It is not always easy to follow Jesus' teaching. His disciples knew that very well: they often needed to ask for an explanation Even then, they did not always understand.

In today's gospel, the disciples asked about the connection between his resurrection from death and the coming of Elijah. Jesus provided an answer, but he left it to the disciples to understand it in this concrete context. They came to understand that John the Baptist was Elijah though people did not recognize him.

We also ask God questions and we desire to have a clear and straight to the point answer. But God rather speaks to us through facts and wants us to find a meaning in the events of our life. We notice that in this passage Jesus did not say directly that John the Baptist was Elijah. He just mentioned a few facts, which directly pointed to the answer. God does the same today. We ask him questions and he provides answers mostly through things which have happened to us in our daily life. If we want to listen to God, we should first learn how he speaks to us.