"The disciples of John told him about all these things. John summoned two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” When the men came to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?’” At that time he cured many of their diseases, sufferings, and evil spirits; he also granted sight to many who were blind. And he said to them in reply, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me (Lk. 7:18-23).”
JBap’s disciples told him about all the wonderous works Jesus was performing and JBap sent two disciples to Jesus to ask him if he is “the one who is to come (Mal. 3:1)". The reference was to Elijah who was to come again before the Messiah. JBap’s two disciples were sent to serve as eyewitnesses to the works of Jesus; “One witness alone shall not stand against someone in regard to any crime or any offense that may have been committed; a charge shall stand only on the testimony of two or three witnesses (Deut. 19:15).” Jesus performed healings and exorcisms in their presence and told them to go and report back to John what they had seen using language from passages in Isaiah (Is. 61:1-2; 35:5-6). Using language from the Prophet Isaiah implied that the Messianic age had arrived. The acts of mercy Jesus performed were what God sent him to do to show that God is a God of mercy not vengeance. Blessed is the one who accepts Jesus and does not reject him because he is not what they were expecting.
Almighty God, you told us that you desire us to show mercy to others as you show mercy to us through your son. Without your guidance we cannot please you and without your aid we cannot serve you. Shower us with your grace that we may walk along the path you choose for us until we reach our eternal home. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Faculty of the University of Navarre. The Navarre Bible: New Testament Expanded Edition. Expanded Edition, Four Courts / Scepter, 2008.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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