You are all familiar with the saying, "Actions speak louder than words." I don't know who the first to utter those words was, but I fantasize that it was one of the evangelists. Today's Gospel reading certainly bears out the wisdom of the adage.
There are many different interpretations offered regarding the fact that John the Baptist, while he was in prison, sent some of his disciples to Jesus to inquire if he was the Messiah. Many of them suggest that this was John's way of nudging his disciples over to Jesus. John is languishing in prison. His disciples are wondering what to do next. So this is a perfectly plausible explanation for the fact that he sends his disciples to question Jesus.
However, I think there is another possibility. I believe that the question is rooted in John's preaching. He foretold the coming of a powerful figure who would separate the chaff from the grain, whose winnowing fan would be a fan of judgment for sinners. He said that he was not worthy to unfasten the strap of the Messiah's sandal. Like many fiery preachers, John's imagery comes directly from the Hebrew Scriptures and has a bit of an apocalyptic flavor to it. Jesus reveals himself as a different kind of Messiah. John cannot question Jesus himself as he is in prison. So he sends his disciples to determine if perhaps he had made mistake in identifying Jesus as "the Lamb of God." While my interpretation is not the usual, I suspect that there are those who do not wish to “tarnish” John the Baptist with an incident that may reveal his doubts about Jesus. At the same time, it would be only human for John to wonder if Jesus is the Messiah when he confronts his expectations about Jesus and comes up lacking.
Jesus does not answer the questions directly. Instead he tells the disciples to tell John what they have seen. Jesus knows that John will recognize that his works are also taken directly from the Hebrew Scriptures and will identify him as the Messiah. He is doing all the things that the prophets have foretold. Another adage comes to mind: "The proof is in the pudding." Jesus is not what they might have expected, but he is fulfilling the prophecies nonetheless.
We all have expectations. Just as the people of that era were expecting a Messiah who would push Rome out of Israel or reform the priesthood or be a great military leader like Judas Maccabaeus, I suspect that we all harbor notions of what his return will be like. However, just as the expectations of the people before Jesus’ birth were not met, I suspect that our expectations of Jesus’ second coming will be similarly unmet. So as we listen to the Gospel today, we might ask ourselves just exactly what are we expecting?
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator