Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 11:2-3

"Now when John heard in the prison the works of the Christ, he sent by his disciples and said unto him, Art thou he that cometh, or look we for another?" — Matthew 11:2-3 (ASV)

Here we begin quite another story. The first verse ought to have gone with the preceding chapter, to which it belongs. John was in prison. He did not make a good caged bird—he of the wilderness and the river—and his faith began to flag. So some think.

Was it so? Or was this embassy sent to our Lord for the sake of John’s disciples? Were they wavering so much that John could not reassure them without the aid of Jesus? Or was it that John would intimate to our Lord that there were doubts circulating which would be met by a further proclamation of His mission? Was this all that John now thought himself able to do—namely, to call upon the Lord to state His claims in the most decisive manner? Did John resolve to draw from our Lord a very clear statement, that his disciples might thus be readily transferred to Jesus?

The question about our Lord’s having a mission was surely not for John’s sake. He knew full well that Jesus was the Son of God. But when he heard of all that Jesus did, he may have wondered that he himself was left in prison, and he may have thought that possibly another was yet to come before all things could be rectified. Dark thoughts may come to the bravest when pent up in a narrow cell. It was well that John’s question was put, so that it might receive a distinct reply, reassuring for himself, and instructive for us.

Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples. And said to him, Are you he that should come, or do we look for another?

Poor John! His spirit was brave enough amid the wilds when he was by the riverside; but shut up in prison, it was probably otherwise with him. Those bold spirits, when they lose liberty, are apt to be depressed. Perhaps, too, John sent the disciples as much for their sakes as for his own.

At any rate, what a question it was to put to our Lord, Are you he that should come, or do we look for another? I would call your attention to the quietness of our Saviour's mind – the absence of anything like anger. See how he answers them.