Matthew 11:2-11; 1 Corinthians 4:1-5; Isaiah 40:1-11
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Each Gaudete Sunday, I find myself compelled to restate a truth that is often misunderstood: John the Baptist did not doubt that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God.
I know the argument well. John is in prison. He knows his execution is near. He hears reports that Jesus is healing the blind, the lame, the lepers, and the deaf - but John himself remains behind bars. After all, Isaiah prophesied not only healing, but also liberty to the captives. Surely, we are told, John must have wondered: Why not me? And surely, being only human, he must have doubted. It sounds convincing, until we listen carefully to the Scriptures themselves.
John was filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb, leaping for joy at the sound of Mary’s greeting in the presence of his Lord. John heard the Father’s voice at Jesus’ baptism: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” He saw the Holy Spirit descend upon Jesus and remain with Him. John confessed plainly that he was not the Christ, not Elijah in his own right, not the Prophet, but the voice crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the LORD.” He declared himself unworthy even to loosen the straps of Jesus’ sandals. He rejoiced that he must decrease and that Jesus must increase.
Taken together, the witness of Scripture does not portray a man wavering in faith, but one who believed more clearly and confessed more boldly than anyone else of his time.
So why, then, does John send his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” The answer is simple, and deeply comforting. John sends them not for his own sake, but for theirs. And for yours. As St. John later writes, these things are written “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.”
John’s question creates the moment for Jesus to reveal Himself, not with speculation, but with fulfillment. “Go and tell John what you hear and see,” Jesus says. “The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.” This is not a vague appeal to goodwill. It is a direct echo of Isaiah’s promises. Jesus is saying, Look at the Scriptures, and now look at Me.
And yet, someone may object: Not all the blind see. Not all the deaf hear. Not all the imprisoned go free. Not all the dead are raised. And what good, after all, is preaching to the poor? But here Jesus teaches us how to understand His works rightly. Physical healings are signs, real and merciful signs, but signs of something greater still: the forgiveness of sins and the restoration of fallen humanity. When Jesus forgave the paralyzed man, the Pharisees objected: Only God can forgive sins. They were right, and that was precisely the point. So Jesus asked them, “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?” Whether the outward sign is given now or withheld, the deeper gift remains. All who trust in Christ will be healed, restored, and made whole in the resurrection of the body on the Last Day. Christ’s Word does not merely describe reality, it creates it. He is the Word made flesh, and His promises never fail.
There is more here still. Jesus’ works also reveal spiritual healing. There is spiritual blindness and deafness, spiritual lameness and death, spiritual poverty. And that is why Jesus concludes with these words: “Blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” Those words draw our attention to the Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. These are not blessings because suffering is good in itself. They are blessings because suffering strips away false comforts and leaves room for the true one. The spiritually blind are given eyes to see Christ. The spiritually deaf hear His Gospel. The spiritually dead are raised to life by faith. And the spiritually poor, those who have nothing of their own to offer God, are made rich beyond measure in Christ.
John sent his disciples so that they might see and hear these things for themselves. And once they had gone, Jesus turned to the crowd and spoke of John, not to glorify the man, but to reveal how God works through humble means.
“What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?” John was no vacillating teacher, swayed by opinion or pressure. He preached repentance plainly and without compromise.
“A man dressed in soft clothing?” No, John was free from the lure of comfort, wealth, and power. And because he was free from those things, he was free to speak the truth, even when it cost him everything.
“What then did you go out to see? A prophet?” Yes, and more than a prophet. John was the promised messenger, the Elijah who would prepare the way of the Lord. Of him Jesus says, “Among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.”
And yet, even here, John points beyond himself. “The one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” That One is Jesus Himself.
Though He was without sin, God made Him to be sin for you. Though He was with God and was God from the beginning, He humbled Himself, taking on flesh, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross. And for this reason God raised Him and exalted Him, giving Him the Name above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
John’s vocation was to prepare the way, to make disciples for Jesus by preaching repentance and administering baptism. And in the end, even from prison, John completed his task by sending his disciples away from himself and to Christ. He decreased. Jesus increased.
And so it is still. John’s ministry of comfort continues wherever Christ’s Word is preached and His Sacraments are given. Pastors, like John, are servants and stewards of the mysteries of God, not masters, but messengers—preparing the way for Christ to come to His people with forgiveness, life, and salvation. “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God. Not the comfort of soft clothing or easy days, but the comfort of sins forgiven, death defeated, and Christ present with His suffering people.
So rejoice; Gaudete! The Lord is at hand. He comes to you in His Word. He comes to you in His body and blood. He comes to strengthen you for every trial endured because of Him. And blessed are you who are not offended by Him.
In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.
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