It was, indeed, not at all unnatural that John should be in doubt.
Think of his character: stern, uncompromising, severe, and bold to
rashness. Think of his circumstances: languishing in prison for the
truth's sake, without any prospect of rescue;--after all, was Jesus
King, or Herod? Remember, too, in what terms he had predicted the
coming One: "Now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees;" ...
"He that cometh after me is mightier than I;" ... "Whose fan is in His
hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat
into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable
fire." Did not this betoken a work which would be swift, severe,
thorough,--very different from anything of which he could hear in his
prison cell? The coming of the kingdom was too gentle and too slow for
the stern, impatient Baptist. Accordingly, "offended" (see ver. 6,
R.V.: "finding occasion of stumbling") in his Master, he sends this
message, in the hope possibly that it may constrain Him to avow
Himself and to bring matters to a crisis: "Art thou He that should
come, or do we look for another?"
Though it was natural enough that John should doubt, it was none the
less trying to Jesus. The disciples were only children yet. Not one of
them could enter into full sympathy with Him. John, the forerunner,
was the one strong man, on whom He had reason thoroughly to rely, who
had been tried again and again, and always found brave and true. Yet
it is he who sends the doubting message. What a shock it must have
been to the sensitive heart, what a trial to the faith, of the Man
Christ Jesus!
The message must have been a very disturbing and disconcerting one,
and fitted, if widely known, to neutralise to a large degree in the
minds of the people the witness John had borne to Jesus. It is the
last thing the Evangelist would have thought of mentioning, if he had
been actuated in the selection of his material by motives of policy;
and the fact that this incident is published in two of the Gospels is
a striking illustration of what is manifest throughout--the perfect
simplicity and candour of the sacred historians.
Have we not reason to be most thankful that they did record it? To the
truly thoughtful mind it is no weakening of the testimony of John;
while it is full of comfort for the honest doubter, giving him the
assurance that even when the most serious questions trouble him--even
though the very foundations of his faith seem to be shaken--"there
hath no temptation taken" him "but such as is common to man," such as
even a brave and true soul like John had to face; full of
encouragement also to do just as he did,--go straight to the Master
Himself with the doubts, and let Him deal with them--wisely,
faithfully, tenderly--as He does here.
How, then, does He deal with them? By a miracle, opening the prison
doors, and so making it perfectly plain to him that not Herod, but
Jesus, is King? By a sudden outburst of vengeance, destroying hosts of
unrepentant sinners and alarming all the country side, and so
satisfying the sternest thoughts of the Baptist in his cell? Not at
all. He deals with them as He intends to deal with doubters always:
points him quietly to the many tokens of His Divine mission--not in
the way of judgment wrought on sinners, nor of any grand demonstration
which will astonish the nation, but in the quiet progress of His
helpful, healing, comforting work: "Go, and show John again those
things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and
the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead
are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them." Then He
encourages him to hold fast the beginning of his confidence firm unto
the end, by adding the significant words, "Blessed is he, whosoever
shall find none occasion of stumbling in Me" (R.V.). It was far better
for John himself that he should be allowed to rally, than that
anything special should be done to meet his doubts. He did rally; he
did secure the blessing his Master set before him; he was satisfied
without any open demonstration, satisfied to wait on and suffer in
faith and patience, till at last he sealed the testimony of his
magnificent life by a martyr's death.
Those are in some respects to be envied who in childlike simplicity
believe without doubt or question; but there is a special blessing for
those who by the very force of their nature must wrestle with doubt,
yet in the trying hour find no occasion of stumbling in Him. They
come out of the conflict more than conquerors through Him that loved
them.
* * * * *
The answer sent to John was kind; but there was no flattery in it--not
even a word of commendation of his heroic endurance. The Master knew
the strength of His disciple, and He dealt with him accordingly. But
as soon as the messengers are gone He tells the people what He thinks
of him. He in effect deprecates the thought of judging John by a
message sent in an hour of weakness and despondency. "Do not imagine
for a moment," He seems to say, "that the man you went out into the
wilderness to see is feeble as a reed, or soft as a courtier. He is
all, and more than all, you took him to be. He is a prophet indeed;
and much more, for he is a herald of the heavenly King. Among them
that are born of woman there hath not risen a greater than John the
Baptist; and though he has not the advantages of even the little ones
in the kingdom of heaven, inasmuch as he belongs to the old
dispensation, yet, as herald of the new, he occupies a peculiarly
honoured place--he stands between the old and the new; for all the
prophets and the law prophesied until John; while from the days of
John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven is preached, and men
are pressing into it. He is, in fact, if only you had ears to hear, if
only your minds were open to read the Scriptures according to the
spirit of them, that very Elijah whose coming your prophet has taught
you to expect" (vv. 7-14).
So far we have followed what seems to be the drift of our Saviour's
words in regard to John; but there is more than this in them. He is
contrasting the feebleness and fickleness of the multitude with the
strength and stability of John. There is before His mind, throughout,
the thought of the transcendent importance of the events of the time
as compared with the thoughtlessness of the people of the time. The
question "What went ye out for to see?" was intended not merely to
bring into relief the greatness of John, but to search their hearts.
The important events of the time had circled first around John the
Baptist, then around Himself. The people had not the least idea of the
transcendent greatness of John and still less of the infinite
greatness of Him to Whom he had borne witness. Jesus did not wish as
yet fully to assert His own claims, yet He desired to bring the
inconsiderate multitudes to some conception of the things which their
eyes saw, to rebuke and, if possible, to correct their thoughtlessness
and indifference.
It is to the presence of this underlying thought that some forms of
expression are due which otherwise are difficult to understand. This
applies in particular to ver. 12, which has been a terrible
stumbling-block to expositors. So far as the position of John was
concerned, it was enough to say that from his time the kingdom of God
was preached (the form found in St. Luke); but in view of the levity
and thoughtlessness of the multitudes it is put in such a way as to
suggest that it is not your thoughtless, fickle, reed-hunting,
sight-seeing people, that get the kingdom, but eager, earnest,
"violent" men. The same thought accounts for the manner in which the
paragraph closes, indicating that that which had been spoken ought to
lead to more serious thought, more intelligent appreciation both of
the herald and of the kingdom which in the spirit and power of the
Great Elijah he has heralded: "_He that hath ears to hear, let him
hear._"
But would they hear? Alas! no; and this accordingly must be put down
as a second and most serious discouragement.