There are various places in the bible where certain phrases make you say, "What? What in the world does that mean?" One of these statements is from Jesus when he is speaking in regard to John the baptist and Jesus says, "Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me." (Matthew 11:6)
"On account of me??"
Consider John the baptist, the remarkable man of God about whom the old testament prophets referred as one declaring in the wilderness, "prepare the way of the Lord." John was a man who announced things about Jesus like, "Behold the lamb of God - who takes away the sins of the world," and "This is the man who's sandals I am not worthy to untie." His devotion to Jesus was complete. It would seem.
In time, John's life took some unpredicted turns. The biggest turn was that he found himself in prison at the hands of Herod for characteristically speaking truth and denouncing Herod for an extramarital affair. Prophets do this kind of thing, and sometimes without a lot of tact. Prophets understand this dilemma. In John's case, his outspoken words about Herod got him put in prison. This presents a crisis to John.
I imagine that in John's prison cell, the crisis may have gone something like this, "Jesus I have been so faithful to you. I have spoken strongly about who you are and told the world about you. I have declared that you are the messiah and I believe you can do miraculous things. I have placed my faith in you, I trust you, and more than that, we are first cousins. Since I believe in your ability and power, then WHY am I in this prison - and WHY don't you do something about it?!"
John's faith leads him to struggle, John's struggle leads him to a place of doubt - as struggles often do. John is struggling BECAUSE he believes, not because he doesn't. "The reason I am so frustrated Jesus, is because I believe you could do something and you are not apparently doing anything! If I didn't believe you were the son of God, I would not be struggling with you, or with this predicament, because I wouldn't be placing my hope in you." John is at risk of falling away from Jesus BECAUSE he believes, NOT because he doesn't. It is "on account" of Jesus being the messiah and John's belief that He is, that John is experiencing this crisis. To this Jesus says, "Blessed is the man who does not fall away 'on account of me.'" Wow.
So John sends some of his disciples (who apparently visited him in prison while Jesus didn't) to ask Jesus if he is the real deal - really the messiah of God. His challenge: "If you REALLY are the son of God, the messiah who can do the miraculous, then WHY am I in this prison and WHY don't you do something about it?" This is a crucible of faith. Then it gets worse for John.
Jesus responds to John's disciples by saying, "Go tell John what you are seeing. The lame walk, the blind see" etc... If you are John this is on the one hand affirmation, on the other hand turmoil. "Okay, so you ARE the messiah because you are healing the lame and the blind. THEN WHY DON'T YOU DO SOMETHING, SOMETHING MIRACULOUS IF NECESSARY, AND GET ME OUT OF THIS PRISON!?" He's close to "falling away on account" of the fact that he does believe in Jesus - not because he doesn't believe. Do you see it? I think you do. And then Jesus says, "Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me." I wonder if this was consolation. Perhaps yes, perhaps no. But what it is, is truth.
I believe the word "blessing" in the bible means "God is very near to." (Consider this in the beattitudes) So Jesus is saying, "God is very near to the person who is struggling with faith in this terrible place of predicament." Helpful on the one hand, so difficult on the other. It suggests God knows the predicament and yet for reasons that we will not understand, He is not intervening. This crucible of faith, makes most places of faith look like small potatoes. This is the big place. The place where faith is our only lifeline but it is challenged to it's maximum. This is the place where we do not have the faith in ourselves - the conviction, the sustaining hope. We only have the perseverance to keep trusting if God gives this faith to us. It is believing in spite of what we are seeing and experiencing. It is remarkably difficult and all but the most mature will indeed fall away.
Finally, Jesus speaks to the crowd about John the baptist and concludes with this towering statement, "there is none greater born of women, than John." I read this to mean that while John is having life's most difficult crisis of faith, Jesus is saying in essence, "I know you are having a very difficult time believing in me. But John, I believe in you." Wow. Still unresolved. Still breathtaking. Still excruciating. All the more so because we know that John was killed.
It's enough to turn a believer into an atheist, unless you are ready for the deepest places.
So where is our hope in a crucible like this - one which doesn't have a happy ending? John was killed. The one hope then, in the crucible of life's most difficult faith crises is the resurrection. It's the only answer that makes any sense of it. And one day I suspect, when we are in heaven, we will see all of this, somehow, with very different eyes.
Oh, and there is one more glimmer of hope. A smaller matter than the resurrection to be sure. But it is the consolation of the words "blessed are those who do not fall away on account of me."
