Miracles and how to see past inprisonment...

Matt. 11:4-6
"And Jesus replied to them, Go and report to John what you hear and see:
    ⁵The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed (by healing) and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up and the poor have good news (the Gospel) preached to them.
    ⁶And blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) is he who takes no offense at Me and finds no cause for stumbling in or through Me and is not hindered from seeing the Truth."

John is in prison. Placed there by an adulteress ruler and his mistress. He is about to be beheaded and he knows it. The man who Malachi, Isaiah, and Jesus all proclaim as the greatest among the prophets has an incredibly short ministry career before he sees prison.

By this time, John has already not only publicly confessed that the Messiah is coming, but has made the proclamation publicly that Jesus is the Son of God, followed by a confirmation from God the Father Himself.

John's question here is not a theological one. He knows the scriptures. He knows the man, Jesus. He knows the voice of the Holy Spirit quietly confirming inside him that Jesus is the Christ. John's question isnt about theology, John's question is a question of his heart, brought on by circumstance. "If YOU are the Christ, like I told EVERYBODY you were, then why am I getting BEHEADED?!?"

John's prison was an emotional state just as much as a physical location. And when he sent his disciples, the ones that always fasted more than Jesus' disciples, who had been in ministry longer than even Jesus had, they got this answer that didn't appeal to John's emotional weakness. It was a simple rehearsal of what Christ had accomplished with an admonition which, at this point, might have sent John over the edge. "I know your upset, but I am busy, and you will be fortunate if you don't trip over Who I am and what I am doing." I might get mad at this answer. But John did not. It was enough for John. Why? How?


It comes back to one simple point that burns inside of me and I believe inside the heart of Christ Himself. Miracles expose the heart of God. Healings. Resurrections. Deliverances. Preaching good news to the poor. These things show the heart of God. When John couldn't see past his cell block for all his cares, Christ spoke to him of miracles. John didn't need to hear about the success of Jesus' ministry so much as John needed an answer to his question "did I make the right choice?". Jesus gives him a resounding "yes".

I am challenged by this verse to show others in prisons made of steel, memories, and sin, that Christ is the right choice. We can do this by exposing the heart of God through the hand of God. While praying for the homeless I seen a woman's knee heal progressively while I prayed. It is one thing to tell her of the love of her Father, it is quite another to have enough faith to do His will on earth. To do His will is to expose His heart.

The miraculous things of God are an immediate answer to questions that have held us in bondage for most of our lives. When God whispers "I am your Father" then years of brokenness and heartache for the fatherless disappears.

Step out in faith. Heal the sick. Raise the dead. Cast out demons. Preach the good news.

P.s. Christ usually healed and then preached the Kingdom. Its easier to get people to acknowledge there is a Kingdom once you have put it on display. :)