Q. Why did John the Baptist later question whether Jesus was the Messiah?
God seems to have revealed very clearly to John the Baptist that Jesus was the Messiah. The apostle John says this in his gospel about John the Baptist:
John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”
However, while John knew that Jesus was the Messiah, he seems not to have understood originally what kind of Messiah Jesus was. John seems to have expected that the Messiah would imminently bring God’s judgment against all who disobeyed God. John challenged some of the people who came to him for baptism, asking, “Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. … The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
However, John was arrested and imprisoned by the ruler of the Jews, King Herod, when he challenged Herod himself. John did not expect that God would allow anything like that to happen at all, not with the Messiah on the earth, and he no doubt expected that even if it did happen, the Messiah would come to his rescue and punish or even destroy Herod for resisting what God was doing. Instead, John languished in prison.
So he sent messengers to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” The implication seems to be, “If you really are the Messiah, get me out of here!” But in response, Jesus told the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”
The word “stumble” is a metaphor. Jesus is speaking as if John had tripped and fallen. What he means is that John was scandalized when what he expected to happen didn’t happen. Jesus is offering John both encouragement and challenge. In response to John’s question about whether Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus directs John’s attention to what kind of Messiah he is—not one who is immediately bringing judgment and punishment against God’s enemies, but one who is bringing God’s healing, help, and restoration to those in need, showing the ultimately gracious character of God’s kingdom. Jesus then challenges John to critique his own expectations of what the Messiah would do when he came. He wants John to critique them in light of what he, the Messiah, actually is doing, having come.
I think there is an application for all of us in John’s experience. We may expect that if we follow Jesus faithfully, everything will go well. If things don’t go well, we may be scandalized because what we were expecting to happen didn’t happen. But based on what Jesus told John, if this happens, we should seek to appreciate how God wants to bring a gracious way of life to earth and how our own suffering can play a part in that. Then we will be among those who are blessed because we do not stumble on account of Jesus.