12142022 – Matthew 11. 2-11
John is IN PRISON.
Fortunately for us, “that experience” is foreign to us.
But it is NOT foreign to everyone, including, THE BAPTIZER.
He was a “brand new political prisoner.” Everything about life in a cell was strange and understandably frightening.
He was held underground, in a remote dungeon, cold and damp, purposefully kept in the darkness. A single torch shed only a small amount of light.
The shadows themselves looked eerily evil…and treacherous… outright demonic. Possessed.
A soldier, saber in hand, directed him to his cell, where the clanking and the groaning of the closing cell door entered his spirit and made him jump and his skin crawl.
He had just passed from one realm into another.
It took time for his EYES to adjust to the NEW LIGHT but ADJUST they ULTIMATELY did.
A straw rat-infested MAT lay in one corner, and a small EARTHEN POT was all there was. He was HOME.
This was it. There would be nothing more. Here he would probably die.
There was no daylight, no sunlight, no way to tell time, ‘cept the changing of the guard.
TIME crawled on all fours, at a slug’s pace.
At first, he would EAT nothing. But as he grew weaker his insides CRAVED sustenance, so he ATE what little he could stomach and keep down.
WATER, when it came loosened the parched THROAT and moistened the LIPS. A small bowl maybe three or four DROPS of water, certainly no more. That was it!
Eventually, after what seemed like months and months, he was able to get WORD to the outside world.
“This Jesus is HE the ONE, or should we look for another?”
He desperately wanted to know. He wanted to know FOR OTHERS. His own fate had already been SEALED and CAST IN STONE.
He doubted if he would ever see the LIGHT of day again. No WIND would ever touch his face.
Perhaps he had been TOO OUTSPOKEN, too LOUD, too VOCAL, but he had only spoken THE TRUTH. And now he clung to his rat-infested mat.
Never a BIG man, but daily he was wasting away to NOTHINGNESS.
It seemed like AN ETERNITY had passed when word finally came back to him.
It was a strange word, NOT AT ALL what he had envisioned or expected.
“The blind see.”
“The lame walk.”
“Lepers are cleansed.”
“Deaf hear.”
“Dead are raised.”
“Poor receive good news.”
Cryptic, mysterious, puzzling, confusing, and perplexing words. Words that mean to imply WHAT?
This is NO TIME for games, no time for parabolic sayings…no time for riddles.
John was HURT and ANGERED by the RESPONSE that he had received.
It was gibberish.
It said nothing.
It meant nothing.
It was worthless.
Until later that night, as John attempted to sleep.
The words of the Prophet Isaiah came RUSHING AT HIM in his sleep.
Isaiah chapter 35 was “a beautiful VISION” of “REDEMPTION,” as a fertile, lush, green reality already blooming in an arid, despairing landscape.
The prophet encouraged Israel to IMAGINE a future reality as PRESENT NOW ALREADY and to live WITH that hope and live INTO that hope.
It was as if, Isaiah had said, it will ONE DAY happen. Wait for it. Count on it. Get ready for it. Believe IN it.
Perhaps “that day” is TODAY, NOW.
“The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,
the desert shall REJOICE and BLOSSOM . . .
The eyes of the blind shall be OPENED,
and the ears of the deaf UNSTOPPED;
then the lame shall LEAP like a deer
and the tongue of the SPEECHLESS sing for joy.
For WATERS shall break forth in the wilderness, and STREAMS in the desert”
All these things the prophet had prophesied. They shall surely happen says the Lord God.
WAIT FOR IT.
COUNT ON IT.
EXPECT IT.
LOOK FOR IT.
Open your EYES and SEE my salvation.
John knew about WAITING. Every prisoner knows about WAITING.
You WAIT to eat.
You WAIT to drink.
You WAIT to see another human being.
You WAIT for human CONTACT.
You WAIT to hear a spoken WORD. Even a word spoken in ANGER.
The message was CLEAR.
He is THE ONE.
The message IS happening.
Even NOW.
Isaiah is being FULFILLED, his VISION was becoming REALITY.
And JOY entered into JOHN.
At long last, he had something to HOLD ON TO…
He knew that he had PRECEDED and PROCLAIMED the right man.
He had done his part.
He was AT PEACE.
Amen.