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Readings: Matthew 11:1-19 + Luke 3:18-20
There’s a lot about this year that didn’t go as planned.
Trips and vacations called off. Family gatherings postponed. Many families have felt an uncomfortable tightening of household finances. Others have said unexpected goodbyes. We all have mourned and grieved this year.
The word of the year will likely be something like unprecedented or changing or pandemic or mask.
Most of 2020 has felt tainted, strained, and unsure. We all had such high hopes for the start of this new decade, and nothing played out as it should have.
My feelings about 2020 remind me of John the Baptist.
Sometime after John baptizes Jesus, John is put in jail. John was outspoken against Herod’s divorce of his wife and marrying the wife of his half-brother (Luke 3:19). Displeased with John, Herod had him jailed.
While in jail, we know John was able to receive visitors. John’s disciples brought news of the outside world, including talk about Jesus and his ministry.
At one such visit, John asked his disciples to send a message to Jesus. He has them ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” (Matt 11:3).
Time alone in a prison cell gives one nothing if not time to think. Likely, John spent a lot of time thinking about his life and his preaching. He knew someone was coming to save them, and he thought that someone was Jesus.
But what he heard about Jesus’s ministry wasn’t what John expected. What if he was wrong? There had been false prophets before.
The Savior is supposed to bring freedom from Roman control. Where was Jesus’s armor, his sword, his soldiers?
John was imagining someone arriving on the scene guns blazing. After all, taking away the sins of the world was a big task. Jesus’s work so far wasn’t quite what John was envisioning.
And, maybe the most agonizing question of all for John – why was he still in prison? If the Messiah is here to free us, shouldn’t that also mean literally? How can John prepare a way for the Messiah from prison?
When posed with the question, Jesus responds to John honestly and tenderly. He instructs the disciples to return to the prison to tell John, “the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised…” (Matthew 11:5).
Jesus’s response echoes a scripture in Isaiah 35:5-6, which would surely be familiar to John. In his response, Jesus sends John an assurance of who he is in a subtle yet powerful way.
Likely, most of 2020, including your holiday season, hasn’t gone on as expected. Maybe you’re mourning the loss of time with family or changing traditions. Or, perhaps, the loss of a family member or job dulls the Christmas lights this year.
Take heart, friend. God sees you and mourns with you. This year has brought about a lot of change, and I don’t think God expects us to bounce back immediately.
But we can trust that God uses the unexpected to reveal more of his character to us. Like John in prison, it may take time for us to see how God is moving, but he is moving.
He has not forgotten us. Hope is here. The Messiah is coming.
Journal Prompt: How has God used this year for good? In what ways has he shown you who he is despite the unexpectedness of 2020?
