Greater than John

Hello everyone.

In my last post, I looked at the evidence that Jesus provided to John's disciples that he was indeed the one that they had been waiting for.  In today's post we will see what Jesus had to say about John after John's disciples return to him. This is in Luke 7:24-35. 

After John’s messengers leave, Jesus addresses the crowd speaking about John, asking the crowd about who John was and what was it about him that drew people out into the wilderness to hear his message. 

He asked, "Was it a reed blown about by the wind?"  No, John was not some spineless wimp that could be blown around by more powerful forces.  John was a man of deep conviction, who was not afraid to say challenging things to the Pharisees and even Herod.  Who would travel any distance to listen to a man of little or no conviction?

Then Jesus asked, "Was it a man in fancy clothes?"  Again, No. We know from Mark 1:6 that John was not a fancy dresser.  According to Mark, John wore clothing made of camel hair, with a leather belt.  Not fancy. Fancy clothing is meant for palaces, not the wilderness.  

Jesus is making it clear that people came to John because of the power of his message.  It was a message worth leaving home and traveling out into the wilderness. They went to John because they recognized that he was a prophet. Jesus verifies that John was indeed a prophet.  In fact, he says in verse 26, that John even more than a prophet, declaring him to be the messenger prophesied about in Malachi 3:1. Jesus quotes from Malachi, and declares in verse 28 that John was the greatest person yet born. 

Then Jesus makes an interesting statement.  John is the greatest to ever be born, but everyone in the kingdom will be greater than John, greater than the greatest person ever born. How can that be? Possibly it is that John is part of the old order of things, and we have yet to see the establishment of God’s kingdom on Earth.  We will see that later, in Acts 2.  Jesus says that even the μικρότερος (microteros) in the kingdom of God is greater than John.  In my own translation, I translated that word as ‘least significant person.’  The point is, that being a part of the Kingdom of God brings greatness.  All in God’s kingdom are greater than all who came before it. 

When Jesus said this about John, the crowd response was divided.  Those who had listened to John and were baptized by him, were encouraged and declared the righteous of God.  That number included tax collectors and undoubtedly others ‘sinners.’ 

The group that was not encouraged by this were the Pharisees and the experts in the law, because they had not listened to John, nor been baptized by him.  John had come with a message of repentance.  Some heeded the message, saw their need to repent, while others saw no need to repent and sat in judgment of John and then later on Jesus. An interesting note in verse 30.  It says that the Pharisees had rejected God’s purpose for themselves.  God had sent John.  They rejected his message.  Then God sent Jesus and they rejected his message, too.  God had a plan and a purpose for them, but they continually ignored God’s overtures toward their purpose. 

Jesus makes a comparison of the current generation of people with children in the marketplace.  The children call out to each other, complaining that the others would not dance for their song or weep for the funeral dirge.  Jesus compares this to their response to both John and himself.  They were not going to be pleased, no matter what.  John came fasting, and they considered him to be possessed by demons.  Jesus came doing the opposite and they didn’t like his message either.  Of course, the message was the same, even though the messenger came with different approaches. They were not going to listen to what God had to say to them and therefore missed God’s purpose in their lives.  The flipside of this parable is this:  The complaining one could be the Pharisees.  They complained that John, and then Jesus, did not follow their desires, blaming God’s messengers for not listening to them. 

This section closes in verse 35.  After his parable, Jesus says, "Wisdom is proven correct by her children." Wisdom’s children then become those who listen to John and Jesus.  They are ones who end up justified. 

What does all of this mean? No matter how insigificant we might feel sometimes, we can be great, even greater than John, if we listen to the prompting of Jesus and fulfill the purpose that he has for our lives. 

Tom