Advent III – Are You The One Or Should We Look For Another?

John’s condition is heart-wrenching. In an isolated cold dark prison waiting execution,  he is struggling to make sense of it all. He had been so confident of Jesus.

 

Have you ever confronted his question? Jesus are you the one or should we look for another? We all face the existential reality of heartbreak, tragedy, betrayal, and suffering. We may experience doubts about the goodness of God. We may even ask “Are  you the One?”

 

Jesus responds, “Go, report to John what you hear and see.” He doesn’t answer directly to justify himself. He lets actions speak. Then he quotes the prophet Isaiah who centuries before described the coming Messiah as the one from whom “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”

 

Every proof of his being God’s chosen involves compassion and healing rather than judgment and condemnation. And the recipients of this healing are those ordinarily dismissed; the ones usually excluded by the religious. 

 

Yes, if we see his way of being, his words, his actions, it is clear Jesus is the fulfillment of all prophetic hope. He is God with us, the Messiah, and in him we our infinitely loved and given an unshakable life in the Kingdom of God. 

 

With Joy That Sustains, 

 

Rob+