Breaking Into Prison

In the first week of Advent we were in the Apocalypse. In the second week of Advent we joined John the Baptist crying out in wilderness. Here in the third week of Advent we find ourselves in prison with John (Matthew 11:2-11). John is about to lose his head and he is having second thoughts about Jesus. He’s having a crisis of faith when he asks, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”

Apocalypse, wilderness, prison. This is the geography of Advent hope – not the cheap hope peddled by a fear-filled culture of excess, but the deep hope that holds us in our greatest moments of despair. Whatever else the Incarnation means, it surely means that God is eager to occupy this geography WITH us and transform it by His presence. The Incarnation transforms Apocalypse into the great unveiling of mercy. Wilderness becomes a garden of grace, and Prison becomes the graduate school of faith where we discover ourselves set free.

Yes, Gospel freedom happens to us while we are still in prison. The Divine Break-In leads to the Great Escape. We do not escape prison and then know freedom. We know freedom that we might escape. This is the shape of the Gospel. Nelson Mandela reminds us of this. He spent 27 years in prison. It was there that he received the gift of freedom that changed his life, his country, and the world. It was in prison that he learned to love his enemies and pray for those who persecuted him. It was in prison that he was set free from his oppressor. Mandela was FREE long before he walked out of prison.

Jesus replies to John’s crisis of faith with news of a divine break-in. Yes, the good thief strikes again! And because of the divine break-in, there is a great escape: “The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, and the dead are raised.” Notice the use of passive verbs. The blind, lame, etc. all receive their freedom. They don’t take it, or make it.

All those who have been set free, no matter how hard they work for their own freedom and the freedom of others, experience freedom not as a reward, but as a gift. And this is precisely what Jesus is giving John – a gift. As if summing up this whole business of the divine break-in, Jesus adds, “The poor have good news brought to them. Blessed is anyone who is not offended by me.” (Matthew 11:5)

Can we see? The tables have turned. John, who is the greatest of all the prophets, is one of the poor who is in soul-shaking need of the Gospel for which he is about to die. Mercifully, Jesus is smuggling a message into the messenger. Jesus is bringing good news back to John who is held captive by his own expectations of the Gospel. Jesus asks only one thing of John – that he not be offended by the crazy, reckless, wildly unconditional gift being given to ALL.

“Blessed is anyone who is not offended by me.”

Advent Prayer
Spirit, prepare our hearts for the Divine Break-In of the Incarnation. Pass through the prison walls that hold us captive. Set captives and captors free to delight in the gift being given.

The Street Psalms Community