Thoughts in preparation for the Third Sunday of Advent

The Gospel for this coming Sunday, the Third Sunday of Advent, has John the Baptizer sending a question to Jesus from his prison cell, "Are you the one who is to come, or shall we wait for another
From the moment that Mary visited her Elizabeth some thirty years earlier there had been a special relationship between John and Jesus. They were not only cousins, but when Mary visited Elizabeth, John leapt in Elizabeth's womb at the greeting. In John, Elijah the prophet had returned, preparing the way for the messiah and calling for repentance. John was the final prophet to appear before Jesus, baptising him and literally introducing him to the public.
John seemed heedless of the danger in which he placed himself both by his criticism of the Pharisees and Saduccees, and his calling Herod to task for his adulterous relationship with his brother's wife. Herod had him arrested and put him in prison. Those are the circumstances under which he sent his question to Jesus.
For a man raised in the countryside, who lived in the wilderness, imprisonment had to be difficult, but it was endurable. However, as he gathered news of Jesus ministry in the dim light of a prison cell, he began to question whether his prophetic work had been in vain. His faith was being tested as Jesus' ministry didn't meet his expectations. John may have pondered several things. First, seemingly little had changed. Rome still ruled Judea, Herod was still ensconced in Jerusalem, there had been no change is Temple leadership, and Jesus didn't exhibit the wrath that John expected.
John's questions could well be our own. Our own faith is challenged from many directions. In the back of John's mind there must have been a question along the lines of "if Jesus is the Messiah, how can all of these things be happening?"
There is no way to overstate the importance of these kinds of questions nor the need for an answer that sustains faith. There is an answer of course, and we will hear more of that on Sunday morning. For now, you might want to consider asking yourself why Jesus says, "and blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me?" In that phrase lies the answer.