Who Was Jesus, Part 2

Read Matthew 11:1-5

Context: Jesus has just finished giving his disciples instructions for going out into surrounding villages to heal sickness and chase away demons.

Text:

1After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.[a]

2When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples 3to ask him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?"

4Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy[b]are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. 6Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me." (NIV)

Footnotes:

Matthew 11:1 Greek in their towns
Matthew 11:5 The Greek word was used for various diseases affecting the skin—not necessarily leprosy.

taken from www.biblegateway.com

This passage was always interesting to me. John the Baptist had been baptizing Jesus when the heavens opened up, a dove came down, and God told the world that Jesus was his son. He had probably been told from birth about how his cousin was the savior. Now he had doubts? Maybe he was praying that Jesus would release him from prison if he was really the Christ. Or perhaps just being near Jesus and realizing that he was fully man was enough to cause one to doubt his sovereignty.

The other curious part of this passage is the response Jesus gave. He left it up to the interpretation of John and his followers to provide the true answer. What would have happened if Jesus had just said 'yes'?

On a side note, I read somewhere that Jesus rarely gave a direct answer to a question -- he almost always responded with a parable or another question. Because of this example, we probably ought to know better than to expect God to give simple 'yes' or 'no' answers to our prayer requests and pleadings for direction!