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12/15/2002 Entry: "Grated expectations"
When John the Baptist heard in prison about the things that Christ was doing, he sent some of his disciples to him. "Tell us," they asked Jesus, "are you the one John said was going to come, or should we expect another?"John's whole life had been about preparing the way for Jesus. Luke tells us that he recognises the Messiah even unborn in his mother's womb. His task appeared to have been done, welcoming Jesus at the River Jordan, knowing there that Jesus is "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world". But now he has reached the end of the road, languishing in jail awaiting his inevitable execution. His doubts are understandable. Bound, not only by his chains but by his expectations of how the Messiah would be, he finds it difficult to recognise in Jesus the Messiah for whom he had faithfully prepared a way.Like John, we are often bound by our certainties and expectations, failing to see the work of God because it doesn't fit the way we know God to be. But the Jesus of the resurrection will not be constrained - he has always shaken the respectable and challenged the settled opinions of those he encounters. Pharisee and prostitute, Jew and gentile, menial slave and powerful governor - all have found in Jesus the offer of God's kingdom. From St Paul and St Peter, through Martin Luther, John Wesley and countless others - the story has been the same. Christ has always been just ahead, calling, calling ... "Follow me."
