B
BlueMaxx
Guest
John the Baptist was a man. He was a great man chosen by God, but still a human.
He had been through the wringer being accused of a crime he did not commit
Rumors must have been flying like our current twitter-verse in the city back then.
He was imprisoned most likely tortured, beaten…who knows what else. We are not really sure how long he was there.
He was a man in physical, mental and emotional pain…real pain, pain most of us cannot imagine.
He was caged, falsely accused awaiting the decision of just what Herod was going to do.
This was not a sterile like room where death sentences are carried out now…this was a dungeon of horror and Herod had created a circus of hell. He didn’t know how long he was even going to be there, it was the capricious whim of Salome who put an end to his time.
Is he so different from any of us, especially myself, that find moments where I want reassurance?
Some say it was the disciples of John who was unsure, that they were asking.
Could he be blamed for a momentary lack of faith under duress?
Could it have been his disciples that were the ones who were unsure?
In the end does it really matter?
I dunno…
Even Christ cried out “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?”
Just my two cents…
4 Then, when John’s messengers had gone away, he took occasion to speak of John to the multitudes; What was it, he asked, that you expected to see when you went out into the wilderness? Was it a reed trembling in the wind? 25 No, not that; what was it you went out to see? Was it a man clad in silk? You must look in kings’ palaces for men that go proudly dressed, and live in luxury. 26 What was it, then, that you went out to see? A prophet? Yes, and something more, I tell you, than a prophet. 27 This is the man of whom it is written, Behold, I am sending before thee that angel of mine who is to prepare the way for thy coming.[2] 28 I tell you, there is no greater than John the Baptist among all the sons of women; and yet to be least in the kingdom of heaven is to be greater than he. 29 It was the common folk who listened to him, and the publicans, that had given God his due, by receiving John’s baptism, 30 whereas the Pharisees and lawyers, by refusing it, had frustrated God’s plan for them. 31 And the Lord said, To what, then, shall I compare the men of this generation? What are they like? 32 They put me in mind of those children who call out to their companions as they sit in the market-place and say, You would not dance when we piped to you, you would not mourn when we wept to you. 33 When John came, he would neither eat nor drink, and you say, He is possessed. 34 When the Son of Man came, he ate and drank with you, and of him you say, Here is a glutton; he loves wine; he is a friend of publicans and sinners. 35 But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.[3]
He had been through the wringer being accused of a crime he did not commit
Rumors must have been flying like our current twitter-verse in the city back then.
He was imprisoned most likely tortured, beaten…who knows what else. We are not really sure how long he was there.
He was a man in physical, mental and emotional pain…real pain, pain most of us cannot imagine.
He was caged, falsely accused awaiting the decision of just what Herod was going to do.
This was not a sterile like room where death sentences are carried out now…this was a dungeon of horror and Herod had created a circus of hell. He didn’t know how long he was even going to be there, it was the capricious whim of Salome who put an end to his time.
Is he so different from any of us, especially myself, that find moments where I want reassurance?
Some say it was the disciples of John who was unsure, that they were asking.
Could he be blamed for a momentary lack of faith under duress?
Could it have been his disciples that were the ones who were unsure?
In the end does it really matter?
I dunno…
Even Christ cried out “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?”
Just my two cents…
4 Then, when John’s messengers had gone away, he took occasion to speak of John to the multitudes; What was it, he asked, that you expected to see when you went out into the wilderness? Was it a reed trembling in the wind? 25 No, not that; what was it you went out to see? Was it a man clad in silk? You must look in kings’ palaces for men that go proudly dressed, and live in luxury. 26 What was it, then, that you went out to see? A prophet? Yes, and something more, I tell you, than a prophet. 27 This is the man of whom it is written, Behold, I am sending before thee that angel of mine who is to prepare the way for thy coming.[2] 28 I tell you, there is no greater than John the Baptist among all the sons of women; and yet to be least in the kingdom of heaven is to be greater than he. 29 It was the common folk who listened to him, and the publicans, that had given God his due, by receiving John’s baptism, 30 whereas the Pharisees and lawyers, by refusing it, had frustrated God’s plan for them. 31 And the Lord said, To what, then, shall I compare the men of this generation? What are they like? 32 They put me in mind of those children who call out to their companions as they sit in the market-place and say, You would not dance when we piped to you, you would not mourn when we wept to you. 33 When John came, he would neither eat nor drink, and you say, He is possessed. 34 When the Son of Man came, he ate and drank with you, and of him you say, Here is a glutton; he loves wine; he is a friend of publicans and sinners. 35 But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.[3]
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