John is confused by what Jesus is doing, or more accurately, by what
Jesus is not doing. One can imagine the questions that led to “Are you the one
who is to come…?” Where is the baptizing with fire and the Holy Spirit? Why is
the threshing floor still occupied by Pharisee & Sadducee chaff? And the
most perplexing question might have been, “Why am I in prison if you are the
Messiah? I’m your cousin, for God’s sake! ” But Jesus came to be what John had proclaimed,
“Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven has come near.” And John was right, it was
more powerful and with or without untying sandals, no one was worthy of it. It was
not to be “kingdom come” by smiting enemies within and without, wresting the
temple from the dirty hands of the High Priest and kicking Roman butt from
Jerusalem to Britannica. It shouldn't surprise us that John asked the question.
In some ways the early church suffering at the hands of those from within and
without asked the same question. It also shouldn't surprise us that the vision
of Jesus’ return was imaged as violent and vengeful. Maybe this time the
Messiah will get it right. This time we want a superman not a suffering servant.
Listen, John the Baptist had plenty of scriptures to support the Messiah he was
looking for and truth to be told that was the Messiah he wanted. When Jesus
says “blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me” he is telling John and us,
for that matter, that he will come in whatever way he wants to come and our
images will have conform to his. Granted that may mean he’s coming back angry
and ready to put a hurt on the world that would make John the Baptist shake
like a reed in the wind. But my guess is that Jesus is still outside our box,
scriptural or not, and that the Messiah who the first time around pointed to the
blind seeing, the lame walking, the lepers cleansed, the dead raised and the poor
hearing good news as proof of the pudding might surprise us the second time round
as well. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
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