“Are you the one to come, or do we have to wait for another?” (Mt 11,2-11) | RCF

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew

During that time,
John the Baptist heard, in his prison,
works done by Christ.
He sent his disciples to him and through them asked him:
“Are you the one to come,
or should we wait for another? »
Jesus answered them:
“Go and tell John
what you hear and see:

The blind regain their sight,
and the lame walk,
the lepers are cleansed,
and the deaf hear,
the dead rise,
and the poor receive the Good News.
Happy the one for whom I am not an occasion of fall! »

As John’s envoys departed,
Jesus began to say to the crowds about John:
“What did you go to look at in the desert?
a reed shaken by the wind?
So what did you go to see?
a fancy-dressed man?
But those who wear such clothes
live in the palaces of kings.
So what did you go to see?
a prophet ?
Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet.
It is of him that it is written:

Behold, I send my messenger ahead of you,

to prepare the way before you.
Amen, I tell you:
Of those born of a woman,
no one has risen greater than John the Baptist;
and yet the smallest in the kingdom of heaven
is bigger than him. »

Source: AELF

Meditation Pastor JP Sternberger

According to the Gospel of Matthew, John the Baptist hears, in his prison, about the works of Christ. Luke, whom we will read on Wednesday, imagines that John’s disciples reported to him what Jesus is doing.

But if John already knows everything that Jesus does, how can he question himself and ask him “are you the one who is coming?” “.

According to the Gospel of Matthew, John the Baptist hears, in his prison, speaking of the works of Christ, that is to say the works of the Messiah.

But precisely his question will bear on the identification of Jesus and the messiah. It is therefore possible that the “works of Christ” of which John hears speak are not, according to Matthew, those of Jesus which John ignores and which the disciples he sends will reveal to him on their return, but the works of which we say in the biblical tradition and the Jewish hope that they will be those of the messiah. And here we come to grips with the fundamental difference between Jews and Christians with regard to Jesus. How ask our Jewish brothers and sisters, how can you say that the messiah has come when the messianic times, characterized by peace and blessing, the messianic times are obviously not here?

And everything suggests that by Christmas, this will still be the case.

Lord Jesus, you did not impose peace on this world at war which was yours and remains ours. Yet you have done the works of Christ. It is up to us to become your disciples today. Amen