This week we hear a story about John the baptist sending his disciples to Jesus to ask if he is indeed the one for whom they had been waiting. In response, Jesus asks if they have observed the things from him that they expected to see from the one to come. Satisfied with this answer, they return to John to report back what Jesus says, but Jesus turns to the crowd and asks them about their own expectations in regards to John the baptist, saying, "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?" This story is so interesting because of the tension of both clarity and questioning we see in the figure of John the baptist. As we observed in last week's reading, and as Jesus reiterates in this week's, John was extremely clear in what he had been called to do and the message he was meant to bring to the world. And yet, when Jesus does come, even after John baptizes him, even after Jesus begins healing and teaching, John still questions whether Jesus is really the one he has been waiting for. And the beautiful things is that Jesus does not fault him for this. Jesus knows the value of both being firm in our vocation and still questioning how God is moving in the world. He highlights the beauty of both clarity and wondering, knowing that though we may have strongly held ideas or beliefs we must also always be willing to be transformed in our thinking and our actions. What do you have absolute clarity about today? What are questioning deeply in your life or the life of the world? What is something you are both clear and wondering about?
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