And the disciples of John shewed him of all these things.
For the circumstances of the Baptist's imprisonment, see the notes at Mark 6:17-20.
He had now lain in prison probably a full year, far away from the scene of his Master's labours. But his faithful disciples appear from time to time to have kept him informed of them. At length the tidings they brought him, including no doubt those of the resurrection of the widow of Nain's son from the dead, appear to have determined the lonely prisoner to take a step which probably he had often thought of, but until now shrunk from.
Verse 18. And the disciples of John showed him of all these things.
Verse 19. And John calling unto him two of his disciples, х duo (G1417) tinas (G5100)] - 'two certain disciples;' that is, two picked, trusty ones. [In Matthew 11:1-30, instead of duo (G1417), Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Tregelles, on certainly powerful evidence, print dia (G1223) - 'sent by his disciples.' Fritzsche and Alford follow them in their text; and Meyer and de Wette approve of the change. But as the external evidence is not overpowering, so there is, in our judgment, the strongest internal evidence against it, and in favour of the received reading, which differs only by a letter and a half from the other reading.]
Sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?
Verse 20. When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another? Was this a question of doubt as to the Messiahship of his Lord, as Rationalists are fain to represent it? Impossible, from all we know of him. Was it then purely for the satisfaction of his disciples, as some expositors, more concerned for the Baptist's reputation than for simple and natural interpretation, take it? Obviously not. The whole strain of our Lord's reply shows that it was designed for John himself. Clearly it was a message of impatience, and almost of desperation. It seemed, no doubt, hard to him that his Master should let him lie so long in prison for his fidelity-useless to his Master's cause and a comparative stranger to His proceedings-after having been honoured to announce and introduce Him to His work and to the people. And since the wonders of His hand seemed only to increase in glory as He advanced, and it could not but be easy for Him who preached deliverance to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that were bound, to put it into the heart of Herod to set him at liberty, or to effect his liberation in spite of him, he at length determines to see if, through a message from the prison by his disciples, he cannot get Him to speak out His mind, and at least set his own at rest. This, we take it, was the real object of his message. The message itself, indeed, was far from a proper one. It was peevish; it was presumptuous; it was all but desperate. He had gotten depressed; he was losing heart; his spirit was clouded; Heaven's sweet light had, to some extent, departed from him; and this message was the consequence. As it was announced that he should come in the spirit and power of Elijah, so we find him treading in that prophet's steps rather more than was desirable (see 1 Kings 19:1-4).
Verse 21. And in the same hour (no doubt expressly with a view to its being reported to John), he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight, х echarisato (G5483) to (G3588) blepein (G991)] - 'granted [the gift of] sight.'
Verse 22. Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard. No doubt along with the miracles which they "saw," they would "hear" those magic words with which He rolled away the maladies that came before Him. Nor would He fail to drop some other words of grace, fitted to impress the minds of the messengers, and, when reported, to cheer the spirit of their lonely master.
How that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised. Since the article is missing in each of these clauses, the sense would be better perceived by the English reader thus, though scarcely tunable enough: 'Blind persons are seeing, lame people are walking, leprous persons are getting cleansed, deaf people are hearing, dead persons are being raised.'
To the poor the Gospel is preached, х euangelizontai (G2097)] - or 'is [in course of] being preached;' alluding to the great Messianic prediction, as it was uttered and appropriated by Himself at Nazareth, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor."
Verse 23. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. 'Let these things convince him that My hand is not shortened that it cannot save; but blessed is he who can take Me with just as much light as to his future lot as is vouchsafed to him.' This was all the reply that the messengers received. Not a ray of light is cast on his prospects, nor a word of commendation uttered while his disciples are present; he must die in simple faith, and as a martyr to his fidelity. But no sooner are they gone, than Jesus breaks forth into a glorious commendation of him.
Verse 24. And when the messengers of John were departed, he began to speak unto the people concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind? - `a man driven about by every gust of popular opinion, and uttering an uncertain sound? Such is not John.'
Verse 25. But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? - `a self-indulgent, courtly preacher? Such was not John.'
Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings' courts. 'If that be the man ye wanted, ye must go in quest of him to royal palaces.'
Verse 26. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? - a faithful straightforward utterer of the testimony given him to bear?
Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. 'If that was what ye flocked to the wilderness to see in John, then ye have not been disappointed; for he is that, and much more than that.'
Verse 27. This is he of whom it is written (Malachi 3:1 ), Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. See the note at Mark 1:3; and at Luke 1:17. 'There were many prophets, but only one Forerunner of the Lord's Christ; and this is he.'
Verse 28. For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not ("there hath not risen", Matthew 11:11 ), a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. The point of comparison is manifestly not personal character; for as it could hardly be said that in this respect he excelled every human being that preceded him, so it would be absurd to say that he was outstripped by the least advanced of the disciples of Christ. It is of his official standing or position in the economy of grace that our Lord is speaking. In that respect he was above all that ever went before him, inasmuch as he was the last and most honoured of the Old Testament prophets, and stood on the very edge of the new economy, though belonging to the old: but for this very reason, the humblest member of the new economy was in advance of him. In Matthew 11:12-15, we have the following important additions: "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force" х biazetai (G971), kai (G2532) biastai (G973) harpazousin (G726) auteen (G846)]; 'is being forced, and violent persons are seizing it.' The sense of these remarkable words is best seen in the form in which they were afterward repeated, as preserved by our Evangelist alone (Luke 16:16): "The law and the prophets were until John" - who stood midway between the old economy of the law and the prophets and the new; above the one, but below the other - "since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it" х eis (G1519) auteen (G846) biazetai (G971)], or 'is forcing his way into it.' The idea is that of a rush for something unexpectedly and transportingly brought within their reach.
In the one passage the struggle to obtain entrance is the prominent idea; in the other and later one it is the multitude that were thus pressing or forcing their way in. And what our Lord says of John in both places is that his ministry constituted the honourable point of transition from the one state of things to the other. "For," to continue Matthew's additions to this discourse, "all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." They expected the literal Elijah the Tishbite to reappear before the coming of Messiah; misinterpreting the closing words of the prophet Malachi (4:5), and misled by the Septuagint, which rendered it, "Behold, I send you Elijah the Tishbite." But our Lord here tells them plainly that this promised messenger was no other than John the Baptist of whom he had been speaking; although, knowing that this would be a startling and not very welcome announcement to those who confidently looked for the reappearance of the ancient prophet himself from heaven, He first says it was intended for those who could take it in, and then calls the attention of all who had ears to hear it to what he had said. Coming back now to our own Evangelist-
Verse 29. And all the people that heard [him], х akousas (G191)] - rather, 'on hearing [this],'
And the publicans, justified God, being baptized, х baptisthentes (G907)] - rather, 'having been baptized' "with the baptism of John."
Verse 30. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not (or rather, 'not having been') baptized of him - a striking remark of the Evangelist himself on the different effects produced by our Lord's testimony to John. The spirit of it is, that all those of the audience who had surrendered themselves to the great preparatory ministry of John, and submitted themselves to his Baptism-including the publicans, among whom there had been a considerable awakening-were grateful for this encomium on one to whom they owed so much, and gave glory to God for such a gift, through whom they had been led to Him who now spake to them (Luke 1:16-17); whereas the Pharisees and lawyers, true to themselves in having refused the Baptism of John, now set at nought the merciful design of God in the Saviour Himself, to their own undoing.
Verse 31. [And the Lord said], Whereunto then shall liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like? [The introductory words of this verse - Eipen (G2036) de (G1161) ho (G3588) Kurios (G2962) - have scarcely any authority at all, and were evidently no part of the original text. They were added probably at first to some Church Lesson, to introduce what follows, and thence found their way into the text.]
Verse 32-35. They are like unto children ... saying, We have piped ... and ye have not danced ... mourned ... and ye have not wept. For John ... came neither eating ... nor drinking ... and ye say, He hath a devil. The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man ... a friend of publicans and sinners! But Wisdom is justified of all her children. As cross, capricious children, invited by their playmates to join them in their amusements, will play with them neither at weddings nor at funerals (juvenile imitations of the joyous and mournful scenes of life), so that generation rejected both John and his Master: the one because he was too unsocial-as if under some dark demoniacal influence; the other, because he was too much the reverse, lax in his habits, and consorting with the lowest classes of society. But the children of Wisdom recognize and honour her whether in the austere garb of the Baptist or in the more attractive style of his Master, whether in the Law or in the Gospel, whether in rags or in royalty; as it is written, "The full soul loatheth an honey-comb: but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet" (Proverbs 27:7).
Remarks:
(1) Among the internal evidences of the truth of the Gospel History, none is more striking, and to an unsophisticated mind more resistless, than the view which it gives of John the Baptist. Who, in the first place, would not have expected that the ministry of the Forerunner should cease as soon as that of his Master commenced; and yet it did not, but both continued for some time the same work of preaching and baptizing. Next, who would not have expected that the disciples of John would all attach themselves to his Master, especially after what he said when questioned on that subject? (John 3:25-36). And yet, to the very last, there was a company known by the name of "John's disciples," who not only remained with him, but followed a more austere rule of life than the disciples of Jesus Himself, a mode of life suited to the man who seems never to have mixed in general society but kept himself, in a great measure, secluded; and only when John was beheaded, and by his affectionate and faithful disciples decently interred, do this class seem to have joined themselves to Jesus in a body.
Then, Christ's not only letting John be imprisoned, but lie in prison so long without even a message of sympathy being sent him; and, after the patience of the lonely prisoner was almost worn out, and all the more tried by the tidings that reached him of Christ's triumphant career, when he sent a message to his Master, couched in terms almost of desperation, that he should receive no other answer than that the tidings that had reached him of his Master's glory were true to the full, and that blessed was he who did not allow himself to be staggered and stumbled at Him-all this is the very reverse of anything one would expect. But further still, that while uttering not one word in commendation of John in the hearing of his disciples, the reporting of which might have lifted up his depressed spirit, our Lord should, as soon as they were gone, break forth into a lofty encomium on his character and office-who would have expected Him to act so? Finally, that He should allow him to be beheaded, to gratify a base woman, and when tidings of this were brought to Jesus by his sorrowing disciples, that not a word should be uttered by Him on the subject: these things, which surprise and almost perplex us as facts, it is impossible to conceive of as pure inventions; being the very opposite of all that the history of such inventions would lead us to expect. But,
(2) When we come to deal with them as facts, we see in them but vivid illustrations of certain features of the divine procedure for which we ought to be prepared. When the three Hebrew youths were threatened with the burning fiery furnace if they would not worship Nebuchadnezzar's golden idol, they expressed their full conviction that the God they served both could and would deliver them; but even should they be mistaken in this expectation, they were still resolved rather to suffer than to sin. And they suffered not. But John did. He had indeed counted the cost, but he had it to pay. 'Wilt thou be faithful even unto death?' was the question, and his spirit answered, Yes. 'Canst thou lie in prison unrescued, and even uncheered, except by the light thou already hast, and at length in a moment be despatched by those whom thy fidelity hath stung to the quick?' To this also his true heart doubtless bowed, though the trying question was never explicitly submitted to him. And such is what thousands of the martyrs of Jesus have undergone for His name. Nor can we doubt that this very record of the Lord's procedure toward the Baptist has soothed many a one when called to pass through a like dreary period of comfortless suffering, ending in death, for Jesus' sake. And may we not please ourselves with the thought that, like as the words wrung from the Saviour Himself in Gethsemane - "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me" - were followed by the placid words, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit;" so the deep depression which prompted the question, "Art Thou He that should come, or look we for another?" was followed by a serene contentment and placid hope which might thus sing its pensive song, and only be interrupted by the murderer with his bloody axe? --
`God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform: He plants His footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm. `Deep in unfathomable mines Of never-failing skill, He treasures up His bright designs,
And works His sovereign will. `His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour; The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower.'
(-COWPER)
(3) As when John the Baptist ushered in an era of new light and liberty in the kingdom of God, "every man pressed into it;" so there have been periods in the history of the Church ever since, in which a light and a freedom altogether unwonted have been infused into the Christian ministry, or men have been raised up outside the regular ministry, but gifted specially for special work, and particularly for rousing the impenitent to flee from the coming wrath and lay hold on eternal life, whose labours God designs to bless to the shaking of the dry bones and the turning of many to righteousness. Publicans and sinners-the most unlikely classes-are then to be seen flocking to Christ; while scribes and Pharisees-the respectably religious and the formal among the ministers of the Gospel-stand aloof, and cannot easily conceal their dislike at what they deem irregularities, and fanaticism, and dangers. At such a time it will be the part of the simple-hearted and the wise to hail, on the one hand, the ingathering of souls to Christ, however it be effected, and, on the other hand, by prudent and kindly guidance of it, to keep so glorious a work from being marred by human folly.
(4) Is it not extraordinary that, after our Lord's most explicit declaration here, that John the Baptist was the Elias (Elijah) that prophecy taught the Church to look for before the coming of Messiah, there are Christian students of prophecy who affirm that the Jews were quite right in expecting the literal Elijah from heaven; and who, while admitting that John was an Elias, sent to announce the first coming of Christ, maintain that the prophecy will only be properly fulfilled in the coming of the Tishbite himself to prepare men for His second coming? The thing to be condemned here is not so much the extravagance of the expectation itself, which, the more one thinks of it, will appear the more extravagant, but the manifest distortion which it puts upon our Lord's words, and the violence which it does to the prophecy. But all this comes of an out-and-out literalism in the interpretation of prophecy, which in some cases brings out conclusions, not only very harsh, but scarcely consistent with the principle itself.
(5) When men want an excuse for rejecting or disregarding the grace of the Gospel, they easily find it. And there are none more ready and common than those arising out of something objectionable in the mode of presenting the truth. One preacher is too austere; another too free: one is too long; another too short: one is too sentimental; another too hard. Nothing pleases; nobody quite suits them. But O, when the soul is hungry, how welcome is God's solid truth, Christ's precious Gospel, however it comes! And so "Wisdom is justified of her children," who know her, hail her, clasp her to their bosom, however humbly clad; while those who do otherwise only show themselves to be "full souls," to whom even an honey-comb is distasteful - "the whole, who need not the Physician" and prize Him not.
This exquisite scene is special to Luke. The time is quite uncertain. Perhaps it is introduced here as being suggested by "the publicans" and others of similar character, whom the preceding section brought before us as welcoming Christ, while "the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves" (Luke 7:29-30).