By F.B. Meyer
"John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true." John 10:41
Beyond the Jordan! To the Jew living in Jerusalem that meant banishment indeed. The district there was called Perea, and it was comparatively desert. There were a few mountain torrents which made their impetuous way down to the Jordan, patches of fruitful soil, and a few scattered villages; but for the most part the population was poor and sparse, and destitute of the culture which reigned in Jerusalem.
Why then did our Lord come hither to spend the last hours of His life? Would not Nazareth welcome Him to His early home, or Capernaum provide Him a resting place in a marble palace washed by the caressing waters of the lake He loved so well? Would He not be better lodged at Jerusalem in the palace of Caiaphas, the pretorium of Herod, or even the temple itself ?
Alas! All these were shut against Him by the relentless hate of His enemies. Perea alone could offer Him a resting place.
There was a peculiar fascination attached to Perea. It was the place where John had first baptized. Those desolate hills had been black with crowds gathered from all the land to hear the crying of that trumpet voice; those waters had been the scene of countless baptisms; the people around had many a story to tell of the appearance and life of the grand young prophet who had met his tragic end in the dungeons of Herod's castle.
And as the disciples wandered over the ground in company with Christ, memory recalled the spot where some of them had been baptized, or others had seen him designate Jesus as the Lamb of God. Christ's own mind must have been strangely moved by conflicting thoughts as He contrasted the radiant dawn of His ministry in this spot with the overcast skies that had since darkened above Him.
No sooner did our Lord find Himself in comparative safety than He threw Himself into His much-loved work of preaching the gospel, working miracles, and healing all who were diseased. Crowds gathered around Him - many from the immediate neighbourhood, some from a greater distance; but as they stood on that memorable spot, old memories were stirred; the place, with its surroundings, even to the stones that lay in the riverbed, forcefully reminded them of the great life set as a jewel in these rugged scenes.
They confessed the mighty gulf which severed him from Christ - "John did no miracle;" but they gladly emphasized the fact that all things which he had spoken of Christ were true.
I. GOD'S VINDICATION OF APPARENT FAILURE
To the eye of the casual observer the Baptist seemed to have failed. The morning star had paled before the sunrise; the crowds who had gathered round the Bridegroom's friend ebbed slowly and steadily away to follow the Bridegroom Himself. His disciples half reproachfully said, "Master, He to whom thou barest witness beyond Jordan, the same has commenced to baptize, and all men come to Him."
The faithful few that gathered around him must have deeply felt that they were the adherents of a dwindling cause, which was destined gradually to come to an end. And this was only a prelude to the immuring of this brave soul within the dark walls of Herod's dungeons.
Like an eagle with broken wing, the Baptist lay spent and powerless. And there, the captivity, the lack of the ministry of nature, the inability to understand why Christ did not deliver him - if He were indeed the Messiah - led to a still greater lapse, and he sent to ask whether Jesus of Nazareth were after all what he had announced Him to be.
"Art Thou He that should come, or look we for another?"
