As they were going off, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, “What did you go out to the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? 8 Then what did you go out to see? Someone dressed in fine clothing? Those who wear fine clothing are in royal palaces. 9 Then why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is the one about whom it is written: ‘Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way before you.’ 11 Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force. 13 All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John. 14 And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who is to come. 15 Whoever has ears ought to hear. 16 “To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, 17 ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.’ 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, ‘He is possessed by a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said, ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is vindicated by her works.”
John the Baptist (JBap) preached a prophetic message of repentance and baptized in Judea and as far north as Aenon near Salim (Jn. 3:23). John had been imprisoned by Herod Antipas and heard about Jesus’s works so he sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he was the expected Messiah (Mt. 11:2-3). Jesus answered by pointing to his miracles and his Gospel message which fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy about the coming of the Messiah (Is. 35:5-6).
When John’s disciples left, Jesus told the crowd that they did not go into the desert to seek a man of great dignity dressed in fine clothing living in a palace, but a humble man living an ascetic life. JBap told all who came to him to turn from rebellion against God to obedience to God because the kingdom of heaven was being inaugurated. Jesus gave testimony to the crowd about JBap and asserted that he was a prophet, the messenger of God (Mal. 3:1), the greatest human who ever lived, and the herald of the Messiah. Although Jesus praised JBap, he told the crowd that as great as JBap was among humans, he was not as great as the least in the kingdom of heaven. JBap’s preaching was met with opposition from Herod and the religious leaders who resisted his divine message. The prophets and the Scriptures foretold the promised Messiah and JBap was the bridge between the OT prophets and the Messianic age.
John lived an austere life and had a harsh message of repentance; Jesus came with a message of joy proclaiming the kingdom to everyone. Both were rejected. From the time of JBap, who represented the second coming of Elijah (v. 14), the kingdom was under attack by those who resisted the message and tried to prevent others from hearing the message of the Kingdom. John challenged the religious authority, criticized the Pharisees and Sadducees for their hypocrisy (Mt. 3:7-12), called for genuine repentance and righteous living (Mt. 3:8), lived an unconventional lifestyle (Mt. 3:4), and recognized Jesus as the Messiah.
Jesus compared the response to his message to the behavior of two groups of children sitting in the marketplace. One group tried in many ways to get the attention of the other, but they would not respond. John and Jesus were children of wisdom (the kingdom) whose messages were similar, but they had different ways of delivering the message. Both were rejected by the Jewish leaders (Lk. 7:29-30) and met violent deaths. They fulfilled their roles in God’s plan of salvation.
Almighty God, shower us with the righteousness of your son so that we may resist all that is bad and hold fast to the truth of the Gospel. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Orchard, Bernard, et al. A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture. Feb. 1953.
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