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

John the Baptist, "Behold the Lamb of God," by Olga Dytyniak

 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 his 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

In Matthew chapter 10, Jesus has been giving instructions to the Twelve whom He is about to send out on their first apostolic mission.  Yesterday we read that He taught:  "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.  And he who dos 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, 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 his disciples and said to Him, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?"   My study bible notes that according to Church Fathers, John the Baptist asks this question so that he may guide his own disciples to Christ.  It adds that John's own faith was undoubtedly strengthened as well because of Jesus' response.  Notice the "symmetry"   John is in prison, and Christ has just sent the disciples on their first apostolic mission.

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 directs John's disciples to the things which are occurring in His ministry, the signs predicted by Isaiah as those which would accompany the coming of the Messiah (Isaiah 61:1).   My study bible comments that Jesus performed these miracles in the presence of John's disciples (Luke 7:20-21) so that they can see with their own eyes the works that only the Messiah could do.

There is a kind of "hand off" in today's reading.  John the Baptist is in prison (where he will be beheaded by Herod Antipas), and he has sent his disciples to ask Jesus if He is the Coming One, the Messiah.  In the presence of John's disciples, Jesus performs those wondered prophesied as accompanying the coming of the Messiah.  This happens just as Jesus is sending out the Twelve on their first apostolic mission to preach and to heal.  John the Baptist is considered to be the last in the line of Old Testament style prophets, so in today's reading we are seeing the gospel, a new covenant, branching out and expanding, as the old is ending.  Those who follow John have a place to go, Christ to look to for their direction and their future.  There is no one left out of this spreading of grace at work in the world; the transition of the old to the new does not exclude anyone.  Even as Jesus has said He has not come to destroy, but to fulfill the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 5:17), so the disciples of John -- via John's question to Jesus -- now are guided to Christ.  In fact, the Gospels tell us that several of Christ's earliest disciples were first followers of John the Baptist (see John 1:35-42).  What this tells us is of the spreading work of the gospel, the kingdom of heaven at work in the world.  It doesn't eliminate the good of the past (in any tradition), but rather unfolds and expands the spiritual truth "kept secret from the foundation of the world" (Matthew 13:35; Psalm 78:2).  Christ, the One who is both human and divine, the One who will ascend even with human nature glorified, will expand our spiritual understanding of God who is love and at the same time our own understanding of the spiritual capacities of human beings for communion and participation in God's grace.  He will live His life so that we may participate in that "life in abundance" that He will offer (John 10:10).  He has characterized His ministry as that of wineskins that must be new to expand with new wine (see this reading).  Today we read about that expansion, even as He is sending out the disciples to spread His ministry via the power of grace which He has shared and distributes through them.