Rev. John Elliott
The kingdom of heaven is near? John the Baptist was preaching and baptizing which made the crowds flock to hear him. Then John is arrested and put in prison. It seems like something is wrong here. Following Jesus confronts us with the reality that God does not do things the way we think they should be done. When things don’t go the way we think they should, doubt begins to creep in and crowd out faith. The solution? “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. 6 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me” (Matthew 11:4-6).
