Read: Matthew 11:1-6
Are you the one who is to come? (v. 3)
Have you faced despair? Have you spent time in that dark place where hope is fleeting or even absent? Maybe you hoped for a situation to change, prayed faithfully, but received no answer. Maybe you felt like giving up.
That’s where we find John the Baptist in our Bible reading today. From prison, John had heard about the deeds of Jesus, but his hope was waning. John had sacrificed for the hope that Jesus was the promised Messiah, the one whose sandals he was “not worthy to carry” (Matt. 3:11). And yet this question remained: Was John’s sacrifice worth it? So John’s disciples came to Jesus on the Baptizer’s behalf and asked, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (11:3). Note Jesus’s gentle response. “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them” (v. 5). Jesus’s answer tells John, “Yes, there is hope. Your ministry is not in vain. I am the one to come. I am the light shining in the darkness, the one you proclaimed.”
Jesus offered John assurance in his moment of despair. He’ll do the same for you. If you’re in despair today, be assured that Jesus, our source of hope, is with you. Even if you can’t see the results yet, Jesus, the one who restores all things, will restore your hope, for he cares for you as he did for John.
As you pray, remember our hope is in Jesus.
Nancy Boote, an ordained minister in the Reformed Church in America, lives in Holland, Michigan, with her husband. She serves in a variety of leadership positions within the denomination. Besides being a wife, mother, and grandmother, Nancy enjoys taking prayer walks, hiking in nature, mentoring, and has a heart for justice matters.
