The Gospels – The Gospel According to Matthew
Reassuring John the Baptist’s disciples about the genuineness of His Mission
Matthew 11:2-6 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,
3 And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
4 Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:
5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
The works of Jesus are the proof of His origin and His genuine Mission. “By their works ye shall know them”. This He tried to convey to the disciples of John. Jesus will not look outwardly different from other human beings. The only proof of His origin and genuineness are the force of His Words and the miracles which He performed. The simple Truth which emanated from Him had never before been revealed before and it is only One with connection to God who could teach in the way that He did and perform the miracles that He performed.
His miracles could only be performed by One with a direct connection to God and as mentioned earlier these were meant to help seekers and make it easier for them to believe in Him therefore making the road to salvation a little bit easier for these people. John knew that He was the Messiah but he wanted his own disciples to gain conviction for themselves. Jesus helped them in this direction by saying that His works speak for themselves. These works that I perform are the proof of my origin and my connection with God.
The words that proceed from my mouth in their power also give testimony to my direct connection to the Light. That is the good news. The news that liberated people from their spiritual bondage. The news that showed people the way one more time. Liberated them from the bondage of rigid religious practices. The people were exulted and for the first time in their lives could breath freely because the dogmatic restrictions had been lifted off their shoulders.