In Matthew 3, John the Baptist appears in the wilderness of Judea proclaiming, “Repent! The kingdom of heaven is at hand!” He is a voice crying out loud and preparing the way of the Lord. He knows that one mightier than he is coming, one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire, one whose sandals John is not even worthy to carry. When Jesus comes to John, John recognizes him as the One and says, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?”
But in Matthew 11, just eight chapters later, John the Baptist sends his disciples to Jesus to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” What happened to John that caused him to question what once he was so certain about? The curious thing here is that John had already heard of the great miracles Jesus was performing (Mt 11:2). Yet John still asks, “Are you the one who is to come?” What made John doubt? The answer may lie in the place where John finds himself in chapter 11 — in prison.
Perhaps John was thinking, “If Jesus is the Promised One, why am I languishing here in Herod’s dungeon? I tried to help prepare the way of the Messiah. Why am I suffering now?”
Not even a month ago, we were celebrating the season of Easter. We proclaimed that Jesus is risen and is victorious. Then we commemorated Pentecost and rejoiced with the gift of the Holy Spirit. But if Jesus has indeed been resurrected, why is there still so much death in the world? If the Holy Spirit has indeed come to empower us, why is it still so hard to be good? With John the Baptist, we can easily be tempted to think, “Maybe we are to wait for another Jesus or another Spirit to come.”
To the imprisoned John, Jesus sends this message: “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them” (Mt 11:4-5). Translation: “Yes, a lot of bad things are happening – and many of them are happening to you. But good things are happening, too. Yes, a lot of things still need to be done. But things are getting done.”
Give a pessimist a pony, and he or she will only say, “My yard is going to be filled with manure.” But give an optimist a mountain of manure, and he or she will dive into it and say, “Somewhere in all this, there must be a pony!”
I do not know what kind of week you just had, but if you had it pretty rough, here’s a challenge for you: Think of at least three good things that happened to you in the middle of all the bad. Now stop. This is not just about seeing the brighter side of things. When Jesus told John, “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them,” Jesus was not just urging John to be an optimist. Jesus was telling John, “Have faith in me.” Trust – this can turn blind and naïve optimism into real and enduring hope. Again, I do not know what kind of week (or life) you’ve been having, but here’s a bigger challenge for you: After recounting the good things that happened to you, focus back on the bad, and trust: Even in the bad, the dead are being raised; even in the bad, there is good news. Even when there does not seem to be a brighter side and everything seems dark, God is still trustworthy.
Trust. How did John the Baptist’s story end? With his head on a platter. That does not seem to be very encouraging. But again, Jesus will say, “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk… and the poor have good news brought to them.” Another translation: “In my Father’s kingdom, it is the blind who really see. It is the lame who can dance. It is the poor who are truly blessed. I turn things upside down. Everything is changed… for the better.”
When John the Baptist died, the party continued in Herod’s palace, but it was John who really had something to celebrate. Read Matthew 14: 1-10 and see how Herod the ruler became a slave to a dancing girl’s wish and how John the prisoner became truly free.
While all this looks nice and neat on paper, I will be the first to admit this can be hard to see in the messiness of everyday life. When you speak the truth and are punished for it — like John the Baptist was — can you still trust in the Lord’s words? When you are a voice crying out in the desert and you feel that no one cares and no one is listening, can you still trust in the Lord? When a sword hangs above your head, can you still trust?
The difficult thing about trust is that there is no proof for it. No argument or explanation can ever make you certain enough to risk and trust — and even harder, to trust again after you have been hurt. In the end, to trust is to make a leap. You just have to do it. And then you either fall or be caught. Can you trust? Can you make the leap?
We first encounter John the Baptist in the Gospel according to Luke as an unborn baby leaping inside his mother’s womb. He leaps as Mary greets his mother Elizabeth because he senses the Messiah in Mary’s womb. John does not know much about Jesus at this point, of course, but John knows the most important thing: God is near. And so John leaps, and he leaps with joy.
Today is the Solemnity of the Birth of John the Baptist. Let us ask the Lord for the same grace he gave to John. Let us ask for the grace to leap and trust that the Lord is always near. And let us ask to be able to make the leap with joy.
(Fr. Francis was ordained in 2009 and served in the PGH until May 2011. He is currently taking further studies in Sacred Scripture. For feedback on this column, email tinigloyola@yahoo.com.)