An Open Mind

Can we ever be 100% certain about anything?

When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’ - Matthew 11:2-3

In today's Gospel reading, Matthew shares a moment of uncertainty with us.  John, the cousin of Jesus, the one who proclaimed in the wilderness that the Messiah was coming, seems to be unsure if Jesus is the one.

Unlike us, John had an opportunity to go to the source and ask the question that we would love to ask.  Are you the one?

Even if he believed with all his heart and soul, his followers might not.  They would stay loyal to John to the death, so why not have them go and find out for themselves what Jesus had to say?

Matthew gives us a first hand account of that encounter with Jesus.  Imagine what that must have been like.

And true to form, Jesus leaves the answer in our hands.

Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.’

You be the witness for John, he says.  Tell him what you have seen.

Here we have a simple example of how we can share the Gospel of Christ.  We can use the examples of his many works and let people come to their own conclusions.

We each have our own truth, our own understanding of who God is in our lives.  Whether we accept Jesus or not, we may be totally faithful to God.

That's the beauty of our relationship with God.  He leaves it up to us to determine how we approach Him and what image we have of HIm.

I find the last line of the reading intriguing.  Jesus tells the followers of John they are blessed if they take no offense.

They don't have to believe.  They just have to keep an open mind.

Maybe that is the path we should take to get closer to God.  Keeping our minds open to His presence in our day will help us to see things more clearly and know.

So, as we go about our day, we can share what we believe with those who seek answers, and without offense, we can let them draw their own conclusions.

That sounds doable, doesn't it?

More to come...