Being weak is no sin . . . (part 1)

Do you remember the story of John the baptiser? (Or the ‘Baptist’, as you may recall him)? Do you recall his fearlessness and boldness when he was confronting the hypocritical religious leaders of his day? He called them ‘snakes’, and he likened them to ‘graves that were painted white’ – clean on the outside but dead on the inside. He boldly challenged the ordinary people, also, to stop continually doing the wrong thing, whether they were at work, or home, or at play. He confronted injustice at a personal level, and challenged people to do their part in making society a better and fairer place for all. He taught them to honour God and prepare their hearts for the coming of the Messiah.
Of all the words you would use to describe John, vulnerable probably wouldn’t be one of them. Or would it? In the New Testament, in Matthew 11, John is in prison (for telling King Herod he wasn’t such a nice person), and he asks his friends to go and ask Jesus if he really is the Messiah – the promised one sent from God. Now this in itself is odd, considering that it was John himself who baptised Jesus, and then saw the heavens open and saw a dove fly over and land on him. And he heard with his own ears God’s voice speak from above that Jesus was indeed the promised one. If that wasn’t enough John also saw and heard about some of the miracles that Jesus was doing, and how Jesus had taken over where John himself had backed away from public life. John knew this was exactly how the Prophets of old had predicted the Messiah would come, and that he himself was the fore-runner – the one who would ‘prepare’ the way for him.
So, you would think that ‘vulnerable’ is not a word that would suit John. Believe it or not, John is very vulnerable at this time. He is in the typical position of a battle weary soldier who needs encouragement to continue fighting when it seems that all the odds are stacked against him. Think about it: you are in prison for doing the work you believe God asked you to do. All you’ve done to land yourself there is tell the truth to an insecure tyrant who has lots of authority but no conscience.
But John’s friends are allowed to visit him, so he asks if they will just check with Jesus that it is indeed worth all the effort. I understand his feelings of vulnerability, and I would ask Jesus in a heart beat the same question if I knew he were around!
Jesus’ response to John is very interesting, and I’ll talk about that next blog; but I believe words recorded by Matthew earlier are the words John needed to hear.
He (Jesus) will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle. (12:20NLT)
At this moment John was a weak reed, a flickering candle. He was experiencing a moment of weakness everybody experiences that works hard to achieve a greater goal than their own life and needs.
John’s friends delivered Jesus’ reply to him (next blog), but if Jesus himself had gone to the prison to see John, he would have encouraged him not to be discouraged, not to be unhappy about where he was, or what was to happen in the immediate future. He would have put a hand on his shoulder and said, “Well done, friend”.

Talk soon . . .