Blessed is the one who is not offended by me.

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The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’”

In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

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I cannot imagine what was going through the mind of John the Baptist. Prison was probably not a part of the plan that he had envisioned. Just a short while ago he was baptizing in the Jordan and proclaiming the good news to everyone in earshot. John had to be wondering why the one who proclaimed freedom to prisoners had not come to his cell to set him free. Hard times will cause the mind to go to strange places and ask difficult questions.

How hard it is to not carry an offence towards God when our prayers are not answered. Like John we sit hurting and wondering if God really is who he said he is. In our misery God does not seem to care about our pain or the prison cell that wraps us in darkness. Yet in the darkness Jesus asks us to trust him and to not be offended that our prayer is unanswered.

In the darkness I will trust you Lord. I will not be offended.

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