John is in prison. Perhaps he is starting to have doubts about Jesus. Earlier he had proclaimed Him to be the One - the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Now he is asking, “Are you the one?”
We all have those times. One of my favorite observations by C. S. Lewis concerns how we feel about things. He remarks that since becoming a Christian there are days when he didn’t feel as if there were a God. However, he remembered that when he was an atheists there days when it did feel as if there were a God. The conclusion can only be that feelings have very little to do with reality.
Jesus did not condemn John for his “unbelief.” He simply sent word back concerning His fulfillment of Scripture. There are those who would cast doubt on Jesus’ divinity by pointing out that He rarely came right out and claimed to be God. They overlook the fact that this was itself a fulfillment of Scripture. (Isaiah 42:2) “He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets.” Jesus’ life and actions spoke for who He was more than His public claims. Beware those whose claims are louder than their actions. You will almost always find that their claims are usually quite inconsistent with their actions.
It was John’s job to proclaim who Jesus was, and it is ours as well. John had his days of doubt like everyone else, but the answer to those doubts was simply to look at Jesus and what He has done.
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