Jesus tells me who I am. Matthew 11

My advent devotion for today brought up some interesting points that led me down a most fruitful thought progression.

Remember John the Baptist? He was the guy who was so confident about Jesus being the Messiah and God's Son. He pointed Him out before anyone else and raised heck about him coming. He went out into the wilderness to live and baptize, following a call to prepare the way. He was pretty confident in who Jesus was according to each Gospel account, but in Matthew we find that after John is imprisoned, he begins to have a few doubts. He sends some of his disciples to ask Jesus "are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another?"

I have read this account many times, but today's advent devotional pointed out the sheer magnitude of this question. John had been SO confident, and now he questions? What led him to question? Well undoubtedly it was the fact that he sat in a cold, dark and dank cell hearing no news of the Messiah figure setting up a new government or establishing His army and the new Kingdom. This was not John's understanding of the prophet's message, what Jesus was doing that is. The repentant were not all being blessed like John had understood. Indeed, he himself was repentant, and now he was IMPRISONED! How could this be the outcome of the life he had led to serve God. Perhaps, he had mistaken. Perhaps, he should look for another.

Jesus' response is two-fold. First, he states the things that he HAS done that are in accordance with the prophecy. The blind see; the lame walk; the deaf hear. THEN, Jesus says, 'And blessed is he who is NOT offended by me." Wow. What a stark calling out that is. Jesus says, 'go tell John, blessed are not just the repentant, but those who are NOT offended by me.' And as John's question reveals, John was kinda offended by Jesus at that point.

But actually, Jesus doesn't stop there. I should say that his total response is TRI-fold because then he goes on to speak about John and affirm who he is. He says that John is the one who follows in the footsteps of Elijah and prepares a way. He blesses John and affirms the work he has been doing and defends him against those who spoke against him and then....THEN....says that there has NEVER been another man on earth who was greater than John the Baptist. WOW. Do you realize what He has just done? Let me spell it out in the terms that I understood it.

First, he pointed John's eyes and thoughts toward the positive- the truth, and not the doubts. He showed John the things He WAS doing in accordance to the prophecies. Often, we just concentrate on what we want to see done that isn't being done and neglect to see the things that God is doing RIGHT in front of us. Basically, we are pessimistic. It's easier to see the things that we lack b/c they nag at our sinful flesh. Instead of seeing a table with vasts amounts of different kinds of food, we look for our favorite and get sad it's not there.

Second, Jesus has said if you want to follow me, you have to trust ME. Don't be offended in me. So often we have our plans and want God to bless them because they seem so nice. But literally, we have two choices. We can follow our plans or God's, and more than likely God's are going to be plans that we don't understand and that maybe even cause us to hurt b/c we got too attached to what WE thought would be good for us. That's why following God requires faith, trusting in what we cannot see or in this case understand.

But finally, Jesus gives John a true purpose. John thought he knew his purpose his whole life, but once in the dark prison, he doubts. He thinks he mistook Jesus. That he had been wrong. Man can never fully be confident in who he is by his own accord or assertion. Only God can tell us who we are and what we are worth. Our own definition will fail and waver. But Jesus goes on to offer to John praise that He gave to NO OTHER PERSON IN ALL OF HISTORY. Think about it. This stood out to me the MOST. John is sitting there in prison, and he does die. He didn't know he would then. He may have kept hope that he'd be released, but we know in hindsight that He dies. This man who gave his whole life to following God and sacrificed for God and probably hoped for some earthly rewarding of some sort when the Messiah's ministry began, dies in a cold jail...and not even for good reason, but because the King is a coward. John dies. That sucks. But, his purpose, wow, his purpose and his worth were laid out for all the people to hear BY THE SON OF GOD! Jesus, who so many ended up revering and worshiping says clear as day that John the Baptist is the best human being who ever walked the earth. My GOODNESS! Now I think about myself and how down on myself I can feel or how inferior I can feel to others, but if I had that memory. If I knew that Jesus had walked the earth and said Megin Lea Williams is the best woman who has ever lived, now THAT would make me feel good. I would know that regardless of what person beat me or got picked over me, that REALLY I was the best. Jesus had told me that. ha.

Sure, that's a silly example, but it's the truth here. Jesus defines John, erasing all doubts, saying that he was a prophet in the line of Elijah preparing the way for God's son.

So my final thoughts are...or, said in other words, what I GET from all this is:

I have two choices. I can seek to define myself and my worth and my purpose in life, or I can let Jesus do it. If I do it, I will decide what is good and what I want and work toward it, and I will inevitably be disappointed b/c I won't get EVERYTHING. I won't get it all. Plus, my decisions are limited by my human knowledge of time and the past and future. But, if I let Jesus do it. He is not limited. He has all the power of heaven and earth. And he is not limited by time or knowledge of past, present, and future. The things he withholds from me now or does for me now or has me do now are not just impacting my life but the entire course of human history to come. Who I am marrying and my job really affect history. God sees and considers this ALL. I think I will let God choose and God guide.

I am sure to be John sitting in the jail from time to time, as I am sure you will be. But I hope when I am there, I can remember that Jesus says we are blessed if we aren't offended in Him, and that I can remember salvation is by faith alone in the Son of God. I pray I can have faith in God and trust Him more than I trust my own feelings and dreams.

You know, I'm pretty confident that the news of what Jesus said that day got back to John. I wonder what it must have felt like for John to hear that Jesus had said all that about Himself and then about John's self. I wonder the peace it must have brought to John that die...and so I bet he died in peace. He didn't know exactly why God didn't set him free or bring him out, but I bet he was at peace trusting God. And do you recall Jesus' reaction to John dying? He was saddened too and wanted to be alone to morn. Jesus isn't without feeling or sympathy for us when we are in pain because life isn't what we had hoped for. He doesn't expect us not to be disappointed. But what he does expect is for us to submit...and to rest at peace under His yoke, His easy yoke...easy, if we can get past ourselves.