Digging Deeper: When Doubt Creeps In

As we have witnessed in the last two weeks, Jesus heals a centurion’s servant (Lk. 7:1-10) and raises a widow’s only son from the dead (Lk. 7:11-17). We begin this week with John the Baptist in prison. John is imprisoned for condemning the marriage of Herod Antipas to his brother’s wife, Herodias. With John in prison, many of his disciples begin to follow Jesus instead of John (see Andrew in John 1:37, 40).

John is told of all that Jesus has been saying and doing in Capernaum along the shores of the Sea of Galilee (v. 18). Even though John proclaims Jesus as – “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ . . . 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God” (John 1:29-30, 34 ESV) – John still has lingering questions and doubts. Dutch minister J. N. Geldenhuys notes, “John was already in prison, and things began to appear incomprehensible to him. He had expected that Christ would speedily destroy the powers of darkness and judge the unrighteous. But instead of doing this, He leaves him, His forerunner, helpless in prison.”

John is in the midst of great personal tragedy. He is in prison, and he senses that his days are numbered. He devotes his life to the service of God and heralds the arrival of the blessed Messiah. John expects judgment and revolution – Jesus proclaims mercy and love. John knows that the prophet Isaiah promises a savior who will “bring good news to the poor; bind up the brokenhearted; liberate the captives; and release those bound in prison” (Isa. 61:1). John is sure that the Messiah will usher in “a day of vengeance of our God” (Isa. 61:2a).

John’s expectations of the actions of the Messiah – whom he has foretold – are going unmet. One would think that of all those who come into contact with Jesus, John is the last person who still has doubts and shattered hopes. John hears that the poor receive the “good news,” and the brokenhearted receive healing – yet John sits in prison and looks to the Messiah to “liberate the captives – to open the prison gates, and unbind the prisoners.”

John – like the rest of us – is human. Life happens – circumstances can cause us to doubt and question. I believe God understands our occasional doubts and our feeling of unmet expectations. Tomorrow we will explore how our response to such feelings should mirror the response of John the Baptist.