I hope that you had a blessed Easter holiday!  This week, we come to Luke 8:18-35.  In this passage, we find that John the Baptist has sent messengers to confirm that Jesus is the Messiah.  Now, this struck me as somewhat odd since John knows deep down in his soul that Jesus is the one he’s been waiting for.  But then I realized that I often do exactly what John did whenever my circumstances cast even the slightest bit of doubt in my mind.  For instance, consider this.  Whenever I have to wait for someone to show up for an appointment, and they’re just a few minutes late, I inevitably pull out my phone to check my calendar and messages and email to confirm that I’m in the right place, at the right time, on the right day.  Now, I know that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.  I checked it all before I set out for the rendezvous point.  But the circumstances (the time has come, and they aren’t here) settle a seed of doubt in my spirit.  And it really doesn’t take much for me to want some reassurance and confirmation, to look again for proof for what I already know to be true.  I don’t just do this for little things like meet-ups, but also for big things like my assurance of salvation.  And John was exactly the same.

But as we prepare for worship this Sunday, I encourage you to look at Jesus’s response to John.  I encourage you to meditate on what it means for Jesus to provide the kind of proof of His Messianic identity that He does in Luke 8.  I think that as we look closely at Jesus’s response, we’ll be encouraged in our faith to embrace Him.  See you Sunday.