus has repeated it in His ministry (4:12) and also given instruction to the twelve to proclaim it as they go on to their first mission (10:7).  In this sense, we get a clear image of the importance of John the Baptist to this story.  His words echo through Jesus' ministry as they are also part of the work of God in the world, the Holy Spirit working through each mission.  This unfolding also gives us an image that applies to the whole of Scripture, including the Old Testament, as all bears witness to the common work of God in the world, and human beings as laborers in this harvest, as Jesus told His disciples just before He chose the twelve (see this reading).  John is understood by tradition to be the last and the greatest of the Old Testament-type prophets, and so he gives us an idea of continuity, of what it is to 'enter into others' labor' (John 4:38).  He gives us a picture of the communion that goes through all things and people, knows no time limit, and is neither barred by spatial limitations.  The one thing required is human beings whose hearts are open to the mission in their own time and place, and to the grace that is at work through us.  Jesus has given us the prayer called The Lord's Prayer or the Our Father, in which our first petition is "Your kingdom come.  Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."  And here is the mission.  This is the truth of John's mission and of Jesus' mission, and it will be the truth of the mission of the apostles upon which they've just been sent out.  We get an idea of our own lives and our place in this cosmic system of salvation when we understand the role that each person plays in the story of the Gospels and throughout the Old Testament.  Each may enter into this mission.  Each may play a role in spreading the message, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."  It is here and now, present with us.  We simply must "turn around" (repent) to see it, to realize it, to have its reality more deeply planted in us and to carry that Kingdom with us in the world.  This is how we receive it and pay it forward.  John is in prison at the time of the events we read about in today's Gospel passage.  He is shut up in Galilee in the palace of Herod Antipas, and perhaps is prepared to understand that this is where he will die.  He approaches the end of mission, and the one thing necessary is that he direct his disciples to the place they need to be, to the Coming One.  This is the mission for us as well, for Christ is still the Coming One, "The One who is and who was and who is to come" (Revelation 11:17, 16:5).  In the infinitely creative work of the Spirit, we each may play a role in that mission and participate in the life Christ offers, the life of the kingdom of heaven, and bringing it into the world.  This is the here and now, the always-present, the mission into which we, too, may enter into others' labor.  How do you play your role?  Remember that even those who offer a cup of water in the name of a disciple will have their reward (see yesterday's reading, above).  Our mission need not be grand or great by worldly standards nor met with great fanfare; this is a question of how we live our lives and whose judgment we meet within ourselves at all times.    "And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me."