John the baptist checks in on Jesus.

Matthew 11.2-6, Luke 7.18-23.

In Jesus’s day there was no such thing as freedom of speech or religion. Your religion was either what the king said it was, or what the king permitted within his borders. Your speech was whatever the powerful couldn’t take offense at, ’cause if they did, they would kill or persecute you. That’s why Jesus taught in metaphors and parables on a frequent basis. It wasn’t just to make people think.

His relative John bar Zechariah, also known as John the baptist, was not so vague. John flat-out said the governor of the Galilee, Herod Antipas (frequently called “king” because he was the son of King Herod 1, but properly a Roman τετραάρχης/tetra’árhis, “ruler of a quarter-[province]”) was in violation of the Law of Moses, ’cause he’d married his brother’s ex. Lv 18.16 Plus she was his niece, which generally violates the command against having sex with close relatives. Lv 18.6 Since John wouldn’t shut up about it, Mk 6.17-18 Antipas threw him into prison, and so much for his ministry. John never got out alive.

In both Matthew and Luke, John heard what Jesus was up to, and sent some of his own students to ask Jesus a question. In Matthew we find out why John couldn’t do this personally: It was by this point John was in prison.

Matthew 11.2-3 KWL

2John the baptist, hearing in prison of Messiah’s works,

sending some of his students,

3tells Jesus, “Are you the one to come,

or do we look for another?”

Luke 7.18-19 KWL

18John the baptist’s students inform him

about all these things.

Calling two particular students of his, John

19sends them to the Master,

saying, “Are you the one to come,

or do we look for another?”

And this question really confuses Christians. Because we’ve read the other parts of the gospels, in which John was entirely sure Jesus is the one to come. So it’s a little confusing when John suddenly sends Jesus some students with the question, “So are you the one to come?”

Most of the time, Christians assume, and teach, John was having a massive faith crisis. After all, he’d been chucked into prison, he was gonna die, and when you ponder your mortality like this, you start to rethink everything. Maybe John didn’t believe anymore. So, to make himself feel better, he sent students to Jesus with the unspoken request, “Please tell me my life hasn’t been in vain. Please tell me you’re Messiah.”

I don’t care for this interpretation. Mostly because I think the interpreters are projecting their own doubts upon John. He had no such doubts.

John the baptist’s imaginary faith crisis.

Much as Christians try to imagine what Jesus would be like if he were us, we do the same thing with a lot of other folks in the bible. We put ourselves in Abraham’s shoes, or Ruth’s, or David’s, or Elijah’s. We imagine how we’d respond if we were in their circumstances. Then we teach about our responses. Because human beings are all fundamentally the same, right? So why would their responses be all that different from our own?

Simple: We’re from entirely different cultures. We don’t think alike.

If an American, any American, were tossed into prison for criticizing the president, we’d be outraged. Most other Americans, even if they’re big fans of that president, would be outraged as well. Freedom of speech isn’t just our birthright as Americans; we consider it a fundamental human right as well. When anyone gets thrown into prison for speaking their mind, including people under totalitarian dictatorships, we consider it an absolute wrong. (Well, unless we hate what they said. But give us a minute to get over our personal outrage, and most of us will grudgingly accept that yeah, it’s still wrong to imprison ’em.)

But an ancient didn’t think this way at all. Freedom of speech wasn’t a thing. Didn’t exist. Even the most powerful of kings couldn’t say absolutely anything he pleased; there were people who might use it to overthrow him, and of course they believed in gods which might disapprove. When people spoke their minds freely, they expected to go to prison if overheard. Freedom of speech didn’t exist as a political reality till the 1770s. Still isn’t absolute in the United States; plenty of us still wanna lock up people who burn the flag, or wanna fire football players who kneel during the national anthem. You don’t wanna mess with civic idolatry around here, y’know.

If an American were tossed into prison for preaching, it’d be completely unexpected. Most American Christians believe, deep down, that since we’re God’s chosen people, nothing bad should ever, ever happen to us; that God’ll send angels to lift us up lest we trip upon a rock. Ps 91.12 When a relatively wealthy, comfortable person discovers life is suffering, it usually triggers a faith crisis: They thought when we turn to Jesus our suffering is over, not starting. Now they doubt whether God even exists.

Yeah I know Jesus never taught any such thing. Just the opposite. Jn 16.33 But you tell that to American Christians. Therefore this is why interpreters claim John was going through a similar faith crisis: Because they would if they went to prison for speaking up. And they imagine John was exactly like them. And no he wasn’t.

As for knowing who Jesus is: John knew exactly who he is. Read your bible. John personally witnessed the Spirit land on Jesus. He personally heard the Father’s voice identify Jesus as his beloved son. Mk 1.11, Mt 3.17, Lk 3.22 He knew it before he was even born. Lk 1.44 When the subject of Jesus’s growing influence later came up, John told his students he was happy to take a back seat, because he recognized his rank is below Jesus. “He has to grow, and I, shrink.” Jn 3.30 The only way you go from this much certainty, to doubt and unbelief, is if somebody hit you on the head with a rock and you got soap-opera-style amnesia.

So what was John’s deal? I don’t know that it was John’s deal. I’m of the mind this was about John silencing the doubts of his students by showing ’em Jesus.

Andrew and Philip had left John to follow Jesus, but the rest of ’em kept right on following John. Not that there’s anything wrong with what John was teaching, but John’s entire reason for existence was to point to Jesus. If John’s followers weren’t following Jesus—if in fact they refused to follow Jesus out of some misbegotten loyalty to John—it’s a good bet John wasn’t happy about that. They weren’t going the direction he was pointing.

Like I said, an ancient would expect to go to prison for speaking his mind. So you wanna know why John wouldn’t shut up about Herod? Because he wanted to go to prison, and get out of his students’ way. They’d have to go follow somebody else, and he hoped it’d be Jesus. But John had some stubborn students. They just wouldn’t leave his side. You gotta be impressed by their loyalty, but you also gotta be frustrated by their density.

So, from prison, John straight-up sent them to Jesus. Ostensibly to ask if he was the ἐρχόμενος/erhómenos, the “coming one,” a clear reference to John’s best-known teaching: “One stronger than me is coming after me.” Mk 1.7

The NLT translates erhómenos, “the Messiah we’ve been expecting”—as if John was stupid enough to say the word “Messiah” around Antipas’s guards. The last time anyone mentioned Messiah to a Herod, all the toddlers in Bethlehem got butchered. Americans regularly forget Messiah means king, and kings are super paranoid about rivals to their thrones, especially when they’re legit. So John only ever referred to Jesus as “the one to come,” and his students knew exactly what he meant by that. As did Jesus.

Luke states John sent two particular students. Either these were the toughest holdouts, or the ones most likely to be believed by the others. And off they went to Jesus.

Luke 7.20 KWL

Going to Jesus, the men say,

“John the baptist sent us to you,

saying, ‘Are you the one to come,

or do we look for someone else?”

What do you think all these miracles indicate?

Jesus isn’t stupid either. Had he told John’s students, “Yep, that’d be me,” and they went back to Herod Antipas’s palace with the statement, “Yep, he said he’s Messiah,” off he’d go to prison. So he did the same thing he did elsewhere: He pointed to his good works. If he’s doing the works of his Father, there ya go. Jn 10.37-38

Luke 7.21 KWL

At that hour Jesus is curing many

of disease, plague, and evil spirits,

and restoring sight to many blind people.

Growing up, I had a bible-storybook which interpreted this verse to mean that once Jesus heard the question, he turned round and went on a curing spree. Just to show John’s students what he could do.

That’s a fun idea, but I suspect it’s more accurate that Jesus had already been curing people. Not to show off, but because it’s just what he did. Back then, there were no real doctors in the entire world. It was all folk medicine and witch doctors. The world had loads of sick people, but only one true healer. Jesus had his work cut out for him.

This being the case, Jesus could point to the works he’d already accomplished, and let them do the talking.

Matthew 11.4-6 KWL

4In reply Jesus tells them, “Go back

and inform John what you hear and see:

5Blind people see. Lame people walk.

Lepers are cured. Deaf people hear.

Dead people are raised.

Poor people are evangelized.

6How awesome for those

who aren’t tripped up by me!”

Luke 7.22-23 KWL

22In reply Jesus tells them, “Go back

and inform John what you see and hear:

Blind people see. Lame people walk.

Lepers are cured. Deaf people hear.

Dead people are raised.

Poor people are evangelized.

23How awesome for those

who aren’t tripped up by me!”

Christians take this last statement of Jesus’s—the KJV has “And blessed is [he], whosoever shall not be offended in me”—and assume Jesus meant John. As if John, of all people, were offended, outraged, σκανδαλισθῇ/skandalisthí, “tripped up, scandalized,” by anything Jesus did or taught. John knew Jesus took priority over him, Jn 1.30 and couldn’t take priority if the Father hadn’t authorized it. Jn 3.27 So John was neither offended nor outraged. John’s students, on the other hand, who were jealous on behalf of their teacher, Jn 3.26 were the ones with the hangups. And they needed to see and hear for themselves what Jesus was doing.

So why’d Jesus send them back to John? Not to encourage John, although this message certainly would. But to bring the good news to the rest of John’s students: This is the one John prophesied about. Look what he can do! Stop doubting and believe. Come follow him.

Y’know, other people are gonna have a similar question about whether our Christianity is anything valid. And it’d be nice if we could give the same response Jesus did: “Go back and tell ’em what you heard and saw. Blind people see. Lame people walk. Lepers are cured. Deaf people hear. Dead people are raised. Poor people are evangelized.” Pity we can’t. Jesus authorized us to do all those things in his name, so we have absolutely no justification for their absence.