John the Baptist is in prison (Mt. 11:2). There was something about John's message that was uncontainable. And so, the powers of the world tried to cut it off and contain it. They didn't like truth. But John was uncontainable from the beginning. Already in the womb John hear the word of God and "leaped for joy" (Lk. 1:41) when he heard Mary's voice. The word that can reach a womb can reach through prison bars.
And, in prison, the uncontainable John hears again: he hears of the works of the Christ. And from prison John sends his own disciples to Jesus.
Prison is incidental for John. It can't stop him. Moreso, the world's ways can't contain the Word of God. God gets through.
Whatever we face - sadness, anxiety, preoccupation - God's word does get through. One of our prison bars is that we believe we must have everything perfect, straightened out and looking good before we are acceptable to God, to our family, and most often to ourselves. And the prison bars of trying to make that perfection happen every day are ten times stronger than the perfectionistic thought itself. Some of the worst iron bars are made of thoughts we have about ourselves.
Nevertheless, God gets through. God loves to get through. He is uncontainable.
And Jesus says something about John the Baptist. The Lord says that "among those born women there has been none greater than John the Baptist" (Mt. 11:11). But then the Lord looks to us with an invitation. And He says, "Yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John."
Jesus has an affection for the least. Be the least. Being the least allows us to slip through the prison bars. Being the least frees us. Being the least is uncontainable.
And when we are the least, we hear things. We hear things few others can. We hear the secrets of God. Listen to His secrets.
God bless, Msgr. Brian Bransfield
