Language Studies

Difficult Sayings

John the Baptist and Jesus - "Are you" the Coming One?
Matthew 11:2-3, Luke 7:19

"² And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples ³ and said to Him, 'Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?'" (Matthew 11:2-3)

Why did John ask if Jesus was "the Coming One" if he had already declared him to be the Lamb of God? Had he developed doubts? Had prison dented his faith and conviction? Was he not filled from his mother's womb (Luke 1:15) with the inner witness of one who should know Jesus better — the Holy Spirit himself? If not, he was Jesus' cousin, but undoubtedly Jesus did not tell everyone in the playpen or the playground his true nature.

Some have argued that John doubted all along, yet this hardly goes with his bold faith declarations as to Jesus' nature and mission and his humility in deferring to Jesus and encouraging his disciples and hearers to follow him. In fact, the critics have argued that this story is fictional and written in order to demote the ministry of John and promote that of Jesus' cause. Yet, we will see that, Jesus himself elevated and praised John as the greatest of all prophets whilst at the same time putting him in context as the least in the kingdom — whatever that meant.

John had previously declared that Jesus was the Lamb of God and Son of God (John 1:29, 34, 36), he also called him the One and the Man and One Coming after me, which could be titles or mere phrases. It was two of John's disciples who turned to following Jesus upon John's direction and said that they had found the Messiah, John himself did not call Jesus the Messiah, but he did call him all but the Messiah and ascribed to him the future functions of the Messiah.

It was perhaps these expected deeds of the Messiah that caused the problem. For John had announced that the Messiah would come to judge, to purge, to fill with the Holy Spirit and to baptise with fire.

"…He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." (Matthew 3:11-12)

John preached a baptism for repentance with the expectation that the coming of the Son of Man as judge was imminent. Yet Jesus announced his coming with signs of mercy and delay, as the time of God's favour (Luke 4:18-19 quoting Isaiah 61:1-2a, significantly not completing the quotation). In Luke's context (7:11-17) Jesus had just raised a young man from the dead out of compassion and "that very hour He cured many of infirmities, afflictions, and evil spirits; and to many blind He gave sight." (Luke 7:21). Not, perhaps, what John was expecting.

The situation could be more personal, given the other signs Jesus was performing; John might have expected Jesus to "set at liberty" those oppressed or in prison, in fulfilment of Isaiah 61:1 — his own present condition. Was this a request with regard to his own future and predicament?

Despite being filled with the Holy Spirit it seems that John's expectation was one of tradition as much as revelation. The Messiah was expected to come as judge, redeemer and saviour. John saw the sins and hypocrisies of his contemporaries and perhaps saw a clear need to emphasise the coming judge and was surprised by Jesus' display of mercy and compassion rather than fiery threshing and winnowing.

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