Prison Correspondence (Matthew 11:2-11)
When Liberation Doesn't Look Like We Expected
My dear all,
John the Baptist is rotting in Herod’s dungeon.
He’d announced fire and winnowing fork. He’d called the religious establishment a brood of vipers. He’d pointed to Jesus and declared that the ax was already at the root of the tree.
And now he’s in chains, sending his disciples to ask: “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”
It’s more than a crisis of faith. It’s a prophet in prison watching Jesus eat with sinners and heal the sick while the oppressor who locked him up still throws birthday parties in soft robes. John expected divine intervention. Instead, he got table fellowship.
This week’s passage (Matthew 11:2-11) doesn’t really resolve the tension. It kind of just sits there with it. And it smuggles in some biting political satire that most commentaries gloss over. (Spoiler: when Jesus asks if the crowd went to the wilderness to see “a reed shaken by the wind,” he’s taking a shot at Herod Antipas, whose coins featured reeds. First-century listeners would’ve caught the joke immediately.)
For those of us preaching to congregations exhausted by injustice, asking why the arc bends so slowly, wondering what we’re supposed to say to people in cages both literal and figurative, this text offers something. It’s not cheap comfort, but maybe some company while we wait.
That’s what I’ve got for you this week.
