In the first part, John the Baptist, who is languishing in prison, appears to have doubts about whether Jesus is the Messiah. Because of his doubts, he has some of his disciples approach Jesus and ask him if he is the one or should he look for another. Jesus tells them to report to John that the blind see, the deaf hear, lepers are cured, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. Of course, Jesus here is quoting a messianic prophecy from Isaiah. By citing this prophecy, his answer is a resounding- "Yes, I am the One!"
I wonder what was at the root of the Baptist's doubt. Maybe it was the fact that he found himself imprisoned by Herod and in danger of death for his prophetic activity. He was not in trouble for recognizing and proclaiming Jesus as the one who is to come. Rather, he was in trouble for publicly castigating Herod Antipas and his wife Herodias for living together in an adulterous way. Herodias left her first husband to marry Herod Antipas- this was forbidden under the Law. A husband could divorce his wife but not vice-versa. To licitly re-marry, a woman had to be widowed. It was Herod Antipas who arrested, imprisoned, and later executed the Baptist at behest of Herodias. One can forgive John the Baptist for wondering if this was the result of obeying God's will. Once you start down that road, you begin to call everything into question. But then, doubt is not the opposite of faith, certainty is. Doubt is an inherent part of faith.
Second, turning to the crowd, Jesus asks them what they expected to see when they went out to the desert to see and hear John the Baptist. "A reed swayed by the wind?;" "Someone dressed in fine clothing?"; "a prophet?" While the Baptist was certainly neither of first two, he was the third and then some: Yes, a prophet, "and more than a prophet." John the Baptist is the seal of the Old Testament prophets. Turning to Isaiah once again, Jesus makes clear that the Baptist was the one sent by God to prepare his way. So, the question is not only was the Baptist expecting that made him doubt Jesus's Messiahship but about what our expectations are in professing Jesus as Lord.
St. John the Baptist in Prison, Visited by Salomé, by Giovanni Francisco Batbieri, 1591-1666
Third, in explaining how the Baptist was not only a prophet but the greatest "among those born of women," Jesus also says that the least in the kingdom is greater than the one who is the greatest among those born of women. This ties back to Jesus announcing that the good news is proclaimed to the poor. What is the good news? The good news for the poor is not pie-in-the-sky in the bye-and-bye but the inauguration of God's kingdom. In God's kingdom, the first will be last and the last will be first. The greatest will be the least and the least the greatest. This brings us some distance to an answer about our expectations. Jesus did not come to make you prosperous, wise, good-looking, or a high-achiever. He came to inaugurate the reign of God on earth and to call others to bring about its full realization. For most of us, this call is a call to repentance, a call to change ourselves and then the world.
The kingdom of God is the world turned upside down. This why in the Letter of Saint James Christians are urged to be patient and know that the realization of God's kingdom will not only be slow but painful too.
For Advent, I am re-reading Pope Francis's Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium. This document, the Holy Father has insisted several times, is the charter for his pontificate. In this charter, the Pontiff notes:
The Gospel is about the kingdom of God (cf. Lk 4:43); it is about loving God who reigns in our world. To the extent that he reigns within us, the life of society will be a setting for universal fraternity, justice, peace and dignity. Both Christian preaching and life, then, are meant to have an impact on society. We are seeking God’s kingdom: “Seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Mt 6:33). Jesus’ mission is to inaugurate the kingdom of his Father; he commands his disciples to proclaim the good news that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt 10:7)We pray often, perhaps we pray it so often that it no longer moves us: "thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Either we pray it and mean it or we pray it in a mindless, meaningless manner. How fervently we pray this is a good gauge of what we expect to see.
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