The Doubt of John the Baptist

I invented a new game last Thursday called Tyrannosaurus Rex. It is a great game. I get to be the hungry Tyrannosaurus Rex in search of food and Gunder gets to be supper and Edith gets to be dessert. After finishing my supper of Gunder I started stomping around the house looking for my dessert. I found Edith in the living room cowering in front of a chair and as I slowly stomped and growled toward her she started to yell out, "Oh, woe is me, woe is me!" I learned that the best way to avoid getting eaten by a Tyrannosaurus Rex is too yell out, "Oh, woe is me" for I, the hungry Tyrannosaurus, was laughing to hard to eat my desert. As providence would have it, Edith's statement captured my feelings last week. I told you last Sunday that we need to pay attention to every word of Scripture, particularly those words that bother and offend us. When I told you that, I had no idea that our Gospel lesson this morning would be one of the Gospel passages that bothers and offends me. Oh woe is me! I had to apply my own sermon to myself!

This passage bothers me because John the Baptist doubts Jesus. I do not like it one bit. I do not like to hear that the Jesus' cousin, the man who leapt in the womb at the sound of Mary's voice (Luke 1:39-45) doubted Jesus. I do not like to hear that the greatest prophet in the scriptures who said, "I am the voice of one calling in the desert, 'Make straight the way for the Lord'" (John 1:23) and "After me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry" (Matt. 4:11) doubted Jesus. It caused my blood to boil when I read that the man who said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world," (John 1:29) and "He must become greater; I must become less" would say, "Are you the one or should we expect some one else." John's doubt offends me because I want certainty. I want to believe that through hard work and diligent practice I can rid myself of doubt. I want assurance that my past faith will guarantee unwavering conviction in the present. John's doubt destroys my self-confidence, for if the greatest prophet, the greatest man born to woman doubts, so will I. As a result of John the Baptist's doubt, I cannot trust in my own ability and I cannot trust my own intellect and that really offends me. Woe is me when I am forced by Scripture to examine myself.

I would like answer three questions this morning, questions that have been tormenting me all week. First, "Why did John doubt?" Second, "What did Jesus do about it?" Third, "What does that mean for us today, specifically in this Advent Season?"

Why did John doubt? John expected Jesus to come as a Judge as he said in Matthew 4:12, "His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor…burning the chaff with unquenchable fire." John expected Jesus to judge Israel and rid her of pagan unbelievers, people just like Herod Antipas who stole his brother's wife and had the audacity to throw John into prison because John publicly spoke against this immorality. I think that while John was in prison he became too focused on himself and his suffering and forgot that he was to decrease in stature while Jesus was to increase. I think to put it boldly and bluntly, John became too self-centered and selfish and as a result of his self-centeredness John began to doubt. I think John's problem was self-centeredness because when Jesus answered John's disciples he told them, "Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them." I think John expected this response because Jesus quoted two passages from Isaiah; passages that John knew because they deal with the deeds of the coming Messiah. Jesus quoted Isaiah 35, which says, "The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing." Jesus also quoted Isaiah 61 which says, "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners." John did not expect Jesus to omitted the second half of this verse, the half which reads,"He has sent me…to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners." John would have known these passages by heart and he would have been expected Jesus to reassure his doubt by saying He would set the prisoners free but Jesus didn't. Jesus' glaring omission leads me to believe that John the Baptist became self absorbed and self centered. Jesus' omission of the very words John wanted to hear leads me to believe John needed to be reminding that it wasn't about him, it was about Jesus. Instead of rejoicing over Jesus' miracles, John lamented. Instead of taking comfort in Jesus' healing of others, John only thought of himself. Self-centeredness and self-absorption will always lead to doubt. When we are only concerned with ourselves, when we only trust in our own abilities, we will begin to doubt and fall away.

This leads us to our second question, "What does Jesus do about John's doubt?" Jesus did not let John remain self-centered and self-absorbed. His response forced John to think outside the box of his own flesh and bones and compelled John to put his trust Jesus rather than in himself. Jesus then proved that he could be trusted by defending John. It is after John confronts Jesus with his doubt that Jesus defends John saying, "What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings' palaces. Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. …I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." Jesus' actions are dumbfounding. I would expect Jesus to praise John after John said nice things about him, not after John doubted. Furthermore, John did not question Jesus privately; he boldly questioned him in public in the midst of a crowd. I would expect Jesus to criticize the man who boldly challenged him in public, but Jesus does not. When John became Jesus' accuser, Jesus became John's public defender. What did Jesus do to John's doubt? Jesus moved John out of his self-centeredness so that John may once again trust him and then Jesus proved that he was trustworthy by defending John.

What does this mean for us today in the season of Advent? When John the Baptist thought Jesus would come as a Judge, he was not wrong. Jesus will come as a judge as St. Paul said in II Corinthians 5:10, "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad." There will come a day when we must stand before Jesus and give an account of our life. When that day comes will we be so self-centered that we trust only in ourselves? Will we be so self-absorbed that we trust in our own abilities and intelligence? When that day comes will we be so self confident that we believe we can adequately defend our all our thoughts and deeds before the King of the Universe? Woe is me, if I do. I cannot trust in myself on that Day of Judgment, I cannot defend myself. When that day comes I will need a powerful and omniscient attorney. I need Jesus for just as Jesus defended John the Baptist so he has promised to defend us. When that Day of Judgment comes, all those who have put their faith in Christ will find that their Judge is also their attorney; the judge himself will defend us. But there is more, not only is Jesus our judge and our attorney, he has paid for all of our offenses, transgressions and sins. Before the throne of God above I have a strong and perfect plea, a great high priest whose name is love, who ever lives and pleads for me. My name is graven on his hands; my name is written on heart. I know that while in heaven he stands no tongue can bid me thence depart.

Doubt, more often than not, is misplaced trust, instead of trusting Jesus we trust in ourselves. We can trust Jesus for when he comes again in judgment he will defend us because he has paid for our sins and transgressions. We can trust Jesus for when the judge, the attorney and one who paied our debt is the same person, we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt what the verdict will be: not guilty!