The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! … And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.” [John 1:29,32-34 (ESV)]
After Jesus’ baptism, John the Baptizer seemed so sure that Jesus was the Christ, the promised Messiah! More than a year later, what caused him to wonder—to doubt what he’d seen, heard, and come to believe?
At the time, Herod Antipas was the Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea. While married to the daughter of Aretas IV, king of Nabatea, Antipas visited his half-brother, Herod Philip and his wife Herodias (who was the daughter of another half-brother, Herod Aristobulus) in Rome. While there, Antipas became enamored with his brother’s wife. After divorcing their spouses, he and Herodias married and lived in Herod’s palace with Herodias’ daughter Salome. Their divorces and marriage were politically explosive and religiously scandalous and John the Baptizer was outspoken in his condemnation of their incestuous sinful relationship. While marrying a niece wasn’t uncommon, Mosaic law prohibited marrying a brother’s wife except in what was called a “levirate marriage” when a brother died childless. Philip, however, was very much alive at the time! Both Herod Antipas’ reputation and his political security were threatened by John’s public condemnation of his marriage as well as his Messianic message.
To silence the Baptizer, Herod imprisoned him underground at his palace in Macherus. Although John was silenced and out of the public eye, Herodias wanted him dead. Fearing a riot if the beloved holy man were to die, Antipas resisted his wife’s pleas. While Scripture is unclear, scholars believe John languished in his dark cell for about 15 months before Herod Antipas was tricked into ordering the Baptizer’s execution.
During the Baptizer’s imprisonment, his disciples visited him with news of Jesus. Like the rest of his countrymen, John probably expected a very different Messiah than the One who came. John preached in the wilderness; Jesus preached in homes, synagogues, cities, the countryside, and even the Temple. John lived the ascetic life of a Nazarene; Jesus freely mixed with people and openly ate and drank with tax collectors and other sinners. John spoke of repentance, God’s wrath, and a day of judgment and fire; Jesus spoke of love, forgiveness, the Kingdom of Heaven, and the ”year of the Lord’s favor.” Jesus and his disciples didn’t even fast the way John and his disciples did! Did John wonder why Jesus hadn’t proclaimed Himself the Messiah and King of Israel? Most of all, did John wonder why Jesus hadn’t freed him from prison?
Those 15 months were a long time to sit in the dark—a long time for doubts to creep into John’s mind. As the months wore on, John realized that nothing short of a miracle was going to free him but the miracle he hoped for wasn’t coming. It’s no wonder the man who once was so sure Jesus was the Christ sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he were the Messiah.
Devotions of the Heart 