John

Last night on Eastenders Shirley was talking about prison - the real shock, she said, was that when you come out everything is still exactly the same.

I have been wondering whether this could be true - although having been away from England for nearly ten years and then returned I am struck, mostly, by the familiarity of things. Of course, things have changed, many of them to do with technology but there is much which seems very ordinary.

Ordinary and unexpected must have been what John thought he saw through the bars of the prison. Things were ordinary as there had been no great political upheaval and this was unexpected from the Messiah. And so, despite that fact that he has met Jesus he sends messengers to Jesus,
"Are you really the one," he asks. This has overtones, not only of a real searching, a real doubt but also of "get on with it, when are you going to act like the Messiah".

Jesus' response is to heal people - to work wonders and what he says is - if you thought you were getting another king to replace Herod, you are wrong but John is the forerunner - John is what the prophets promised. I wonder how this answer sat with John, uncomfortably, no doubt. For however enthusiastic his followers were as they returned with news of what they had seen - the amazing work and words of the Son of God - the fact was that John was paying an early price for faith - within a few chapters we read of his death at the hands of Herod.

Whilst it seems unfair and indiscriminate there is a sense in the New Testament that this is the way things are going to be when you start a revolution. No one would expect to raise arms against an occupying power without bloodshed and even without Jesus using physical force he is beginning a spiritual and moral assault on the powers that be.

John the Baptist paid a high price for his preaching and teaching - but we have to remember, so did Jesus.

"Are you the one?" is a question which Jesus receives and answers with action - not anger. This pattern of allowing doubt, of coming alongside to answer is one which should reassure us. There is no sin in asking. But everything had changed in Jesus, everything does change in Jesus and everything changes in us as we rediscover, day by day, that yes, Jesus is the one.