The glorious soldier and forerunner of the Lord Jesus, John Baptist, was fettered and put in prison by Herod, for his defence of the truth, because he had rebuked him, for taking the wife of his brother who was still alive. Desirous of inducing his disciples to follow the Lord Jesus, he thought that he would send them to Him, so that, by hearing His words and seeing His actions, they might be inflamed with the love of Him and attach themselves to Him. They went, then, to Jesus, and said to Him in the name of John, “Art thou He that should come, or do we look for another ?”1 Now, the Lord Jesus had at that time a great crowd about Him. Behold Him, then, fixedly, how with calm face He receives the messengers of John, and how wisely He answers them — first by deeds, then by words. For in their presence He healed the deaf and dumb and blind, and did many other miracles, and preached to the people, and afterwards, amongst other things, said to John’s disciples, “Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see.” And they returned to John and related to him these things, and he heard them most gladly. And these disciples, after the death of John, attached themselves most firmly to Christ On their departure the Lord Jesus commended John most highly before the people, saying that he was more than a prophet, and that amongst those born of women there had not risen a greater than he ; and He went on to say other things as recorded in the Gospel. Look, then, continually at the Lord Jesus, both whilst He is preaching and when working the miracles before mentioned, and at all times, in the manner I have already suggested to you.
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Footnotes
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S. Matt. xi. 3. ↩