John the Baptizer was now in prison and he heard about what Jesus was doing. We are not priviledged to know if John was in doubt of Jesus or questioning his personal circumstances, but we do know that he sent some of his disciples to ask Jesus if He was the Messiah. John may have expected Jesus to do something different than what He was doing. Yet John's own expectations of the Messiah gave him the boldness to judge Herod's wife which led to his arrest. Likewise our personal expectations in life can imprison us. We are looking for something or someone better than what we currently have, and those thoughts are the very thing that imprisons us from living a full life.

Jesus invited the disciples of John to hear and see. As such, He invites us to hear and see. Observe around us the works of God in the people around us. We have not been abandoned, but rather God is actively at work. He then invites us to join Him in the work around us.

Jesus gave John's disciples plenty of examples of how He was doing the work of the Messiah, even if it did not meet John's initial expectations. We may not like what is going on in the world around us, but God's Kingdom is all around us. He is still healing, providing hope, and creating new life all the time. We just have to be observant.