John the Baptist is a prisoner in King Herod's dungeon. It is a dark, dank, depressing and very lonely place. He is alone with his thoughts. There is nothing else for him to do there but to think. His mind travels back over the events of his life. The stories his parents told him about the strange, yet wonderful, events surrounding his birth; the early days of his ministry in the wilderness, when people flocked to hear him and acknowledged their need for God's forgiveness by accepting his baptism.  He reflected on the unswerving support he enjoyed by his band of disciples. Many, many people valued his clarity and faithfulness in speaking God's word- his fearlessness in telling it like it was.

When soldiers came to him he told them ?be content with your wages and do not extort or oppress others'.

When the religious leaders came for baptism he said to them ?you brood of vipers, who warned you of the wrath to come?'

Oh yes, in those days he was full of heady confidence that he knew how Yahweh was about to work.  He was about to send his Messiah. John was clear what the Messiah would do. He would both bless and purify the people of God.  Pouring out God's Spirit on those who recognized Messiah and swinging the axe on those who opposed God. Yes taught John his coming would bring both hope and redemption for the faithful and judgment and humiliation for all who were not - who were enemies and oppressors. In those days John saw himself as Yahweh's prophet, preparing for the coming of the Messiah.

How things have changed.  John is isolated, his ministry at an end, his future, even his life, very uncertain and his cousin Jesus, who John identified as the Messiah when he came to him to be baptized, is simply not behaving in the way that John had always thought God's Messiah would. Where was the fire and the sword? In his cell the cold, unwelcome fingers of doubt begin to seep into his mind. Disturbing questions, bubbled up from the depths of his mind.

"Why has God allowed this to happen to me?

"Where is God now, as I am moldering in prison?"

And most disquieting of all ...

"Have I made a dreadful mistake? Am I deluded? Is Jesus simply not God's Messiah? Have I misled so many of God's people in pointing to Jesus and declaring that he was the Anointed One of God?"

 John was no longer strong and confident; he was wracked by uncertainty and self-doubt. So he gets a message through to Jesus. "Are you really the one or have I got it all wrong?"

 The only times I have been in prison are when I have been visiting other people who were ?guests' there (that's my story and I am sticking to it!). But prison is not the only situation which can cause us discouragement and doubts. Any time we are isolated or experiencing grief or pain (physical and emotional) we are vulnerable. If our expectations of how God will work are not fulfilled we are at risk.

 The time of transition between finishing my graduate studies in genetics and adjusting to life in the far north of Canada was such a time for me. Before going to Canada, life was so fulfilling and exciting for me. In addition to all the affirmation of completing my research, writing the thesis, obtaining the Ph.D. and writing up research papers to be published in prestigious journals I also experienced wonderful, almost miraculous ways of God working in my life, guiding me to go to Canada, giving me clear sense of call to ordination and wonderfully providing finances and other practical matters. Clearly, I thought, God has great plans for me when I get to the Arctic. But when I arrived there the cold reality was quite different.

 I was convinced that God had led me to go to Canada and I had a whole series of assumptions of how God would use me there. But things did not work out as I anticipated.  Instead I felt useless, unable even to communicate because of the language and cultural barriers. I was lonely, I did not feel needed, I had no clear identity or purpose in being there. Had I a made a great mistake. Where are you God?

 Probably many of us here today can think of similar times when we have experienced doubts and discouragements. But notice what John does, he faces his doubts head on, he does not pretend that everything is fine but confronts the issue. "Are you the one who is to come (i.e. God's Messiah) or are we to wait for another?" (v.3) There was a time when I felt that to acknowledge any sort of uncertainty, disappointment or doubt was to be disloyal to God, even to be faithless. But as one of my kids might say "Duh dad! Like God does not know what you are thinking!

 Jesus response to John's question is two-fold. Look at what is happening thru my ministry, and do not be put off just because I am not meeting your expectations (v5-6). It is often faulty expectations that lead us to discouragement and even despair.

 The word of Advent is ?hold on, be patient God will come to you'.