John's question to Jesus about his Messiahship helps prepare us for the road that lies ahead in Matthew's story of Jesus. Jesus will be repeatedly rejected and criticized for healing activities that follow. Hostility intensifies between Jesus and the religious powerbrokers of his day. They reject him. But underneath this repeated pattern is another pattern of even greater significance. While Jesus continues to heal and care for the crowds, he intensifies the training of his disciples. All that he warned them about when he sent them out to minister now comes true in his own ministry. Clearly Jesus is preparing them for the dark times ahead while at the same time placing the truth of God in their hearts to sustain them. For nearly every believer who honors Jesus as Lord, there will come a time of darkness and struggle. In those moments of doubt in the Savior's presence and grace, this statement in today's Scripture should always be a reminder that some roads the Savior walks, some roads the Savior leads us down, are hard. Some may even end in a cross, but even then, they also lead us to glory.